fjf^^j^k:^:s ^^fc^^^s^^r^^^^^ 
 
V 
 
2 8 A^ /?8S~ 
 
 THE 
 
 AMBASSADORS 
 
 OF 
 
 COMMERCE 
 
 By a. p. ALLEN 
 
 "trade is the golden girdle of the world." 
 
 ^ OF THE \ 
 
 UNIVERSI 
 
 OF 
 
 T. FISHER UNWIN 
 
 26 Paternoster Square 
 
 1885 
 
 [/4// rig/iis reserved.] 
 

 spft£c/(as 
 
DEDICATION 
 
 ®0 tlj^ ^sntovtj 
 
 OF THE LATE 
 
 GEORGE MOORE, 
 
 AND (by permission) TO 
 
 THE MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF MANAGEMENT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 COMMERCIAL TRAVELLERS' SCHOOLS, 
 
 AND THE 
 
 COMMERCIAL TRAVELLERS' BENEVOLENT 
 INSTITUTION, 
 
 WHO ARE SO DESERVEDLY POPULAR WITH 
 
 THEIR BROTHER TRAVELLERS FOR THE NOBLE VOLUNTARY WORK 
 
 DONE AND THE GOOD ACHIEVED BY THEIR GENEROUS 
 
 AND UNTIRING EFFORTS, AND FOR 
 
 THE MAGNIFICENT INSTITUTIONS W^HICH THEY HAVE REARED 
 
 AND SUSTAINED, CAUSING 
 
 THE widow's HEART TO REJOICE 
 
 AFTER THE BREAD-WINNER HAS PASSED AWAY, 
 
 AND SOOTHING THE DYING MOMENTS OF 
 
 MANY A TRAVELLER WITH THE KNOWLEDGE THAT THE LITTLE 
 
 ONES WOULD BE CARED FOR BY HIS BRETHREN. 
 
 TO THE ABOVE AND TO "ABSENT 
 FRIENDS" I CORDIALLY 
 
 DEDICATE 
 THE FOLLOWING PAGES. 
 
 109349 
 
Digitized by tine Internet Archive 
 
 in 2007 witii funding from 
 
 IVIicrosoft Corporation 
 
 littp://www.archive.org/details/ambassadorsofcomOOallericli 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 IN this booky age, when the many wish to teach and 
 the few desire to learn, it is necessary in most cases 
 of book writing to make the preface an apology for, as 
 well as an insight into, its contents. 
 
 Before Smiles yielded to the wish of Mrs. Moore to 
 write a biography of " George," her late husband, he 
 (Smiles) asked the opinion of a leading City merchant, 
 who replied, "What can you make of the life of a 
 London warehouseman ? " A similar question may be 
 asked respecting Commercial Travellers. I do not hope 
 to give so satisfactory a reply as Smiles has done, in the 
 shape of such an excellent biography of so remarkable a 
 man ; but being of opinion that the most readable and 
 interesting portion of his book is that which treats of 
 George Moore as a " Commercial Traveller," I venture 
 to presume that if so much of interest can be gleaned 
 from the life of one of a class, the fifty thousand to sixty 
 thousand which comprise the whole body should yield 
 sufficient material to reward the general reader for 
 perusing it, and furnish the " ambassadors of com- 
 
viii PREFACE. 
 
 merce " with a mirror in which they need not be ashamed 
 to look themselves full in the face. A mirror which will 
 represent and reflect the strongest link in the chain of 
 commerce, which binds in one common brotherhood 
 this our English " nation of shopkeepers." 
 
 Having had nearly a quarter of a century's experience 
 of the " Road " and " Rail," I lay claim to have some 
 knowledge of so useful and valuable a body of men, some 
 information to impart, some mistaken ideas of them to 
 rectify, and some hints to give for the benefit of both 
 employer and representative. 
 
 I make no claim to merit of a literary character. 
 I am not writing to make money, for if the sale of 
 these pages should have the good fortune to show a 
 profit, "The Commercial Travellers' Schools "and "The 
 Commercial Travellers' Benevolent Institution " will 
 each of them have a moiety of so happy a result j should 
 it be otherwise, I shall ask no one to share in the loss. 
 
 My chief object is to place the Traveller in his true 
 position, the one he has a right by merit to occupy in the 
 estimation of the commercial world. In a sentence, to 
 picture him as he is, and not as he is often represented to 
 be. More than this they do not require, less than this 
 they have had in the past accorded them. 
 
 " An honest tale speeds best being plainly /<?/</." — Rich. II. 
 
 A. P. ALLEN. 
 
 Messrs. Bradbury, Greatorex, & Co., 
 
 5, 6, AND 7, Aldermanbury, 
 London, E.C. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 A DEFINITION. 
 
 PAGES 
 
 A Costermonger and the Prince of Wales — Commercial Tra- 
 vellers — Charles Dickens an Uncommercial Traveller — The 
 Bond fide Traveller ........ i-6 
 
 CHAPTER H. 
 
 THEIR NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS, <^c. 
 
 The Education of a Clerk— A Buyer— A Traveller— The Diffi- 
 culty of getting the Right Man — Must be a Born Traveller 
 — Round Men in Square Holes — George Moore a " Block- 
 head " — George Moore a Genius — A Man must Love his 
 Business — Must study Human Nature — Disraeli an Ex- 
 ample — The Term Ambassador — A Weak Man and a 
 Sterling Fellow compared — A Hint to Principals — Tact — 
 An Amusing Story — George Moore Selling his New Coat — 
 George Moore and the Snuff-box — Funny Folks — " All the 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 World's a Stage " — How a Traveller takes his Rebuffs — 
 The Necessity of Health — Town Youths and Country 
 Youths — Frenchmen, Irishmen, and Scotchmen — German 
 Competition — Commercial Travellers mentally — Few 
 Bookworms — Their Scientific Information — As Politicians 
 — Why the Scotchman turned his Political Coat — Gambetta 
 and the French "Commercials" — A Man's Value in his 
 own District — The Bias of Devonshire and Cumberland 
 Employers 7-28 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 AS SALESMEN. 
 
 A City Principal's First and Last Attempt — The Measure of 
 Toil for each Day's Work — A Governor's Idea — A Bore — 
 A Mumbler — Cheerfulness — " No Friendship in Business " 
 — The Prestige of Old Houses — A Money-Grubber — How 
 to address a Buyer — A Necessary Knowledge of the Goods 
 you are offering — " Honesty the best Policy " — " Shaving " 
 Customers — The Quaker and the Paisley Shawl — Quoting 
 Scripture — Mesmerism — A Scientific Salesman — A Man 
 fuddled and muddled — The Bouncer of the Road — Danger 
 of Exaggeration — Buyer and Seller too — How to get and 
 retain the Confidence of your Customers — Serpents and 
 Hurlingham Pigeons — Good Travellers will make Good 
 Customers — The Miserable "Commercial" — The Happy 
 Traveller — Taking Stock of your Opponents — Faith in your 
 own Firm ......... 29-46 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE COMMERCIAL ROOM. 
 
 Its Cheerfulness and Coziness — As a Reception-room — How 
 the Uncommercial is Detected — The Furniture, (Sx. — The 
 P'reemasonry of the Room — The General Conversation — Its 
 
CONTENTS. xi 
 
 PAGES 
 
 Art Decorations — Its Atmosphere — Modern Hotels— Com- 
 mercial Travellers' Clubs — The Poetry of Association — The 
 Old- Fashioned Bedrooms — Prices of Beds — Silver Keys and 
 Chambermaids .... ... 47-55 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE COMMERCIAL DINNER. 
 
 The Preparation — " Boxing Harry " — "A Traveller's Tongue" 
 Mr. Bass on Dying from Over-eating — A Fool or a Physi- 
 cian — which? — The Right Hour to dine — A Smart Re- 
 joinder — " The Dinner is ready, who is President?" — Mr. 
 Buncombe commences — A good deal of ' ' Mock " — What 
 Wine shall I order? — Answers from One to Ten — The 
 Wine Custom — The " Nodding " — Dinner Conversation — 
 What we think and say of some of our Customers — Thir- 
 teen at Dinner — One Gentleman does not take Wine — The 
 Unfairness of the Custom — Each Article paid for on its own 
 Merits — Playing at Commerce — An Amusing Incident — 
 " You wish to pay a Shilling more ? " — The Queen's Health 
 — The Value of the Port Wine — A few Dinner Toasts — 
 Dividing the Bill — The Pence Boxes — The Curse of the 
 Wine System to Young Men— Sunday in a Commercial 
 Room — A Serious Practical After-Dinner Joke . . 56-71 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 COMMERCIAL ETIQUETTE. 
 
 Unwritten Laws — General Rules — Hints worth remembering 
 — President and Vice-President — An Improvement Sug- 
 gested — My First Venture as President — Hot Suppers — 
 How they used to spend their Evenings — Etiquette outside 
 the Hotel — *' One Fool's enough at a Time " — Appoint- 
 ments with Customers — Taking a Reasonble Advantage — 
 Sharp, but permissible 72-81 
 
xii CONTENTS, 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 A DAY WITH A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW. 
 
 PAGES 
 
 A Nickname for a Fool — Not Over-industrious — "50 up " — 
 A Night of it at Exeter — Cromwell and the Chop — Sydney 
 Smith and the King — Births, Marriages, and Deaths — John 
 Rylands and the Manchester Examiner — Thought Reading 
 Extraordinary — The Value of a Good Laugh — Brooks of 
 Sheffield, "Friend of Charles Dickens" — Mr. Micawber 
 Town Traveller — The Aristocrats of the Road : " Duke of 
 Richmond," " Sir Roger " Gresley, " Baron " Hussey, " My 
 Lord Bishop of Boston," " Lord John Russell Boor " . 82-97 
 
 CHAPTER Vin. 
 
 TRA VELLERS AND TRA VELLING PAST AND 
 PRESENT. 
 
 The Age of Steam not an Unmixed Blessing — Catching the 
 Train — Saddle-bag Days — An Ostler's View — The Driving 
 Days — Purchases then and now — Travelling Revolu- 
 tionized — The Carrier, the Railway, the Telegraph — Trade 
 Circulars a Modern Invention — A Bit of Moralizing — Over- 
 production — Competition— More Work, Less Profit — The 
 Improved "Commercial" — A Man at Thirty — Mediocrity 
 — Travelling in Villages and Towns — True Progress — Sun- 
 days at Home — Tests of Character — ^J. J. Colman, M.P., his 
 opinion — Travelling in the Future — Smarter Men a Neces- 
 sity 98-121 
 
 CPIAPTER IX. 
 
 OUR INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 Charity Begins at Home — Self-preservation — The Commercial 
 Travellers' Schools — Charles Dickens, 1859 — Use and 
 
CONTENTS. xiii 
 
 PAGES 
 
 Abuse of Charity — ^James Hughes — A Lame Excuse — Rt. 
 Hon. W. H. Smith, M.P.— Our Institutions not Self- 
 supporting, a Disgrace — How the " Schools " began — Mr. 
 James Plughes' Latest Offer — The Founding of the "Bene- 
 volent " Institution — Qualification for Members and Special 
 Relief Fund — N. R. H. Humphrey's Speech — The Commer- 
 cial Travellers' Christian Association — Its Objects and 
 Aims — Henry Lea of Reading — The British Commercial 
 Travellers' Provident Society — United Kingdom Commer- 
 cial Travellers' Association — Its Branches — The Commercial 
 Travellers' Society of Scotland — The North of England 
 Commercial Travellers' Association — North and West of 
 Ireland Commercial Travellers' Association . . 122-143 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 TOWN TRAVELLING. 
 
 Returns of Town and Country Travellers compared — Keen- 
 ness of Town Men — G. A. Sala on the Citizens of London 
 — A Prominent American on London Men — The Pure 
 Cockney — Town Travellers' Advantages — The Best Berth 
 in the Ship — The Opinion of " One of the Crowd " — "The 
 Grand Seigneur" — The Habitual Growler — The Bilious 
 "Commercial" — Freemasons and Commercial Travellers — 
 The Model Man 144-164 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 MEN WITH AND WITHOUT AN IDEAL. 
 
 A Youth's First Journey — Aim High — ^John Bright's Assertion 
 — Men without an Idea — Fools a Blessing to Others — A 
 Contrast — The True Secret of Success — " Know thyself" — 
 Confidence 165-174 
 
xiv CONTENTS. 
 
 chapter xii. 
 
 our colonial travellers and the american 
 ''drummer:' 
 
 PAGES 
 
 Her Majesty and England's Greatness — The Real Cause — The 
 Effect of War on Commerce — The Foreign Trading of Half 
 a Century — Merchant Princes — Bastard Aristocrats and the 
 Genuine — The Man "who stands Firmest in his Shoes" 
 — The Colonial Traveller — His Pluck and Endurance — 
 Tact and Talent — Colonial Commercial Travellers' Associa- 
 tions — The American "Drummer" — The Miles he travels — 
 His Expenses — The Iniquitous Tax — The Thousand-Mile 
 Ticket — H. J. W. on travelling in Australia — Colonial 
 Hotels — A Practical Joke — Advice to Home Export 
 Agents 175-203 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 TYPES OF SUCCESSFUL TRA VELLERS. 
 
 What is Success ? — Movement is Life — Ruskin on Success — 
 Coming, Seeing, Conquering — From the Sheepfold to the 
 Throne— The Average Man— The Artificial Traveller— The 
 Miser — Morrison the Millionaire — The Over-anxious Man — 
 The "La-di-da" Commercial — The Brilliantly Successful 
 —"The Survival of the Fittest "—Richard Cobden— H. A. 
 Jones the Dramatist— George Moore, his First Appearance 
 in London, with Messrs. Fisher, as a Town Traveller — His 
 Traits as a Man of Business — As a Country Traveller — Out- 
 witting an Opponent — Becomes a Partner — Marries a Wife 
 — Alderman and Sheriff Whitehead — His Birthplace — First 
 Visit to London — In the Bradford Trade — His Success as a 
 Traveller — His Average Working Hours — His Annual Sales 
 — As an Opponent — His Connection with the Citizen — 
 Director of Messrs. Pawson's — As a Politician — He becomes 
 Alderman and Sheriff . 204-246 
 
 THE BEST HOTELS TO VISIT .... 247 
 
^&i'^^M&^m: 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 THE SADDLE-BAG MAN FrOfltispiece 
 
 THE FOUR-WHEELER IO3 
 
 THE RAILWAY STATION II 9 
 
 THE COMMERCIAL TRAVELLERS' SCHOOLS, PINNER . . I29 
 
 *'THE GRAND SEIGNEUR" I53 
 
 GEORGE MOORE 229 
 
 ALDERMAN AND SHERIFF WHITEHEAD, J.P,, D.L., ETC. . 24I 
 
A DEFINITION. 
 
*' They eats, they drinks, they smokes, they sleeps, 
 and we do all the work." 
 
 A Noted "Boots." 
 

 Tir wivvwmtr imjiMyi "UIIJUll' . ^ '1, ^t-MM" <i3rii''7"'Mr[i 
 
 
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 CHAPTER I. 
 
 DEAN TRENCH has said that nothing is harder 
 than a definition, and to define absolutely who is 
 ^nd who is not a commercial traveller, is a question which 
 I shall not attempt to decide. It cannot be said that a 
 costermonger is not a commercial traveller, for he travels 
 regularly to the market, buys, sells, and gets his pre- 
 carious living by being constantly on the move in pur- 
 suit of commerce. No man can show more skill in 
 driving a bargain or making a sale, and is he not, every 
 inch of him, " a man of the road," and, in one sense at 
 least, also a man of much "railing"? 
 
 It would be impossible to produce a more striking 
 contrast to our modest costermonger, with his humble 
 donkey and rickety five-barred gate on two wheels, than 
 the Prince of Wales, who travels in state, heralded by 
 
4 A DEFINITION. 
 
 trumpeters, escorted by the military, and applauded by 
 the multitude, as he wends his way through our great 
 commercial centres and seaport towns, on one day to 
 lay the foundation-stone of a new Town Hall, on another 
 day to open a " New Alexandra Dock ; " one year busy 
 representing the English nation at a Paris Exposition,. 
 and another year President of a Fisheries Exhibition.. 
 I have heard it again and again remarked that H.R.H. 
 has travelled more thousands of miles than any other 
 Englishman, and always, when opportunity offered, doing 
 his utmost to further the great national interest — Com-^ 
 merce; and yet we cannot designate the Prince a "Com- 
 mercial Traveller," a " Bagman," or a "Drummer." 
 
 The difficulty is to say who can not^ rather than who- 
 can, lay claim to be placed under this title. Charles 
 Dickens himself, who not unfrequently used the com- 
 mercial room in his wanderings in search of information 
 and study of character, seemed to be puzzled by this 
 very question, so much so that he entitles a book the 
 *' Uncommercial Traveller," and says : 
 
 " Allow me to introduce myself — first negatively. 
 " No landlord is my friend and brother ; no chamber- 
 maid loves me ; no waiter worships me ; no " boots " 
 admires and envies me. No round of beef or tongue 
 or ham is expressly cooked for me ; no pigeon pie is 
 especially made for me ; no hotel advertisement is per- 
 sonally addressed to me ; no hotel room tapestried with 
 great coats and railway wrappers is set apart for me ; no^ 
 
THE PRINCE A " COMMERCIAL:' 5 
 
 house of public entertainment in the United Kingdom 
 greatly cares for my opinion of its brandy or sherry. 
 When I go upon my journeys I am not usually rated at 
 a low figure in the bill : when I come home from my 
 journeys I never get any commission. I know nothing 
 about prices, and should have no idea, if I were put to 
 it, how to wheedle a man into ordering something he 
 does not want. As a town traveller, I am never to be 
 seen driving a vehicle externally like a young and volatile 
 pianoforte van, and internally like an oven in which a 
 number of flat boxes are baking in layers. As a country 
 traveller, I am rarely to be found in a gig, and am never 
 to be encountered by a pleasure train, waiting on the 
 platform of a branch station, quite a Druid in the midst 
 of a light Stonehenge of samples. 
 
 *' And yet — proceeding now to introduce myself posi- 
 tively — I am both a town traveller and a country traveller, 
 and am always on the road. Figuratively speaking, I 
 travel for the great house of Human Interest Brothers, 
 and have rather a large connection in the fancy goods 
 way. Literally speaking, I am always wandering here 
 and there from my rooms in Covent Garden, London — 
 now about the city streets, now about the country by- 
 roads — seeing many little things, and some great things, 
 which, because they interest me, I think may interest 
 others. 
 
 " These are my brief credentials as the Uncommercial 
 Traveller." And yet Dickens says, " I am both a 
 
6 A DEFINITION. 
 
 couniry and a town traveller, and am always on the 
 road ; " so that in lieu of having to speak of 50,000 or 
 60,000 commercial travellers, we should have hundreds 
 of thousands, for every man and woman engaged in 
 business which Occasions them to solicit orders outside 
 of their own establishments (no matter how small their 
 order sheets may be), be they hucksters or chimney- 
 sweeps, newspaper boys or match-sellers, zn a sense they 
 are indisputably commercial travellers. Well, for the 
 reader's consolation I will say no more respecting these 
 unofficial commercials, for it is not of the militia of the 
 road I wish to speak, but of the bona fide regular traveller, 
 who has his credentials from mercantile houses of un- 
 doubted standing and repute ; men who are in receipt of 
 at least a guinea per diem for expenses, who stay at 
 recognized commercial hotels, and whose children are 
 eligible for election to the Commercial Travellers' Schools, 
 or themselves to become members of the Commercial 
 Travellers' Benevolent Institution. 
 
 The above is an attempt to define and bring us, as the 
 politician would say, " within measurable distance " of 
 the meaning of the term "Commercial Traveller." 
 
 :^ 
 
THEIR NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS AND 
 CHIEF CHARACTERISTICS. 
 
'* That which ordinary men are fit for, I am 
 qualified in ; and the best of me is diligence." — 
 King Lear. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE qualifications necessary for a good traveller are 
 of such an unique character that it is always more 
 difficult to select a man for the road than for any other 
 position in a large mercantile house. It being a popular 
 appointment, and the talent required being so consider- 
 ably underrated by aspiring applicants, it becomes per- 
 plexing to select the right man out of the many who 
 imagine themselves able to fill so important a position. 
 
 If a lad has a talent for figures, you can educate him 
 by the slow process of evolution from an entering clerk, 
 through the counting-house, to be chief cashier, and be 
 pretty sure of getting the right man in the right place. 
 You can watch the movements of your apprentices step 
 by step, until they reach the counter, and quickly test their 
 ability as salesmen. 
 
lo THEIR NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS. 
 
 There are also special qualifications required to 
 make a successful buyer — judgment, enterprise, and 
 discretion, traits which many an excellent salesman 
 does not possess ; and yet the difficulty of selection is 
 not so great, for the first salesman, with ordinary ability, 
 has had the opportunity for years (too many in most 
 instances for his own advantage) of watching his buyers' 
 tactics and getting well educated, " posted up," and fitted 
 for the vacancy when it occurs. None of these opportuni- 
 ties are open to the would-be traveller, for with the excep- 
 tion of a little " binxing " (going round town occasionally 
 for his own department), or a special journey now and 
 then with a country representative, he is an untried man. 
 
 This I consider the weakest point in the management 
 of most of the large houses, as the travelling department 
 is rapidly becoming the most important branch. Even 
 old firms, who for many years prided themselves on 
 being able to dispense with travellers, have now, in 
 nearly every instance, succumbed to the high pressure 
 of the times, which has compelled them to send out 
 representatives to do the business which formerly came 
 without soHcitation. Notwithstanding that this depart- 
 ment, in all " go-ahead " houses, is the pivot on which 
 the bulk of their trade directly and indirectly turns, there 
 is, as I have already remarked, little or no opportunity 
 for a man to secure the experience necessary for so im- 
 portant a position. I am therefore of opinion that it is 
 necessary to apprentice a man for one or two years to a 
 
A GOOD TRAVELLER INVALUABLE, ii 
 
 skilled traveller of long standing, to a man who is known 
 for his knowledge of business, his steady habits, industry, 
 reliability, determined perseverance, and general success. 
 
 A young man has in most cases to make his first 
 venture as a traveller as a speculation both for himself 
 and the house — hence the frequent complete failure of 
 many men sent out, and consequent loss of trade to their 
 employers. 
 
 Quite recently a partner in one of the largest wholesale 
 London warehouses told me that he wanted a man to 
 cover an important ground, and that out of the two hun- 
 dred men in their employ, there was not one he could 
 select and with any degree of confidence say, " You will 
 make a traveller, you are fit for the appointment." And 
 as a further endorsement of what I have advanced, 
 nothing is so satisfactory to men who are established on 
 the road as to hear of a strong opponent having left the 
 ground to be followed by a new and untried man ; such 
 a change usually tends to his advantage and to the detri- 
 ment of his new competitor. This applies to the 
 traveller who changes his employers, for, with few excep- 
 tions, men come to grief who leave their first house, if it 
 be a fairly good one. " A rolling stone gathers no moss " 
 is most applicable to the man of the road, for if he be 
 in any degree the right man, he can always command a 
 remuneration that will do away with the necessity of a 
 change, the most successful men being those who have 
 travelled for one firm only. 
 
12 THEIR NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS. 
 
 An ambassador of commerce must of necessity be a 
 born traveller^ equally with the poet, artist, or musician ; 
 he must take to travelling as naturally as a cygnet to the 
 water, or as a lark to the skies ; and if a man has not this 
 gift, this tact, this genius, and this adaptability, no 
 amount of drilling will ever compensate him for the lack 
 of these necessary qualifications. 
 
 It has been said : " The cygnet finds the water, but 
 the man is ignorant of his element and feels out blind at 
 first ; " this is most true, but as a rule it is no fault of the 
 man himself, he being too often cramped in positions of 
 other people's selection, positions the very opposite to 
 which his tastes and talents would naturally have led 
 him. My impression is that with a proper study of the 
 bias of the minds of children by the parent or teacher, 
 and care in the choice of a suitable business or pro- 
 fession, much trouble and pain might be spared them in 
 after life. A strong case in point is George Moore, who 
 says of himself : " My employer, Mr. Fisher, said of me, 
 that he had had many a stupid blockhead from Cumber- 
 land, but that I was the greatest of them all." The truth 
 was that George Moore as a warehouseman was confined 
 and cribbed hke a caged bird, fretting and beating its 
 wings against the bars of its prison-house with no oppor- 
 tunity of expansion ; but no sooner had " George " 
 secured the freedom to act in a character for which 
 nature had prepared him than his particular abilities as a 
 traveller shone out, rapidly lighting him to the front. 
 
UWiv 
 
 r , 
 
 A ROUND MAN IN A SQUARE HOLE. 13 
 
 The square boy was now out of the round hole, and he 
 was not long in showing his employer the stuff of which 
 he was made, causing Mr. Fisher entirely to change his 
 opinion of him. Moore was now found to be too good for 
 a town traveller, and in about eighteen months afterwards 
 he was appointed to the Liverpool and Manchester 
 circuit. The youth in the warehouse, upbraided for his 
 stupidity, proved on the road so brilliant a man that Mr. 
 Fisher "became proud of him." George Moore has 
 been called " a genius of the road;" the term genius has 
 been interpreted as *' the art of taking pains," which is 
 the chief characteristic of all classes of successful men, 
 but more especially of the ambassador of commerce, for 
 whilst in most positions men are under the immediate 
 eye and control of their employers, the traveller is of 
 necessity left very much to his own resources and idea 
 of what constitutes a fair day's labour. He has perfect 
 freedom as to the hours he may take for work, rest, and 
 pleasure; he has no command to obey but duty, no 
 master to serve but self-respect ; if he has added to these 
 the art of taking pains, he is bound to win ; if he has all 
 other acquirements and not this, he is as certain to miss, 
 the mark, for all the brilliancy, tact, and judgment he may 
 possess will not serve him in place of that indomitable 
 application which is deaf to difficulties, brooks no failure, 
 and fears no amount of labour or opposition. 
 
 A real commercial traveller will think much about his 
 business, dream of it, love it, ay ! even worship it, con- 
 
14 THEIR NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS. 
 
 sidering no day too long in the prosecution of it. George 
 Moore worked on an average sixteen hours a day, and 
 had Httle hope of a man who worked less. 
 
 Another characteristic of a good traveller is his thorough 
 knowledge of human nature, and ability to adapt him- 
 self impromptu to any phase of it. He is a quick and 
 accurate observer of character, and smart in forming 
 business judgments. He can see at a glance the motives 
 and capacities of men, and reads them as men read 
 common print. The fawning sycophant is as soon 
 detected and as much despised by him as the honest, 
 straightforward man is discovered and respected. Know- 
 ing human nature so well, he is at once the master of 
 those who do not, and it is in this his superiority lies. 
 Lord Beaconsfield had this trait pre-eminently. In his 
 first novel, " Vivian Grey," he remarks : " Humanity 
 is my game." He made this his great study, and 
 moulded to his own successful purposes that portion of 
 humanity most difficult to move, men with fixed ideas, 
 unbounded wealth, and strong prejudices ; said to be the 
 proudest aristocracy the world has ever seen. To con- 
 quer and educate this element of humanity was the 
 young Disraeli's highest ambition, and how he succeeded 
 by his tact, judgment, and knowledge of human nature, 
 his determined perseverance amidst mountains of difficul- 
 ties, showing a buoyancy of spirit under the most humi- 
 liating reverses, is now part and parcel of the history of 
 this great empire, and in this respect at least Lord 
 
DISRAELI AS AN EXAMPLE, 15 
 
 Beaconsfield is an example to all young men of enter- 
 prise and ambition, and to the young commercial traveller 
 in particular. I shall never forget the impression made 
 on myself by those memorable words at the close of 
 Disraeli's maiden speech in the House of Commons : 
 "Ay! sir, and though I sit down now, the time will 
 come when you will hear me." This earnestness of 
 character is not unfrequently mistaken for hardness, of 
 soul, ughness of temper, and utter selfishness, when it is 
 but the outcome of a man with a purpose in life which 
 he is determined to fulfil. He is always active and san- 
 guine, persistently advocating his own interests. He is 
 also a most uncompromising but scrupulous opponent. 
 
 I know of no one word which more fully represents 
 the calling of the traveller than the term ambassador, 
 for he is always absent on important busil^ss, and his 
 occupation is far away from the seat of govfeiment. He 
 must be truly a representative of th^'' bpinions and 
 interests of those at home, always remembering that his 
 success and theirs are identical, never playing into the 
 enemy's hands. He may have his general instructions 
 where he is to go, and on whom he is to call, but he 
 must not be burdened with too much " red tape," or the 
 object of his mission will be defeated. He must be a 
 man of originality and strong individuality, perfectly free 
 and untrammelled. A good traveller will always com- 
 mand this freedom of action, for who can be so correct 
 a judge of the requirements of the ground he covers as 
 
1 6 THEIR NE CESSAR V Q UALIFICATIONS. 
 
 himself? A weak man, who has to be dictated to from 
 headquarters, lacks the true spirit of an ambassador, and 
 will prove of no service to himself or his employers. In 
 a sentence, a "commercial" will be respected just in 
 proportion to the respect which he has for himself, 
 and his position will be higher or lower just to the 
 extent that this respect is manifested. A sterling, 
 smart fellow will not require even the "crack of the 
 whip," for, being a " law unto himself," he does not need 
 the assistance of any further instructions, for it is usually 
 more necessary to warn him against doing too much 
 than to press him to do nriOre. On the other hand, if he 
 cannot do a trade without a constant urging, he is either 
 unfit foriiis position, or those superintending at home, 
 having had no experience of the road themselves, being 
 unable to di-ect, are equally unfit for their positions. A 
 pound of prav tice, in every walk of life, is worth a ton of 
 theory. I have seen a good average man made totally 
 unfit for his day's work, every particle of interest and "go" 
 taken out of him, by some stupid remarks in a letter to 
 him by a more than stupid governor, or by a man placed 
 in a false position over him. Unless principals can write 
 letters of sympathy and encouragement to their ambassa- 
 dors, they had better keep their pens dry, or recall the 
 men who necessitate such attentions. It is a question of 
 all or no confidence. 
 
 If the traveller is " worth his salt," he will not submit 
 to the slightest dictation ; if he is not, no amount of 
 
A HINT TO PRINCIPALS. 17 
 
 writing or forcing will ever make him worth even so 
 simple a commodity. 
 
 Tact is also a most necessary requirement; circum- 
 stances are constantly occurring that will necessitate 
 smart and prompt exercise of the judicial faculty; money 
 is often made or lost, without even time for a reply 
 telegram ; the reputation of the house sacrificed and the 
 customer lost, by an injudicious word, or an uncalled- 
 for remark of the representative. 
 
 Speaking of tact, there is an amusing story told of an 
 old "commercial" who was determined to do with a very 
 good but very crotchety draper. Calling upon him one 
 day and presenting his card as usual soliciting orders, he 
 met with the anticipated rebuff: "I have nothing to say 
 to you j cannot you take No for an answer ? " and he was 
 ordered out of the shop. Two hours afterwards he 
 returns and again accosts his customer by saying, "I 
 have executed your order and have just come in to say 
 good day." " Order ! " replied the astonished draper ; 
 " I gave you no order ! " " Oh yes, you did ! " replied 
 the "commercial;" "do you not remember the order to 
 leave your premises ? " This so tickled the man that he 
 said, "Well, you are a decent fellow and not easily 
 offended, you can send So-and-so, and So-and-so." 
 
 In Smiles' " Life of George Moore," the following is 
 narrated : " Many are the stories still told by commercial 
 travellers about George Moore's determination to get 
 orders. He would not be denied. If refused at first, 
 
 3 
 
1 8 THEIR NECESSAR V Q UALIFICA TIONS. 
 
 he resorted to all sorts of expedients until he succeeded. 
 On one occasion he sold the clothes off his back to get 
 an order. A tenacious draper in a Lancashire town 
 refused to deal with him. The draper was quite satisfied 
 with the firm that supplied him, and he would make no 
 change. This became known among the commercial 
 travellers at the hotel, and one of them made a bet of 
 j£^ with George Moore that he would not obtain an 
 order. 
 
 " George set out again. The draper saw him entering 
 the shop, and cried out, * All full ! all full, Mr. Moore I 
 I told you so before ! ' ' Never mind,' said George, ' you 
 won't object to a crack.' * Oh no!' said the draper. They 
 cracked about many things, and then George Moore,, 
 calling the draper's attention to a new coat which he 
 wore, asked, 'What he thought of it?' 'It's a capital 
 coat,' said the draper. ' Yes, first-rate ; made in the best 
 style by a first-rate London tailor.' The draper looked 
 at it again, and again admired it. ' Why,' said George, 
 'you "are exactly my size; it's quite new, I'll sell it you.'' 
 'What's the price?' 'Twenty-five shillings.' 'What! 
 that's very cheap.' 'Yes, it's a great bargain.' 'Then 
 I'll buy it,' said the draper. 
 
 " George went back to his hotel, donned another suit,, 
 and sent the ' great bargain ' to the draper. George 
 calling again, the draper offered to pay him. ' No, no,' 
 said George, ' I'll book it ; you've opened an account.'' 
 Mr. Moore had sold the coat at a loss, but he was re- 
 
A GREAT BARGAIN. 19 
 
 couped by the j£$ bet which he won, and he obtained 
 an order besides. The draper afterwards became one of 
 his best customers. 
 
 *' On another occasion a silk mercer at Newcastle- 
 upon-Tyne was called upon many times without any 
 result. He was always 'full.' In fact he had no inten- 
 tion of opening an account with the new firm. Mr. 
 Moore got to know that he was fond of a particular kind 
 of snuff — rappee, with a touch of beggar's brown in it. 
 He provided himself with a box in London, and had it 
 filled with the snuff. When at Newcastle he called upon 
 the silk mercer, but was met as usual with the remark, 
 ' Quite full, quite full, sir.' ' Well,' said Moore, ' I 
 scarcely expected an order, but I called upon you for 
 a reference.' 'Oh, by all means.' In the course of 
 conversation George took out his snuff-box, took a pinch, 
 and put it in his pocket. After a short interval he took 
 it out again, took another pinch, and said, * I suppose 
 you are not guilty of this bad habit?' 'Sometimes,' 
 said the draper. George handed him the box. He 
 took a pinch with zest, and said, through the snuff, 
 ' Well, that's very fine ! ' George had him now. He 
 said, ' Let me present you with the box ; I have plenty 
 more.' He accepted the box. No order was asked, but 
 the next time George called upon him he got his first 
 order, and the draper long continued to be one of his 
 best customers." 
 
 In one of the early numbers of that excellent penny- 
 
20 THEIR NECESSAR Y Q UALIFICA TIONS, 
 
 worth, " Funny Folks," an illustration is given of a very 
 pressing commercial traveller and an exasperated hosier. 
 The latter said, " Did I not tell you that I had had more 
 travellers than customers, and that I would not look at 
 an article." " Well !" replied the traveller, "you don't 
 mind me having a look at the samples myself, for trade 
 has been so bad, I have not seen them for the last six 
 days." 
 
 A personal friend of mine, T. K., once advised a 
 customer, and received the following on a post-card : 
 "'All the world's a stage, and men and women merely 
 players,' but you are not required to perform at W. this 
 time. Kind regards. Yours truly, H." 
 
 T. K., a splendid fellow, ordered his conve3^ance as 
 usual, and drove the ten miles to W., and on pulling up 
 at his customer's door was accosted by a " Halloa ! 
 You here ! Did you not get my card?" " I did," re- 
 plied T. K., " but I'm not * a player,' I am a worker, 
 and want an order \ " and he got it too, for not less than 
 fifty pounds' worth of goods. 
 
 I mention these instances not so much to cause a 
 laugh as to show the tact and good humour with which 
 a genuine commercial takes his rebuffs, the happy way 
 he has of turning the poisoned arrow, and the smart 
 manner in which he mans his commercial ship, enticing 
 and catching every breath of " the trade winds " into its 
 sails, so that his boat may bound gaily over the troubled 
 waters, and enter the port of success. 
 
NEVER TAKE ''NO'' FOR AN ANSWER. 21 
 
 A man physically weak cannot make a successful 
 traveller. A robust constitution is most necessary, a 
 healthy son of healthy parents very requisite. The mind 
 and the body being so closely connected, a pure and 
 natural flow of blood to feed the brain is of great 
 importance to clear thinking and correct action. 
 
 This is necessary to any ordinary man of business, and 
 is indispensable to the " commercial " who has to go out 
 and make a trade. I use the word make advisedly, for 
 more than fifty per cent, of the orders have to be made, 
 not by the buyer, who is seldom in want of anything, 
 but by the seller, who has to create the want before he 
 supplies it. A man with a sickly dyspeptic body too 
 often takes " No " for an answer, and thus fails where a 
 man of stronger physique succeeds. Most of the 
 healthiest and best men are recruited from the provinces, 
 thus bringing into the market a constant supply of fresh 
 blood, strong bodies, and clear brains. There is a 
 marked difference between the town and the country 
 bred youth. Smiles gives the best description of this 
 contrast that I have ever read ; he says, *' Country-bred 
 boys are slow, whilst town-bred boys are quick. Time 
 is of Httle consequence in the village ; whilst time is of 
 every consequence in the city. In the country you may 
 saunter along half asleep ; whereas in the town you must 
 push along wide-awake. You see the rapidity of London 
 life in the streets, where everybody is walking with 
 rapidity, bent on some purpose or another. 
 
22 THEIR NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS 
 
 " It is the same in places of business. Everything is 
 concentrated into a few working hours. During that 
 time everybody is working at the top of his bent. Hence 
 the rapid movements of the town-bred lad. He may be 
 shallow and frivolous ; he may know next to nothing 
 out of his own groove ; but he must be sharp, smart, and 
 clever. The city boy scarcely grows up : he is rushed 
 up. He lives amid a constant succession of excitements, 
 one obliterating another. In fact, his reflective powers 
 have scarcely time to grow and expand. 
 
 " It is very different with the country boy. He is 
 much slower in arriving at his maturity than the town 
 boy ; but he is greater when he reaches it. He is hard 
 and unpolished at first ; whereas the town boy is worn 
 smooth by perpetual friction, like the pebbles in a run- 
 ning stream. The country boy learns a great deal, 
 though he may seem to be unlearned. He knows a 
 great deal about nature, and a great deal about men. 
 He has had time to grow. His brain-power is held in 
 reserve. 
 
 " Hence the curious fact that, in course of time, the 
 country-bred boy passes the city-bred boy, and rises to 
 the highest positions in London life. Look at all the 
 great firms, and you will find that the greater number of 
 the leading partners are those who originally were 
 country-bred boys." 
 
 I may add that this endurance or staying power will 
 always tell in favour of its fortunate possessor ; it will be 
 
TOWN YOUTHS &^ COUNTRY YOUTHS. 23 
 
 an illustration of the old fable of the hare and the 
 tortoise ; the town-bred man will be the swifter, but as 
 *' the race is not always to the swift," the steady, plodding, 
 strong-framed village lad usually succeeds. Hence we 
 see no Frenchmen in our warehouses, and but few Irish — 
 those we have come from the north of Ireland, with a 
 strong admixture of Scotch blood in their veins. Scotch- 
 men themselves are very numerous, and not unfrequently 
 hold positions of considerable importance and trust. 
 They are not brilliant, but are blessed with a splendid 
 physique and that dogged perseverance which never fails 
 of success. I may also instance the same qualities in 
 the Germans, who so often outstrip our own youths in 
 the race. 
 
 I am not an alarmist, and fear nothing of the future 
 of true Britons, but I warn the careless and indifferent 
 manufacturers, warehousemen, and travellers that royalty 
 is not the only portion of the inhabitants of this island 
 tinctured with German blood and power, but that 
 London, Manchester, and all our large towns, are 
 thronged with enterprising young Germans, who are 
 powerful competitors in business. 
 
 There are two reasons for this. Their military pre- 
 cautions are so urgent and exacting that life becomes 
 a burden to them at home. Hence Germany sends 
 more emigrants annually to the United States than any 
 other country, and great numbers come here from the 
 same cause. The other reason why they are such strong 
 
 /' OF THE ' 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
24 THEIR NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS. 
 
 competitors is that they are so frugal and so extremely 
 economical that we cannot hold our own with them, if 
 they be on equal terms with us in other respects. It is 
 a marvel to us how they keep up their vigorous constitu- 
 tions on bouillon, sauer kraut, and lager beer; from 
 whatever cause, they are opponents not to be despised, 
 and our young warehousemen will lose nothing by 
 keeping a watchful eye on their Teutonic cousins, the 
 Germans. 
 
 Mentally, the commercial traveller must be above the 
 average of intelligent beings. He must be well posted 
 up in the news of the day, ready to answer any question, 
 and give a rational opinion on current topics. He often 
 has to give an opinion without much thought, but from 
 habit he is quick in making up his mind, and from 
 experience is not often wrong in his decision ; but he is 
 somewhat bombastic in manner and most pronounced in 
 his assertions. This comes from an over-development 
 of self-reliance and strong individuality, so necessary 
 to him in his daily occupation. This is a well-known 
 trait of the ambassador of commerce, and not a few 
 carry it even into their homes and the minutiae of life. 
 
 As a rule he is not intellectual; the little he does 
 know he has a very happy way of spinning out and 
 using to the best advantage. He is somewhat preten- 
 tious and overbearing in his conversation, but during the 
 last few years he has considerably improved in this 
 respect. 
 
THEIR MENTAL ACQUIREMENTS. 25 
 
 There are a few " bookworms " in their ranks, and a 
 few men who have a smattering of scientific knowledge, 
 or who know something of the history of their own 
 country; but they are the exception to the rule. The 
 ordinary " commercial " has a very superficial knowledge 
 of literature, and only knows Darwin as the man who 
 said " we came from the ape, and once had a tail ; " 
 " that Queen Anne is dead ; " that " * a man is a man for 
 a' that,' as Shakespeare says in his Paradise Lost : " 
 but they are great on wine and good living, and can tell 
 you where the best glass of good old port or fine madeira 
 (which to their certain knowledge has been twice round 
 the Cape) can be had, and also what hotel proprietor 
 gives the best spread on a Sunday. 
 
 As a politician, his tendency has generally been of a 
 conservative character ; this, too, is to be accounted for 
 by the fighting qualities which are developed by his 
 having hourly to hold his own against the forces of his 
 competitors in trade. This was most notable' through- 
 out the Russo-Turkish war, and more recently during the 
 Egyptian difficulty; "Never say die" and "Nil despe- 
 randum " being his chief mottoes. 
 
 The successful traveller is also conservative for another 
 reason, precisely the same for which an enlightened 
 Scotchman turned his political coat in 1880. When 
 asked why he, being a Liberal, had voted Tory, replied 
 that he had "got a coo now." I have known others 
 than Scotchmen become less Radical after having made a 
 
26 THEIR NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS, 
 
 few thousand pounds, and am inclined to think from 
 such cases that the interpretation of the term "demo- 
 crat," viz., " a would-be aristocrat," is not so far off the 
 mark. 
 
 The " commercial " is strong as a politician, and I 
 wish this to be understood in no mean or narrow sense, 
 for I have again and again heard discussions of a political 
 character carried on in the commercial room until the 
 small hours, with no inconsiderable ability, and with 
 much sound information, historical knowledge, and 
 logical acumen. We have commercial travellers mem- 
 bers of the House of Commons to-day, others who have 
 written political pamphlets of no mean order, and a host 
 of men who are chairmen of political clubs and other 
 organizations, men who can speak well at public meet- 
 ings and influence the popular vote to a large extent. I 
 am also acquainted with several sterling men who would 
 be an acquisition to so intelligent an assembly, as the 
 trading interests of this great empire are inadequately 
 represented by the members of the present House of 
 Commons. 
 
 The late M. Gambetta's idea of pressing into the 
 service as independent electioneering agents the impor- 
 tant and powerful corporation of commercial travellers 
 shows considerable political sagacity. It is a fact not 
 generally known that these travellers possess great politi- 
 cal influence ; and all the more effectual is their support 
 of any party that, not being professed politicians, and 
 
AS POLITICIANS. 27 
 
 not being therefore personally interested in the results 
 of an electioneering campaign, their advice and recom- 
 mendations are viewed without distrust by the provincial 
 folks among whom they follow their professional avoca- 
 tions. The side taken up by them is, as a rule, the side 
 that is likely to win. Under the Restoration it was they 
 who kept alive the curious combination of Bonapartism 
 and Liberalism which culminated in the revolution of 
 July. Their quiet but effectual action had much to do 
 in creating that state of public opinion which led to the 
 revolution of 1848, and the subsequent resuscitation of 
 the Empire. At a dinner to French commercial travellers, 
 over which he presided some little time ago, M. Gambetta 
 graphically described how signally they had contributed 
 to the defeat of May 1 6th. 
 
 It is generally admitted that a traveller will do a larger 
 trade with men of his own nationality than a stranger 
 will ; that is to say, in Scotland, Ireland, or Wales an 
 Englishman is seldom so successful, although he may 
 have more ability. It is equally the case in the different 
 parts of England. A traveller will almost always do 
 more business in the neighbourhood and with the people 
 he knows most about ; this is obvious for several reasons. 
 He understands the character of his customers, and the 
 class of goods which will best suit the locality; he is 
 acquainted with their tastes, peculiarities, and prejudices. 
 He can crack provincial jokes in their o-v^n patois. He 
 has probably been a schoolmate of one client, and may 
 
28 THEIR NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS. 
 
 have been apprenticed with another, and has Hved as a 
 salesman with some one else. He has, perhaps, married 
 the daughter of Mr. G., who is related to or friendly with 
 Mr. H., another customer ; this is all natural, pleasant, 
 and means business. It always was and will be so as 
 long as humanity is made of similar materials. I see 
 nothing objectionable in this. "Blood is thicker than 
 water," and anything which promotes friendship and 
 good feeling, and adds to the " rosiness " of life and a 
 traveller's order-book should be encouraged. We find 
 the same sentiment manifested by many employers. A 
 Devonshire or a Cumberland principal cannot help being 
 biassed in favour of men from his native county. I have 
 heard it remarked that " It's no use applying at So-and- 
 so's for a berth, as there is no chance for any but 
 Cumberland men." 
 
AS SALESMEN. 
 HINTS TO YOUNG TRAVELLERS, 
 
" Fail — Fail ? In the lexicon of youth, which 
 fate reserves for a bright manhood, there is no such 
 word as fail ! " — BULWER's " RICHELIEU." 
 
 " Home-keeping youths have ever homely wits." 
 "Two Gentlemen of Verona.'" 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 HINTS TO YOUNG TRAVELLERS. 
 
 THIS book would be incomplete were I to omit the 
 most necessary trait in the composition of a " com- 
 mercial," namely, his ability as a salesman ; for a traveller 
 without this gift would be as useless as a rifle without 
 powder and shot, or a locomotive minus its steam. 
 Apropos to this point : — A gentleman at the head of 
 one of the largest City houses was once at Folkestone on 
 pleasure, and thought he might mingle a little business 
 with it, or at least shake hands with a customer or two, 
 thanking them for their past support, &c. With this 
 idea he called upon a draper, who was very busy dressing 
 his window and did not wish to be disturbed. The 
 gendeman in question having waited for some time, and 
 no notice being taken of him, at last went up to the 
 proprietor and said, " My name is So-and-so ! " " Oh 1 
 
32 AS SALESMEN. 
 
 indeed ! " was the curt reply. " It's a fine morning ! " 
 said the City man. No answer. He waited some few 
 minutes longer and again repeated the salutation in rather 
 a louder voice, "It's a fine morning, Sir." "I think I 
 heard you say that before ! " This was so crushing that 
 he quietly walked out of the shop, and in his inmost 
 heart resolved that he would never call upon a customer 
 again, feeling that whatever ability he might possess, 
 tackling a customer was evidently not his forte. Those 
 who have never solicited orders have little conception of 
 the courage required to overcome the difficulties and 
 obstacles that hedge a traveller in on all sides. Men 
 who only sit at home and daily open two or three hundred 
 post orders and a score or more of order sheets from 
 their representatives have but a faint idea of what each 
 order represents in toil of brain and body. They have 
 not the remotest conception of the amount of tact, per- 
 severance, and ingenuity required to secure each morning's 
 result. So little did the senior partner of the firm I first 
 represented understand travelling, that he innocently said 
 to me as I was about to start on my maiden journey, 
 " You will only have to show them our card, Sir, and 
 they will give you their orders." I have often wondered 
 where I or the business of the firm would now have been 
 if others with myself had acted upon such ignorant 
 advice. I consider that the true art of selling is to be 
 able to push the trade without permitting your customer 
 to feel that you are forcing goods upon him. To bore 
 
FRIENDSHIP IN B U SIN ESS. 33 
 
 your friends is " bad form," and buyers avoid this class 
 of salesman, and to him are often " not at home." The 
 old proverb, " Speech is silvern but silence is golden," is 
 worth remembering even when selling a parcel, for when 
 your man is nibbling, give him line, bide your time, and 
 you will ultimately land him. 
 
 A mumbler or a stutterer will get laughed at ; therefore 
 it is important to be able to express one's self in suitable 
 language, and the plainer the better. 
 
 Cheerfulness is most requisite in a salesman — cheerful- 
 ness even to joviality — and to make your friends equally 
 happy should be your first object. 
 
 It has been said that Englishmen are ruled more by 
 custom and sentiment than by law. In business one of 
 the commonest remarks you hear made by buyers is that 
 " So-and-so is a decent fellow, but there is no friendship 
 in business ; " by which it is not meant that business 
 people have no business friends, but that friendship does 
 not influence them in their judgment or their purchases. 
 Notwithstanding this determination, how few there are 
 who are not thus influenced ! How often do these very 
 men say, " Mr. Genial is advised. I don't know of a 
 line that we are wanting ; but he is a capital fellow, and 
 we won't send him away without an order of some sort." 
 Or, " Mr. Bombast has called, Sir ! he will look in again 
 at two o'clock." " Tell him I am out," replies the same 
 man who is never influenced by friendship ; the two 
 travellers mentioned being from equally good houses. 
 
 4 
 
34 ^S SALESMEN, 
 
 Ever}' traveller is also aware that a similar sentiment and 
 custom applies to old houses of repute, which have a 
 prestige and a position that necessarily commands a 
 certain amount of respect and of trade, and how difficult 
 it is for young houses to remove this prejudice. They 
 are constantly confronted with the remark, " I like the 
 old firm. My father did with them before I was born ; 
 they have always used me fairly well. I know the buyers, 
 and they know me and my ways, and so long as they con- 
 tinue to use me fairly well I shall not think of changing." 
 And yet there is no friendship in business. The young 
 traveller who does not take this important fact into full 
 consideration will quickly find men who represent smaller 
 growing houses who do make friends of their customers, 
 gradually supplanting him, and finally shutting him out 
 altogether. A thoughtful man is pleased that it is so ; 
 for to be a mere money-grubber, grinding away from 
 January to Christmas for the sake of being able to say, 
 " I have increased my return so much this year ; I have 
 made so much money, and shall die worth such and such 
 an amount" — this is deplorable and degrading. He 
 becomes less than a man, a mere machine, a sordid soul- 
 less churl. I must, however, sound a note of warning 
 here. I do not wish it to be understood that sentiment 
 or friendship is everything, and that the value of goods, 
 especially in these days of hot competition, is nothing or 
 of little importance, for it would be as suicidal to depend 
 entirely on one as on the other of these commercial 
 
JIOIF TO ADDRESS A BUYER, 35 
 
 essentials. For during the last ten years it has been 
 most patent that many of the old houses who have trusted 
 to their historic prestige only are now defunct, while others 
 are in a weak, consumptive condition from the same 
 cause. To ensure, therefore, constant growth and com- 
 plete success, the traveller must start with goods on equal 
 terms with his competitors. If, in addition, he combines 
 the happy knack of making friends and looking them 
 well up, he need not fear for the results. 
 
 When addressing a customer it is bad policy to com- 
 mence by saying : '•'• Nothing in the linen department ? " 
 '■''Nothing in fruits?" but always address him in the 
 affirmative: ^^You want a number in brown hollands," 
 or, "This is a cheap line in rice." You want to entice 
 your customer into a "Yes," and not into a "No." I 
 remember that on many an occasion when I have sug- 
 gested that a roll or two of crape at a certain price was 
 wanted, I have been asked by my customer, " Who has 
 told you that we were out of crapes at that price ? " 
 " Oh, no one, I assure you ! " was my reply. " I simply 
 drew the bow at a venture, it being a price of which I 
 know you sell a large quantity." To an experienced 
 salesman these remarks will appear unnecessary ; but it 
 will do no harm to remind older salesmen that it is an 
 easy matter to fall into a slovenly way of addressing a 
 customer >Yhen introducing goods. 
 
 A thorough knowledge of the goods you are offering 
 will gain you the confidence of your chents ; indeed, 
 
36 AS SALESMEN. 
 
 unless you are better acquainted than the buyer with the 
 character of the article you are showing, you at once lose 
 caste and are discounted by him, thus failing to make 
 either an impression or a sale. 
 
 Implicit confidence in the veracity of a salesman is of 
 supreme importance. Misrepresentation of goods under 
 any circumstances is to be deprecated, and any exagge- 
 ration of the value is the worst policy. " Honesty is the 
 best policy," not only for a lifetime, but also for each 
 moment of it ; not only for a large transaction, but also 
 for the most modest. " Shaving a customer " is not only 
 most injudicious in a salesman, but it is fatal to all con- 
 fidence and self-respect ; and it finally leads to an empty 
 order-book and a lost situation. 
 
 There is an amusing story told of a Quaker and a 
 smart young fellow whom he had engaged from St. Paul's 
 Churchyard for his shawl department. A few hours after 
 his engagement a customer asked for a "Paisley long." 
 After giving the salesman a great deal of trouble, and 
 having inspected every shawl in the stock, she was about 
 to leave unsuited (no shawl that she had seen being good 
 enough), when the young man who wished to show his. 
 ability, not liking the first day to receive " a swop," said, 
 "You will pardon me, madam, but I had forgotten 
 that we have a case just in from Scotland. If you can 
 wait a minute or two I think I can please you." She 
 sat down again. In the meantime he hurriedly cleared 
 the counter, taking upstairs with him several of the 
 
''SHAVING'' A CUSTOMER. 37 
 
 shawls he had shown her. He refolded and re-marked 
 them, and returned with the very same shawls, all 
 marked a guinea higher in price. The lady again in- 
 spected them, and purchased one at four guineas, the 
 price she had made up her mind to give ; being no 
 judge of the real value of the article, like many foolish 
 persons who argue wnth themselves : " I ought to get a 
 decent dress for so much, and nothing is good enough 
 that doesn't cost that amount," thus exposing them- 
 selves to the process of what is termed in the trade 
 being " shaved." But to my story. The Quaker, who 
 had been nervously watching the whole proceedings, 
 remarked to the salesman that he did not allow his 
 assistants to make two prices. " Indeed ! " said the 
 young man ; " I thought you engaged me to sell your 
 goods ? " "Yes," replied the Quaker, " but at the prices 
 marked." " Well," said the young man, " I think I can 
 satisfy your scruples on the point. Anyway, I can quote 
 Scripture for what I have done." "If thou canst," said 
 the Quaker, " I and thee will be friends. What hast thou 
 to say ? " " She was a stranger and I took her in." His 
 employer pocketed the extra guinea and said no more. 
 
 I am inclined to think that the effect of a smart sales- 
 man on a buyer is somewhat mesmeric in character; 
 that animal magnetism, power of mind over mind, or 
 influence of mind over mere [matter, may be all at 
 work, and may be much greater factors in effecting a 
 sale than is generally acknowledged or even dreamed of. 
 
38 AS SALESMEN, 
 
 Those who have read " Philochristus " will better under- 
 stand what is meant by mesmeric force ; it is not 
 of necessity a noisy or pronounced power, for it 
 more often than otherwise comes and goes without 
 observation. You call, for instance, upon a man on a 
 cold, dismal November day, when his shop is empty ot 
 customers. He wants nothing, and if he did require 
 anything, trade is so indifferent that he would order 
 nothing ; and, to add to your discomfiture, he is at this 
 moment marking off goods purchased of yourself last 
 journey, and he has one or two complaints to make of 
 the dilatory manner in which the goods have been deli- 
 vered, and is quite sure that he did not order certain pat- 
 terns, and then has a bone to pick with your people 
 respecting some new arrangement of not charging empty 
 boxes on invoices. This is no uncommon case; in fact it is 
 so common that one is quite accustomed to hear a series 
 of complaints every journey, to which a good traveller 
 will listen patiently before introducing his samples. As 
 soon as the storm in the teapot is over, and the lull 
 comes, he says : " Well, trade is a little dull," and tries 
 to divert the mind of his customer to some brighter pic- 
 ture on the horizon ; and if there be no such horizon or 
 picture, he must create the one and paint the other. A 
 good salesman must be in this respect an artist — or at 
 least a word or scene painter — adapting himself to his 
 man. Of each individual he must make a separate study. 
 He cracks his joke with one, and is seriously disposed 
 
A SCIENTJnC SALESMAN. 39 
 
 with another. Under all circumstances a buyer must be 
 put into good humour. When you have converted the 
 frown into a smile, and the hard tone into a genial mood, 
 your commercial iron is hot, your novelty is on the 
 counter (never go in without your tools), and you now 
 strike, and are certain to elicit some sparks of approval. 
 "Yes ; that is something new ! " " This is likely to sell." 
 "What do you think of this now?" addressing the head 
 of the department (with whom you are, of course, always 
 on excellent terms). He agrees with the principal, and 
 the line in question is booked. The thin end of the 
 wedge is in, the ice is broken ; a few more happy strokes, 
 a few more novelties shown, a decent order is taken, and 
 all is pleasant and agreeable. The man who had turned 
 several travellers away this morning without a line, and 
 had, in fact, probably snubbed most of them ; the man 
 who would not buy an article of any one, " not even if 
 it were given him," this man has become your fast friend, 
 and to him you have been of infinite service. The 
 buyer you found miserable and morose, you have made 
 him agreeable and happy, having put money into his 
 purse by selling him a cheap parcel. Now the question 
 arises. Why did you succeed, and why did those who 
 called previously go empty away? It has occurred 
 again and again ; you do not quite understand it, and 
 for the life of you could not give a rational explanation 
 of so palpable a fact. The proverb runs : " The biggest 
 fools have the best luck." Don't believe a word of it. 
 
40 AS SALESMEN, 
 
 It is simply reaping the harvest which wisdom has sown, 
 for men nowadays, as of yore, do not gather grapes of 
 thorns or figs of thistles. I am of opinion that if we 
 knew as much of metaphysical as we do of physical laws, 
 we should find that they are as certain in their order and 
 exactness ; and those who are regardless of the working 
 of these laws will in all probability end their career in 
 mental failure and moral and commercial bankruptcy. 
 
 " Fools rush in where angels fear to tread," is a quota- 
 tion the sense of which can be applied to so poor a 
 subject as the commercial salesman, and the traveller 
 who rushes in with one stereotyped phrase, "Good morn- 
 ing, sir ; is there anything in my way to-day ? " or, " Will 
 you look at my patterns ? " when, taking " No " for an 
 answer, he need not wonder that he has no harvest to 
 reap. 
 
 I have now said enough to show what I mean by the 
 mesmeric power, and the difference between the clear- 
 brained genial man of tact and judgment who hourly 
 succeeds, and the weak, pessimistic, dyspeptic soul who 
 goes moaning through life without a ray of hope, miser- 
 able himself, and beclouding the sunshine of every one 
 else. A man fuddled and muddled always fails. We 
 have said that a representative salesman wins the respect 
 and confidence of his customer by strict integrity, being 
 as " straight as a line," and that he has this fine, subtle, 
 electric influence over all his customers ; always cheerful 
 and hopeful, and taking an optimistic view of life. He 
 
THE BOUNCER OF THE ROAD. 41 
 
 considers that "if life is to be worth living, it must 
 depend very much upon the liver ; " and withal this 
 power which he displays is never obtrusive nor ostenta- 
 tious, the person influenced being for the most part un- 
 conscious of the influence. We see the antithesis of all 
 this in the pronounced salesman, who by brute force, tall 
 talk, brag, and exaggeration — " all his ducks being geese, 
 and his geese swans " — pounces upon the unwary, 
 frightens some into ordering, cajoles others, and ruins 
 many by compelling them almost to buy more goods 
 than they can pay for. These men are well known on 
 the road, and are most useful to their wide-awake com- 
 petitors, who permit these "Big uns" to get "well in" 
 with risky accounts that they are anxious to "get out" of. 
 They were originally known as " pluggers," because they 
 " plugged " their customers with too many goods. George 
 Moore was not free from this egregious blundering, for it 
 is written of him " that he plugged them so much that 
 the next journey, and for some time to come, the drapers 
 could not buy anything ; " and we may add, what was 
 most probable, that many of them could not pay for 
 what they had previously purchased. 
 
 I have always found it better policy and safer trading 
 to under-^XzX^ rather than to ^^r-state, to advise moderate 
 rather than lavish purchases to your client. Any sug- 
 gestion that he should not buy such-and-such a line 
 which is not going very well, or that he should have only 
 half the quantity of another which he particularly fancied 
 
42 AS SALESMEN, 
 
 would bind the buyer and seller together in a bond that 
 no competition could sunder. A buyer will never forgive 
 you for having forced more goods upon him than his 
 trading requires or his capital warrants ; and piles of 
 goods staring you in the face journey after journey 
 militate against future business. You imagine at the 
 time that you have done a smart thing and may argue 
 that he ought to be the better judge of his requirements, 
 and that you cannot be buyer and seller too; which 
 remarks I have heard again and again, and have as often 
 condemned. They have always been made by those who 
 lack tact, genuine foresight, and true commercial genius. 
 For it is not what you can sell a man 07ie journey, but 
 what you can sell him for his interest every journey all 
 the year round that is of importance. Just as the interest 
 of the firm you represent is yours, so should the welfare 
 of your customers be yours also ; any divergence from 
 this straight line of conduct bringing in time its own 
 condemnation in the loss of trade, and finally in the loss 
 of your customer. So in this sense you are buyer and 
 seller too; i.e.^ you should be able to gauge the wants 
 of your friends both with regard to the quahty and 
 quantity of goods they can do with. This must be one 
 of your principal studies if you wish to become more 
 than a mere selling-machine, singing but one song to 
 all alike. In lieu of this you must be versatile, adapting 
 yourself and your goods to the varied natures and wants 
 of those with whom you come in contact. If it were 
 
THE NECESSITY OF TACT. 43 
 
 necessary to be "all things to all men" 1800 years ago 
 for their moral well-being, it is necessary to be all this 
 and more in the nineteenth century for their commercial 
 prosperity. If it were necessary then to be as wise as 
 one Serpent and as harmless as one Dove that you might 
 be of service to humanity, it is necessary nowadays to 
 have the wisdom of half a dozen of those reptiles and 
 the harmlessness of at least a dozen Hurlingham pigeons. 
 As there are no two blades of grass, no two leaves on a 
 tree, exactly alike, as there are no two human faces quite 
 similar, so the divergence of different minds and cha-, 
 racters is even greater ; and as I have said in a previous 
 chapter, a thorough knowledge of human nature is most 
 essential. You may have a score or more customers in 
 a town, no two of whom can be approached in the same 
 manner or treated in a similar way. One must be met 
 with humour, another with the mere platitudes of busi- 
 ness ; one will never buy until you have called three or 
 four times, another will " tick you off " smartly, look at 
 anything you may have to show, and his Yes or No 
 will be final. You may always expect from the latter 
 a courteous reception, an uniform attention, and a 
 respect for your time which should beget a similar 
 attitude on your part. I am of opinion that as good 
 masters make good servants, so good travellers will 
 make good customers and will command proper attention 
 if they only have the essential skill. This is patent to 
 any one who has had any experience on the road. The 
 
44 ^s salesmen: 
 
 traveller who is known to be easy-going, not to say 
 indolent, who generally takes double the time in a town 
 needful to do his business, who has no individuality of 
 character, no weight w^ith his customers, no energy — such 
 an one is without influence, or has not enough to com- 
 mand attention leading to respectful treatment and end- 
 ing in satisfactory results. This kind of man is great 
 only in writing long letters of complaints of trade, of the 
 weather, of " sellings off," and of " literally nothing to do 
 in the retail." The buyers never buy the right thing for 
 his ground, and in the choice of style and pattern are 
 absolutely without taste. Every other house has closer 
 prices. Then there's "that bear of a counting-house 
 official," who won't send the parcel he has sold to a man 
 who can get any amount of credit from certain Scotch 
 houses. And then the unsuccessful man mutters on, 
 " Ah ! travelling is not what it used to be. I've had 
 enough of it," &c. Is it surprising that a salesman who 
 has this idea of his house — the firm, the buyers, the 
 goods, the counting-house, and business in general — 
 should fail either to secure orders or to make any im- 
 pression but a bad one on those on whom he has to call? 
 Whereas a smart man of business, with a fund of mother 
 wit and sound common-sense, brightens everything he 
 touches and cheers every one he meets. He always has 
 free entrance to his customer's heart, and through that 
 to his order-book. He argues thus : " Trade is fairly 
 good, might be better, nothing to grumble at, one must 
 
OPTIMIST & PESSIMIST: A CONTRAST. 45 
 
 be thankful for small mercies. If there are no big 
 orders, one must go in for a multiplicity of small things. 
 And there is always at least a " small line per Sutton and 
 Co.," which this class of man makes by gentle suasion 
 and good temper rather too large for Sutton and Co. and 
 big enough for " Lug. rail." He usually hears from his 
 customer at the close, " There you are again ! I cannot 
 understand how it is, but you generally wheedle me into 
 an order ; and do you know that the last parcel I bought 
 of you a month ago ran into three figures?" "Yes," 
 replies the confidential salesman, " and the more you do 
 with me the more money you will make. Isn't your 
 present success in the main due to your having had so 
 much cheap stuff of me ? Have I ever deceived you ? 
 Have you ever done badly with the goods I have recom- 
 mended?" "No, I have not," rephes the satisfied 
 customer ; " there is a great deal of truth in what you 
 say, and it is twenty-two years ago this very month since 
 I bought my opening parcel of you." My friend will, 
 I trust, be able to read between the lines and note the 
 real secret of a successful salesman ; and will see that it 
 is the quiet, unostentatious power which wins popularity 
 and unconsciously creates business. This type of sales- 
 man, I may add, has " educated his connexion " (in the 
 same manner that Disraeli " educated his party ") to 
 believe in him and in what he has to sell. 
 
 A weak salesman is always quoting what other houses 
 can do, forgetting that they do not pay him his salary 
 
46 AS SALESMEN. 
 
 and expenses (not that he should be oblivious of any 
 move of his rivals) ; but a good salesman has faith in 
 himself, in his firm, and in the goods he has to sell. 
 These are the cardinal points always present to his mind. 
 He does not display an undue, inflated, bombastic, self- 
 sufficiency, but he has a steady, firm, and reasonable 
 satisfaction that no other house can buy or pay better, 
 that other houses than his own have to pay expenses and 
 to make a profit, and that no one house has a monopoly 
 of either money or talent. The idea that, taking his 
 firm all in all, they are not to be beaten, should be 
 sufficient inspiration for himself, and this idea he is 
 bound to impart to every buyer he meets. He is travel- 
 ling for their interest as well as his own ; this he beHeves, 
 and he makes them believe it too. There is thus an 
 identity of motive, an intelligent understanding, a mutual 
 confidence between buyer and salesman, which com- 
 mands constant and increased business. 
 
THE COMMERCIAL ROOM. 
 
" When I was at home I was in a better place ; 
 but travellers must be content." 
 
 " As YOU LIKE IT," Act 2. Sc. 4. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ®lji? ®xxntmut:cial ^oonx* 
 
 THE commercial room is usually the most cosy room 
 in the hotel, the landlord knowing full well that no 
 class of his visitors will repay him more readily for any 
 extra outlay than his commercial friends. There was a 
 time when the traveller used to think a great deal more of 
 the landlord's interests than of his own ; but competition, 
 as we shall presently see, has changed all this, as it has 
 changed many other phases of commercial life. When I 
 first travelled I was a driver, and after a hard day's work 
 and a long drive, next to your own home, no more 
 pleasant sight could greet one's eye than the commercial 
 room with its cheerful fire and more cheerful faces, 
 always ready to welcome you warmly, be you friend or 
 stranger, so long as you carry the indispensable creden- 
 tials of a commercial traveller — an order-book, a writing- 
 
 5 
 
50 THE COMMERCIAL ROOM, 
 
 case, and a " Good evening, gentlemen," as you enter the 
 room. But woe to the 2^«-commercial traveller, who is 
 quickly known (as militiamen are known from the 
 regulars) by his gait, uneasy appearance, and general 
 awkwardness. He is quickly relegated to the icy cold- 
 ness, stiff formahties, and higher tariff of the coffee-room. 
 The cosiness and comfort of the commercial room in the 
 old-fashioned hotel are by no means due to its architec- 
 tural form, its size, ventilation, or adaptation to its special 
 purposes — most of them having none of these requisites 
 — but to its associations, to the jolly fellows one has met 
 so many times, and to the general desire to make each 
 other as happy as possible without any written rules, 
 regulations, badges, or pass-words. In the commercial 
 room there is perfect liberty without license, absolute 
 order without the slightest show of force ; there is a kind 
 of freemasonry handed down by the saddle-bagmen to 
 the drivers, and from them to the men on the rail. In 
 this way the commercial travellers of Great Britain have 
 insured to them most of the comforts of a good club- 
 house, without its stilted stiffness and cold formality. 
 
 Amongst the many false words spoken of commercial 
 men, I note the following true ones by Mark Tapley : 
 
 "Among the commercials themselves there are wide 
 divergences of characteristics ; there necessarily must be 
 such. Some members of the body shiver and shudder 
 at the freedom of conversation sometimes carried on in 
 the commercial room over grog and pipe of an evening,. 
 
THE FREEMASONRY OF THE ROOM. 51 
 
 after the labours of the day have ceased — men who have 
 no appreciation of humour or wit — to whom the humour 
 of a Sheridan, a Curran, Theodore Hook, Thomas Hood, 
 or the well-known anecdotes of Dr. Abernethy and others, 
 are as a foreign tongue, and associated with distasteful 
 ideas and misunderstood lives. As in the outer world, 
 so in the inner and smaller world of the commercial 
 room, we have representatives of narrow theological 
 views, and well-meant but misplaced judgment of the 
 acts and doings of those around them. If an individual 
 does not smoke, there is no necessity for his giving statis- 
 tics to prove that three hundred cigars would pay the 
 premium for a good life policy of insurance against death, 
 though no one denies the utility of life insurance. The 
 total abstainer — a good man, and often doing a great 
 work of good — need not be a bore in the commercial 
 room. Then we have our friends the collectors, who 
 always have collecting cards for cases of need — a chapel 
 restoration, or school treat, a new church in a barren and 
 outcast district — who, having given their ten pounds or 
 half-crown, believe they have a license to agitate all 
 round. In some cases I have known much good done 
 this way, especially by the friends who are agitating for 
 libraries in commercial rooms ; but I must give a caution 
 to some, as they invariably remind me of Charles 
 Dickens's turnpike-holders — men who had been soured 
 in Hfe, and took to collecting tolls in gratification of 
 their revengeful feelings against society — reminding one 
 
52 THE COMMERCIAL ROOM. 
 
 forcibly that a bore is a bore, whatever subject he bores 
 one upon." 
 
 The room itself is not hung with choice works of art 
 in either oil or water colours. The proprietor being 
 more desirous of advertising noted whiskeys and popular 
 bitter ales, he covers the walls with framed advertisements 
 of these beverages. These, with a coloured print of the 
 Commercial Travellers' Schools at Pinner, and a notice 
 of the dinner-hour, complete the pictures. Add to the 
 same a dozen or more half-dried overcoats, mackintoshes, 
 whips, rugs, hats of all conceivable shapes, and you have 
 some idea of the ornamentation and fine art decoration 
 of an old-fashioned commercial room. The furniture 
 consists of the indispensable dining-table, three or four 
 small writing-tables with the usual writing utensils, direc- 
 tories, railway time-tables, &c., a dozen old hair-bottom 
 chairs on which you can scarcely keep your seat, a 
 creaking sofa, and the most uneasy of easy-chairs. 
 Bags, portmanteaus, and leather sample-cases often oc- 
 cupy one end of the same room. These, with sundry 
 cold joints on the side-table and other hot ones being 
 disposed of, will furnish some slight idea of hundreds of 
 commercial rooms with their " sights of smells." The 
 modern hotels give you much better accommodation, 
 such as large, well-lighted, well-ventilated, lofty rooms, a 
 separate writing-room, a special room for luggage, electric 
 bells, and a large lavatory on the ground floor. A great 
 number of these hotels belong to companies, many of 
 
THE OLD-FASHIONED BEDROOMS. 53 
 
 them to the railways ; and they do a thriving business. 
 I have often suggested the desirability of travellers uniting 
 and working out a scheme that would give them a good 
 club-house of their own in every town of 50,000 inhabi- 
 tants. It would be a daily saving of money and a profit- 
 able investment to boot. But the answer has always been 
 that nobody having any time at his disposal, there is little 
 chance of a meeting for a common object. However, 
 whilst I am penning these lines the post brings me a 
 prospectus entitled "The Commercial Travellers' Clubs 
 (Limited)." But notwithstanding all these advantages, 
 the commercial traveller is very conservative, and so 
 long as he is well used will not change. For there 
 remains in the old hostelries the poetry of associations 
 so dear to the bagman ; and it is not uncommon to 
 hear men speak of having stayed at certain hotels for 
 twenty, thirty, and forty years. Even the low ceiling, 
 badly ventilated bedrooms, with the old four-posters 
 with their giraffe marine hangings, the feather-beds 
 a century old, are not without their charms for some 
 old stagers. There would be in many of these rooms 
 absolutely no ventilation were it not that the thresholds 
 of the doors were so well worn that the air freely entered. 
 And it seems almost incredible that our forefathers and 
 foremothers were so ignorant of the laws of health that 
 the little ventilation from the fireplace was prevented by 
 a bag of straw being poked up the chimney ; and to 
 make doubly sure that no air should enter, a board is 
 
54 THE COMMERCIAL ROOM, 
 
 made to fit the fireplace, which is in its turn covered 
 over with a paper of the same pattern as that on the 
 walls of the bedroom. I have slept in rooms where the 
 old servants did not remember ever having seen the 
 window open ; and in many instances the attempt dare 
 not be made, since it is doubtful if they could have been 
 closed again. Add to all this a floor of cement, and you 
 will have some conception of what was called a well- 
 appointed hotel. I may say here that until the last few 
 years the tariff for beds was one shilling, a very low price, 
 supposed to be made up to the proprietor by the drink- 
 ing of sundry grogs during the evening. In the same 
 way the dinners were charged two shillings, in considera- 
 tion of your being compelled to drink a pint of wine at 
 half-a-crown (of uncertain value). The drivers, on the 
 same principle, were not charged anything for their 
 beds save the chambermaid's sixpence; but in lieu of 
 this they paid for ten times as much hay as any horse 
 could have eaten. The usual practice was to give the 
 first comer No. i, and so on consecutively ; a rule of 
 which no one complained, excepting a few old fogies 
 who would have their favourite room. Others trusted to 
 being on good terms with the chambermaid, and a silver 
 key readily opened the best room to its holder. 
 
 The bedrooms in the modern hotels are an enormous 
 improvement on those just described. They are large, 
 lofty, well ventilated and well lighted ; delicately papered 
 walls, good spring mattresses on brass-headed iron bed- 
 
MODERN BEDROOMS. 
 
 55 
 
 steads, hung with snowy white dimity curtains, and with 
 similar counterpanes. A room of this description is 
 a most desirable luxury. But however luxurious our 
 hotels may become, all true men will have to admit that 
 being at hotne " is a better place ; but travellers must be 
 content." 
 
THE COMMERCIAL DINNER. 
 
'' Let me not stay a jot for dinner ; 
 Go, get it ready." 
 
 " King Lear." 
 
 That all-softening, overpowering knell, 
 The tocsin of the soul, the dinner bell." 
 
 Byron. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 ®^l7« ^otntnsvcxal ^itxncv* 
 
 LIFE on the road, however beset with difficulty, 
 brings at least one pleasant hour each day — the 
 midday meal — noted for its sumptuousness and good 
 fellowship. The landlord spares no pains in securing all 
 the delicacies of the season ; and his guests being equally 
 prepared with a good appetite, do justice to his en- 
 deavours. A mutual compact is thus daily arranged, 
 and the happiness of the greatest number is attained. 
 For whatever remark may be made detrimental to the 
 traveller's appetite for his breakfast, not the remotest 
 hint of the kind can be given regarding his appetency 
 for his dinner. His four hours' prior laborious work, 
 walking at a brisk rate and talking at a brisker, has 
 brought most of his muscles into play ; and force has 
 gone off which must be recuperated. Everything a 
 
6o THE COMMERCIAL DINNER, 
 
 traveller touches is with intensity of motion ; and, like 
 a steam-engine, he must have a plentiful and constant 
 supply of good fuel, or the machinery will soon get out 
 of gear. " Boxing Harry " is poor economy, but now 
 and again necessary to give the digestive organs a much- 
 needed rest. For medical men have in their nomen- 
 clature what is called " a traveller's tongue," resembling, 
 I am told, the furred interior of a much-used kettle. 
 But I am disposed to think that too free a use of alcoholic 
 drink has been its cause rather than the food. The late 
 Mr. Bass would have probably not agreed with me ; for 
 he has the credit of having said that " more men die 
 from over-eating than from over-drinking." Perhaps he 
 is right. We are too apt to rate the one higher than the 
 other because deaths from drinking are so much more 
 patent and pronounced. Under either circumstance the 
 commercial traveller need pray, " Now good digestion wait 
 on appetite, and health on both." It has been well said 
 that the "proof of the pudding is in the eating;" but 
 we may improve on that, and say that the proof of its 
 being good and beneficial is that it is easily digested. 
 I once quoted the old adage that " a man was either 
 a fool or a physician at forty." " Do you really believe 
 this ? " repHed my friend. *' Most decidedly." " Well," 
 said he ; " one thing we do know — that you are not 
 a physician." 
 
 Much has justly been said against the partaking 
 of a heavy meal in the middle of the day ; and most 
 
I/O IV THEY LIVE. 6i 
 
 men are in favour of the custom in Scotch towns of 
 dinner at five or six o'clock after the day's business. But 
 in most English towns the principals dine from one till 
 two, and the traveller finds it convenient to do the same. 
 If he is a smart fellow, and the gods have been fairly 
 propitious, he will have done at least three-fourths of his 
 day's work by the dinner-hour. Such being the case he 
 is in his happiest mood \ if the reverse, he quotes, " 'Tis 
 not in mortals to command success," &c., and enjoys his 
 dinner, hoping and working for better luck in the after- 
 noon. I once ventured to remark (at our firm's dinner- 
 table) that I occasionally forgot dinner-time when book- 
 ing a good parcel; but that when trade was bad I always 
 dined to keep up my spirits. The chief cashier very 
 smartly replied that judging from my order-sheets I had 
 not missed many dinners. 
 
 But the dinner is ready, the soup is in. Who is the 
 president ? inquire two or three hungry souls of the 
 waiter. (In the chapter on Etiquette, <S:c., I have men- 
 tioned how the president and Vice are selected.) " Mr. 
 Buncombe, here he is !" "Will you take a little soup, 
 Mr. Vice? Mock turtle." "Thank you, Mr. President, 
 help our friends." " A good deal of mock, Mr. P," says 
 a facetious man on his right. " What wine shall I order?" 
 says the president. " Any gentleman like a glass of 
 sherry with his fish?" "I can drink one glass," says 
 a youth on his left. "So can I," remarks another. 
 "The sherry is wretched here," replies a third. "A 
 
62 THE COMMERCIAL DINNER. 
 
 bottle of sherry, waiter." "Will you excuse me? I do 
 not take wine," says a fourth. " I pay the extra shilling 
 for my dinner," he continues. " Certainly, sir, certainly." 
 The soup and fish are removed, as is also most of the 
 sherry. The president again asks : '* What wine shall 
 I order, gentlemen ? " "I am not particular," says one. 
 "I never mix," replies another. "The best of any 
 sort is good enough for me," joins in a third. " I can 
 drink anything," says a fourth. " Please yourself," says 
 a fifth, " the president cannot err." " Give it a name, 
 gentlemen, give it a name," says the obliging president. 
 '* Claret forme," rephes a sixth. "Much too cold for 
 claret," says the seventh. " I shall go on with the 
 sherry," says the eighth. " I should like a glass of 
 sparkling," say the ninth. " I object to pay six or seven 
 shillings for sparkling," says the tenth. " We should not 
 exceed five shillings for any wine," the moderate man 
 argues. " Not even for port," says old Jones, ironically, 
 "Or claret," says another ; "sixteen shillings a dozen is 
 about its value. Anyway, I have better at home that cost 
 me less than that. Five shillings is a gross imposition." 
 Amidst all this babble, the president, who is accustomed 
 to his work, orders one bottle each of claret, sherry, and 
 hock; the latter he and his right-hand friend having 
 without ostentation made up their minds quietly to have. 
 The joints, fowls, and entrees are now on all at one time ; 
 for despatch, in more senses than one, is the order of the 
 day with the traveller. A slight lull at all dinners (both 
 
; UNIVERSITY ) 
 
 V OF . y 
 
 tjijl wine custom. 
 
 public and private) at this juncture is nearly always 
 noticeable, after which the president challenges them all 
 round to take wine with him ; the teetotaler usually 
 filling his glass with water, and joining in the simul- 
 taneous clatter of " Mr. President, Mr. Vice, and gentle- 
 men, good health to you ! " The president's attention is 
 now called to the " dead man " in the shape of the 
 empty claret-bottle, and another bottle of claret is 
 ordered. " A glass of wine with you, sir ! " says a 
 neighbouring friend. "Thank you." They nod, and 
 others repeat the question and the answer and the nod- 
 ding : the president not forgetting to take wine with his 
 brother officer, the Vice. 
 
 It has been aptly said that a good dinner sharpens 
 wit and softens the heart (charity organizers are alive to 
 the latter fact). The company therefore becomes more 
 chatty and agreeable. Politics and theology are wisely 
 excluded from conversation, although on some occasions 
 I have listened to some very heated discussions on these 
 topics, noted more for their strength of assertion and 
 personal abuse than their force of logic and argument 
 If on Monday, the conversation turns on where each has 
 spent Sunday, who was present, what they had for dinner, 
 and what it cost. If at the end of the week, they talk 
 of where they are going to spend Sunday, and whom 
 they hope to meet — wine, good living, and popular hotels 
 always coming in for a large share of the conversation. I 
 can assure my readers that their customers are not for- 
 
64 THE COMMERCIAL DINNER. 
 
 gotten, and it would do some of them no inconsiderable 
 good if they overheard what was said of them. But as 
 what passes in the commercial room is absolutely mb 
 rosa, ignorance is bliss, and the customer's peace of 
 mind is undisturbed. " Have you seen Mr. Y. ? " asks 
 an old stager. "Yes," is the reply; "and if I bought 
 him at his own valuation, and sold him at mine, I should 
 lose considerably by the purchase." "He is a very dif- 
 ferent fellow from old So-and-so. He is a brick, and 
 knows how to treat a commercial man. I always give 
 him a turn whenever I can." " Is B. at home ? " in- 
 quires another. " I don't know ; I haven't called for 
 years. I got tired of being humbugged by him. After 
 calling half-a-dozen times, he gave instructions to say that 
 he is not in. I used to see him at the other end of the 
 shop all the time. Do you do with him ? " " Very little ; 
 and the little I do does not pay me for the time he 
 wastes. I shall not call again. He serves all alike — no 
 one has a good word for him. He is a pig." " Most of 
 the good houses have closed with him," &c. But while 
 we have been chatting the joints have been removed, and 
 the sweets are before us. A gentleman who should know 
 better asks you to take a glass of claret with him just as 
 you are relishing a custard. He nods and drinks ; you 
 return the nod and do not drink. The president now 
 asks the Vice, " What have we to come in ? " meaning 
 what more wine is there to be added to complete the 
 quantity, viz., a pint to each man at the table. The Vice 
 
WHAT WE THINK OF OUR CUSTOMERS. 65 
 
 counts heads. " There are thirteen of us (travellers do 
 not share the traditional dread of aining thirteen at a 
 table, that one will die before their next meeting) ; we 
 have had five bottles : we have a bottle and a half to 
 come in." " I think you are mistaken," says a gentle- 
 man on the left of the president. " There is one gentle- 
 man present who is not taking wine, and I object to do 
 so at his expense." " Well, what shall we do, Mr. Presi- 
 dent ? " " Oh ! order the quantity. We have had a splen- 
 did dinner, the landlord is a decent fellow, and we must 
 have the quantum." The usual assent to port with the 
 cheese being given, a bottle and a half of port is ordered. 
 A young traveller will hardly believe that such despotism 
 was customary, and that such unfairness, not to say in- 
 justice, was for years submitted to. So strong was the 
 great majority in its favour that presidents have refused 
 me a seat at the table because I daily protested ; and I 
 have known the full quantity of wine ordered in when 
 three gentlemen have dined who did not take wine, so 
 that three pints extra were drunk by the others. This 
 was infamous ; the pleas in its favour were custom, the 
 landlord having put on a " sumptuous spread," and a 
 wine dinner kept the table select. I argued that the 
 custom was bad, and even un-English : that the proprietor 
 should prepare a more modest repast and charge for 
 each thing on its own merit, and that one should not be 
 compelled to pay half-a-crown for a pint (about five-eighths 
 of an imperial pint) of inferior wine, because the landlord 
 
 6 
 
66 THE COMMERCIAL DINNEE. 
 
 could not give you so many courses for two shillings. 
 The proprietor invariably replied that he was in the 
 hands of the travellers ; they claimed the room to them- 
 selves and made their own rules ; if any one wished to 
 pay a shilling extra for dinner who did not take wine, he 
 had no objection ; but it was in the hands of the presi- 
 dent. With respect to the custom of keeping the table 
 select, it certainly prevented men of small means, who, 
 as commercial men, had a perfect right to a seat at the 
 dinner- table, from sitting there; and it also kept a great 
 number of the best men away — men of some dignity and 
 self-respect, who could not by their presence countenance 
 so gross a system. In fact, there was no valid argument 
 in its favour. The principle is a rotten one. The true 
 science of all buLiness transactions should be based on 
 securing a fair remunerative profit on all articles sold. I 
 know that a certain kind of business policy can be ad- 
 vanced by catering for the public whim, and by taking; 
 advantage of ignorant gullibility. The grocer, e.g.^ selling, 
 his sugar at less than cost, and tea at fifty per cent, profit,, 
 throwing in presents. All this is fallacious and unbusi- 
 ness-like — mere playing at commerce. You may further 
 argue that the buyer in many instances is aware that 
 '* a sprat is given to catch a mackerel ; " that he knows 
 the first number of many articles is sold at less than cost 
 to make one believe the range is cheap. But no busi- 
 ness man acts on such a blind faith ; few, I imagine,, 
 live in such a fool's paradise. Then why not educate 
 
THE QUEEN'S HEALTH. 67 
 
 men to use and trust their judgment in all their pur- 
 chases ? 
 
 An amusing incident occurred at a dinner at which I 
 was present. A young traveller — a greenhorn — being a 
 teetotaler, asked the president if, by paying a shilling 
 extra, he might be allowed to dine. " Certainly," replied 
 the president with a knowing wink. On the dinner-bill 
 being handed to him for endorsement after the vice- 
 president had divided it, he addressed the young man, 
 wishing to be quite sure that he had rightly understood 
 him : " You wish to pay a shilling extra for your dinner ; 
 the bill is 5s. 3d., you will therefore have 6s. 3d. to pay." 
 Of course the young man protested, and was let off by 
 paying the 5s. 3d., although he drank no wine. 
 
 But whilst I have been narrating the preceding inci- 
 dents the port wine has been brought in, the glasses are 
 filled, and the president gives the health of " The Queen," 
 which is right loyally^ responded to; and I believe, with 
 the exception of the military and naval officers' mess, the 
 commercial travellers are her only subjects who toast her 
 Majesty every day in the year. The custom is not to do 
 this until the cloth has been removed ; but economy of 
 time prevents this in many cases being strictly adhered 
 to. Remarks are now made on the vintage of the port. 
 Too new and sweet for some ; others think it a blended 
 wine ; few know anything at all about it. The majority, 
 nevertheless, are agreed that it^is not worth half_the 6s. 
 or 7s. cjiarged for it in the bill. The president now looks 
 
68 THE COMMERCIAL DINNER. 
 
 at his watch, finds the hour is gone, and puts the ques- 
 tion, *' What shall we sa^„Mi\J\/J€e_? " it being thelatter's 
 duty to propose the next toast. " I give you," he says, 
 "something original, ^ Absent frien ds.' " This he says 
 ironically, it being one of our oldest and most popular 
 toasts. I have therefore used it in the dedication of this 
 work, and again join you heartily in it. If a single man, 
 he will occasionally give " Sweethearts and wives ; " if 
 married, " Wives and sweethearts." If disposed to sen- 
 timent, " May the tears of friendship crystallize as they 
 flow, and be worn as diadems around the necks of those 
 we love." If a religious man, " Rusty^swofds and dirty 
 Bibles." If a sterling man, " May men of principle be 
 our principal men." If a rich man, "In going up the 
 hill of prosperity, may we never meet a friend." If a 
 jocular fellow, '^The knock-kneed Quaker," which, being 
 interpreted, means "A friend in(k)need." If an American, 
 " May we always have the bread wherewith to make the 
 toast." If a youth, " Those we love, and those who love 
 us," to which an addendutn is usually made, *' And those 
 who don't, may God change their hearts ; " and so on ad 
 infinitum. 
 
 The bill being divided, the president announces the 
 division ; while the coppers over and above are placed 
 in the boxes for the Commercial Travellers' Schools 
 and the Commercial Travellers' Benevolent Institution, 
 usually kept on the mantel- piece. These boxes, how- 
 ever, having on several occasions been robbed of their 
 
THE DINNER TOASTS, 69 
 
 contents, a better plan is being adopted, viz., that of 
 entering each day's amount in a memorandum book, 
 and of making the landlord responsible for it. I have 
 omitted another slight argument in favour of retaining 
 the wine system, namely, that there would otherwise be 
 no coppers for the pence boxes. This, however, has been 
 smartly replied to by the supporters of the free tables, by 
 the institution of a penny daily collection after each 
 dinner. This, in most instances, results in a much 
 greater amount than under the old system. 
 
 I may further add that in hundreds of hotels the wine 
 system is now abolished. Men do as they please ; and 
 where it is still retamed it is quite optional whether one 
 takes wine, and in no instance is he charged a share in 
 the bill if he does not do so. This is a great improve- 
 ment on what I have previously recorded ; but it has not 
 come about without hard-fought battles and much loss of 
 friendship. For the first twelve years of my travelling I 
 was an absolute abstainer from all intoxicating drinks, 
 and I did my part in opposing so dishonourable a system. 
 And no one will be more gratified than myself to hear 
 that the last vestige of a wine dinner is gone, never to be 
 resuscitated. I know of no greater bane to a young man 
 leaving the warehouse and his home to travel than that 
 of being com[)elled either to pay for a pint of wine daily 
 and not drink it, or to pay and drink, or be looked upon 
 as mean or unmanly. Aged men, who should have 
 known better, instead of protecting, goaded him on or 
 
70 THE COMMERCIAL DINNER, 
 
 treated him with derision because he had the courage to 
 say No. I must confess with much sorrow that wine 
 dinners have been the cause of many a man's utter ruin. 
 The one I have described represents hundreds at which 
 I have dined, and is an average report of thousands of 
 others in the commercial hotels of Great Britain. They 
 are still to be found where less light has been shed and 
 less intelligence awakened. 
 
 I have spent but few Sundays in the commercial room, 
 but the few I have experienced were of anything but an 
 elevating character. I have read of one which I have no 
 reason to doubt as being overdrawn — '* My First Sunday 
 in a Commercial Room," by Frank Foster — which, for 
 eating and drinking, bloated behaviour, and indecent, 
 not to say inhuman, conduct, could not easily be matched. 
 Suffice it to say that the dinner in question lasted five 
 hours of hard eating and harder drinking. Eight men 
 were dining, the bill was twenty-five shillings each. 
 This, I am happy to say, took place considerably over 
 twenty years ago ; and it would be almost impossible 
 nowadays to be repeated. 
 
 It may not be out of place to give the following after- 
 dinner practical joke — 
 
 The Saracen's Head Hotel, Lincoln, was noted for 
 three things : a very gruff landlord, a very cheeky waiter, 
 and " 365." The latter term being a synonym for the 
 very best rice-pudding I, or any one else, ever tasted, and 
 as it was produced every day in the year we christened 
 
A PRACTICAL JOKE. 71 
 
 it " 365." I can vouch for it being on the table twice a 
 month for twenty- two years, and always good alike. I 
 may add that if half a dozen were required they were 
 always forthcoming. But "it is of Arthur the waiter I 
 would speak. It was often suspected that this swallow- 
 tailed, modest-looking garcon was guilty of removing the 
 decanters, and especially the small black bottles of crusty, 
 " bee's-wingy " old port before they were quite empty ; 
 this was especially noticed by a Mr. Thompson, a sharp- 
 witted "commercial," who on the day in question hinted 
 the fact to the president. It was a rather large dinner 
 party, and Arthur was in unusually good form. A pint 
 of old port was ordered and emptied ; the bottle was 
 partly refilled with salt, pepper, cayenne, mustard, 
 Worcester sauce, chili vinegar, anchovy, &c. "Bring 
 in the bill, Arthur," said the president. ** Yes, sir ! " 
 and, as usual, Arthur hurriedly took off the black bottle. 
 The company waited some time, but no Arthur and no 
 bill appeared. Whereupon the "vice" was asked to 
 ring the bell. In came "Buttons." "Tell Arthur to 
 bring in the dinner bill at once," said the president. 
 "Please, sir, he can't, he's nearly dead, he's choked." 
 The gentlemen at the table became alarmed, hurried 
 out of the room to find poor Arthur in a most painful 
 position. He was black in the face, and surrounded by 
 his fellow-servants. On his recovery he solemnly i)ro- 
 mised never again to test the quality of leavings in the 
 black bottle. 
 
COMMERCIAL ETIQUETTE. 
 
" Of things once received, confirmed by use, long 
 usage is a law sufficient. In civil affairs, where 
 there is no other law, custom itself doth stand for 
 law."— Hooker. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 (^0tnincvcial ^iic\xxciie. 
 
 LIKE debts of honour, the unwritten laws of the 
 commercial fraternity are acknowledged and re- 
 spected. The fines are seldom enforced, the rules being 
 of so natural a character and so easy of observance, 
 having grown and been evolved out of the good feeling 
 and respect for the general well-being and comfort of 
 each and all. Even though the tariff for beds, break- 
 fasts, dinners, teas, suppers, servants' fees, &c., are all 
 fixed, no printed list of charges is seen. We owe our 
 l)redecessors a debt of gratitude for the many comforts 
 daily at our command, and for the '* Home from home " 
 which we find in all the hotels where there is a commer- 
 cial room. I will not troul)le the reader by enumerating 
 the many small courtesies of life — small in themselves, 
 but, like all minor matters, of much importance as adding 
 
76 COMMERCIAL ETIQUETTE, 
 
 to the sum total of the pleasure of our daily existence. 
 But I will speak of the rules we observe which are not 
 usually known to the general public. 
 
 For instance, no gentleman enters the commercial 
 room without giving the " seal" of the day to those pre- 
 sent. Several voices (always sufficient to ensure a warm 
 welcome) respond to the salute ; be it a" Good morning, 
 gentlemen ! " on entering the room, a " Good-night ! '^ 
 when retiring to rest, or " Good-day to you, gentlemen ! " 
 when leaving the town. No one is permitted to smoke 
 in the room until nine p.m. ; and even at that hour 
 good breeding is often manifested by the question, " Is 
 smoking disagreeable to you during supper? If so, I will 
 refrain." The person who " lights up " before nine o'clock 
 is liable to a fine. I have heard novices, strangers, and 
 raw young travellers rebuked for breaking this rule ; but 
 apology is always sufficient for unwitting error in this 
 respect. In " Punch " the question was once asked by 
 the president of a dinner table, "Will any gentleman say 
 a little more pudden ? " The reply was, "No gentleman 
 would say a little more pudden." I may add that no 
 commercial gentlejnan would remain in the room covered 
 or come to the breakfast table with his slippers on, or 
 clean his finger nails anywhere but in his bedroom or in 
 the lavatory. I regret to say that there is a necessity to 
 mention these matters, for in many second-rate com- 
 mercial hotels, and in most of the temperance hotels — 
 which in many other respects are to be commended — 
 
NO SMOKING BEFORE NINE P.M. 77 
 
 these dirty habits prevail. Another unwritten law is that 
 the first-comer is president at the dinner, and the last- 
 comer vice-president. This rule is never broken unless 
 by the wish of the gentleman in office, who would him- 
 self ask another to take his position. Should the presi- 
 dent be otherwise engaged at the appointed hour a few 
 minutes' grace is permitted ; some one else officiates, 
 but immediately vacates the position when the president 
 enters. If the gentleman in question remains in the 
 hotel for weeks (as some Birmingham men do), he retains 
 his post for the whole time. 
 
 I have always considered the manner of selecting the 
 officers (though admirable in quickly deciding the matter) 
 as open in some respects to grave objections. One of 
 them is when the first-comer happens to be a young 
 green " goose of a fellow," who has not courage enough 
 to say " boo " to his anserine brother, much less sufficient 
 experience to carve him. I well remember my first attempt 
 as president when no one would act as a substitute for 
 me. I made all sorts of excuses, such as "having a 
 special appointment," or "wanting to catch the 1.50 
 train," &c. I shall never forget the nervous anxiety, the 
 cold perspiration, the red cheeks, the colour of which 
 deepened as one old fogey asked me for the " merry- 
 thought '' of a fowl and a piece of the breast ; a second 
 for the liver and wing; a third for a side bone and a slice 
 of the back. In my heart of hearts I resolved never to be 
 first again so long as I might travel. I have more than 
 
78 COMMERCIAL ETIQUETTE. 
 
 once suggested that the oldest gentleman in the room or the 
 oldest traveller should be president ; but the very rational 
 reply has always been, " How are you to know who is 
 the oldest?" And again, if you could, would it not be 
 too hard upon the oldest always to do the carving, which 
 is no small matter at large hotels in our big towns. 
 There, from fifteen to twenty hungry souls sit down to 
 the midday meal. The landlord often has much cause 
 for complaint, so much good food being spoiled by the 
 amateur carvers. 
 
 The other meals are ordered and partaken of by each 
 individual agreeable to his own time and taste, and there- 
 fore they require no special comment. Thirty or forty 
 years ago, when driving was at its zenith, men used to 
 meet at certain popular hostelries, and during the 
 evening hot suppers were an institution, or what we 
 now call a knife- and-fork or thick tea. Customers used 
 to be invited; and after this heavy meal the "church- 
 warden clay " and sundry " hot gins " followed, inter- 
 larded with some old-fashioned song-singing, with a 
 chorus which had some " go " in it. These varied ele- 
 ments made up a pleasant though somewhat grotesque 
 evening's amusement. 
 
 An etiquette outside the commercial room is equally 
 observed ; and no gentleman intrudes his presence, 
 much less attempts to introduce business, when another 
 is engaged with a buyer. If you are on very good 
 terms both with the customer and the traveller in 
 
" ONE FOOL IS ENOUGH AT A TIMEr 79 
 
 possession, it is permissible to shake hands and retire 
 at once. At first blush it might appear that men in 
 the same trade, being strong competitors, would scarcely 
 be on the most friendly terms : but for obvious reasons 
 they are most intimate, and, as a rule, invariably 
 polite to each other. More than this, they are in the 
 habit of giving to each other information of the greatest 
 service. I remember a most notable exception to this 
 rule in the case of " Frank," a well-known and very 
 smart traveller, and " John," the " Manchester Infant," 
 not less well known. " Frank " was busy one day show- 
 ing his spring prints, when "John " made his appearance, 
 and not being satisfied with having shaken hands with 
 their mutual friend the draper, " John " hung about the 
 shop somewhat chagrined to see "Frank" booking his 
 order for new prints. He at last took the unusual 
 liberty of sitting down in the shop. This so exasperated 
 " Frank " that he shouted, " I say, John, one fool is 
 enough at a time." This had its effect, and cured 
 " John " of so gross a breach of commercial etiquette. 
 
 To make an appointment with a customer and to have 
 the first turn is also well understood. I have gone into 
 a small town with a strong competitor by the same train, 
 each of us having had but one customer, and we tossed 
 up to see who should go in first. If our client was a 
 decent fellow, he would understand the transaction and 
 would divide his order between us. To attempt to "best" 
 one another, or to do a mean, uncourteous, ungentle- 
 
8o COMMERCIAL ETIQUETTE. 
 
 manly act, is seldom resorted to ; but I have not forgotten 
 an arrangement entered into by a friend of mine with 
 myself to keep an unpopular member of our fraternity 
 outside a place for a whole morning. It was in this 
 wise. The three of us were going to a certain town in 
 Lincolnshire over-night, where there were only two good 
 drapers, each of whom would not do business with you if 
 you called upon his opponent. We therefore arranged 
 for one of us to be in Mr. A.'s and the other in Mr. B.'s 
 at 8.30 a.m., which appointment we religiously kept, 
 much to the annoyance of our unpopular friend, who 
 sauntered out at 8.45 a.m. to find the shops occupied for 
 some hours. Rushing out before 9 a.m. is considered in 
 an ordinary way most despicable, although, as I have 
 already said, there is no written code of laws to prevent 
 a man from following his own bent. One of the smartest 
 things I ever saw done was in a town where a traveller 
 had been over-night to see a customer, which he had 
 failed to do. Having gone to some distant town, he (/>., 
 the customer) was not expected home until the morning. 
 The traveller left his samples, and was there a few 
 minutes after nine o'clock the next morning, only to find 
 another gentleman in possession. Now neither of them 
 had an actual appointment with the silk mercer, for 
 neither had seen him in order to make an appointment. 
 However, nothing daunted, the gentleman who was in 
 the town first remembered hearing over-night by what 
 train the customer was expected home in the mornmg, 
 
SHARP PR A CTICE. 8 1 
 
 and he at once sallied forth to the station, met the train, 
 and walked arm-in-arm into the establishment with his 
 customer, much to the annoyance of the other man who 
 had been waiting so long. This appears sharp practice, 
 but it was quite within the lines of courtesy and respect 
 due to a competitor. 
 
 Upon the whole, commercial men are most courteous 
 and respectful towards one another. Their calling, which 
 takes them from home, seems from that very fact to 
 create and develop a disposition to make each other 
 as comfortable as possible. There is also a desire, 
 after the hard struggle of the day's business is over, to 
 fraternize and to get as much enjoyment out of life as 
 circumstances will permit. I may also add (although I 
 have no figures at my disposal) that my impression is, 
 that in no class of the community is there so great a pro- 
 portion of men who are freemasons. I mention this as 
 an additional reason for the general good feeling that 
 exists. 
 
A DAY WITH A "JOLLY GOOD FELLOW.'* 
 
A fellow of infinite jest — of most 
 Excellent fancy." 
 
 "Hamlet," Act v., Sc i, 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 31 ©atj witlx a «*goUtr (^^oh ^cUmu,- 
 
 IN that part of England from where the proverbial 
 wise men left, never to return, the appellation "jolly 
 good fellow " is said to be only a nickname for a fool. 
 There is a sense in which this is perfectly true ; and that 
 an easy-going, free-hearted, large-souled man is often a 
 fool to himself there is no gainsaying. But we cannot 
 place our "jolly good fellow" in Carlyle's sweeping 
 category, for he is just the opposite of a fool, being a 
 well-read, clever fellow ; yet in all candour we must add 
 that he is not noted for the wisdom of industry, the 
 genius of perseverance, or for his application to business. 
 He is not the kind of man that you meet going by the 
 6.30 a.m. train, or taking an order late on a Saturday. 
 Improving the shining hours is not his forte, and he lays 
 no particular claim to the storing of honey, having so 
 
86 WITH A " JOLL V GOOD FELLO Wr 
 
 much of the milk of human kindness in his nature, and 
 the element of vinegar being conspicuous by its absence. 
 The "jolly good fellow's" friends are innumerable. 
 Yes ! Bob (he is always called by his Christian nick- 
 name) is a fellow we all like to meet, for we are sure of 
 a pleasant evening in his company ; not a few of us 
 making it a point to be at the same town and to stay at 
 the same hotel. Even the most precise, industrious, and 
 punctilious will alter his arrangements and stay over- 
 night that he may have the pleasure of " Bob's " com- 
 pany. " Halloa ! glad to see you here, old fellow,'.' says 
 a particular friend of his ; " anything on this evening ? 
 any business about ? " "I haven't soiled paper to-day," 
 replies Bob (meaning that he had not booked an order). 
 " My friends ' want not nothing,' as they say in Norfolk, 
 and there's nothing moving but stagnation, and that's at 
 a standstill," he continues. " Ah ! trade is a little dull. 
 Bob ; but we'll shut up shop. Will you have fifty up ? " 
 " Why, certainly." Bob no sooner enters the billiard- 
 room than three or four old " pals " accost him. " Glad to 
 see you, my boy ! How are you ? What will you have ? " 
 &c. He beats everybody at billiards, pool, shell out, or 
 pyramids ; and somehow or other men like to be beaten 
 by Bob for the prestige of talking about it on the 
 morrow. " Holloa," shouts he, " Phelps here to-night ! " 
 as he by accident sees a playbill. Down goes the cue, 
 on goes his coat, and they all instinctively go with him, 
 for are they not aware of his excellent judgment of the 
 
A NIGHT OF IT AT EXETER. 87 
 
 histrionic art ? Have they not seen him as an amateur 
 in the very character that Phelps is to play to-night? 
 And do they not remember how he brought down a 
 packed house ? And were not some sixty guineas made 
 after all expenses were paid for the Commercial Travel- 
 lers' Benevolent Institution when he played for them? 
 After the play they return to the hotel. Fresh arrivals 
 are there all ready to greet " Bob " with a " Glad to see 
 you, old fellow ! " Half-a-dozen chairs are at once 
 vacated to give him a seat, and as many offers of grogs 
 and cigars are made for our hero. Slippers are ordered, 
 the fire is replenished, and so are the glasses. A song is 
 requested, but no one can sing until "Bob" gives them 
 his favourite : and then each has after his own song a 
 " call," and, strange to say, the call is seldom or ever 
 made in vain. The liberty of giving a recitation, or of 
 telling a good story in lieu of a song, is permitted. Our 
 "jolly good fellow" sings two or three songs to the one 
 of others, with several good recitations thrown in ; the 
 " Charge of the Light Brigade " being usually asked for 
 and given in excellent style. Midnight is now reached ; 
 "the workers" of the road retire to rest; two or three 
 late arrivals make their appearance, and as every one 
 knows " Bob," he must " stay up another half-hour and 
 have one with me." " And with me " is repeated. 
 "What are you drinking?" "Oh! Irish whisky." 
 Glasses are again filled, pipes and cigars again lighted, 
 and the " flow of soul," if not the " feast of reason," goes 
 
88 WITH A ''JOLLY GOOD FELLOWS 
 
 merrily on until the small hours. " Any more orders for 
 the bar ? is asked by the waiter (who looks more like a 
 vomited ghost than a human being). Orders are again 
 given, the company is again thinned. Whist is suggested. 
 *' I'll make one at * nap ' for half an hour," says Bob." 
 " I'll join you," says another. " I'm in if you promise to 
 finish by one o'clock." "Oh, certainly, certainly!" 
 Three or four play, and as many look on, and they never 
 play after the time stated. "What, never? Well, 
 hardly ever ! " And so our " jolly good fellow " is 
 always making every one as happy as the day is long, 
 and the days are very long with them, as you have 
 already seen. At least that portion of the day is long 
 which is not the working part. 
 
 Now if we could follow our "jolly good fellow" through 
 the week, we should find that in all probability five nights 
 out of the six are spent as I have recorded. The marvel 
 is that our "jolly good fellow's" body and mind are not 
 exhausted or, to say the least, considerably impaired ; but 
 it is not so. I have known several men of this character 
 for many years, and have not seen the slightest falling off 
 in their rollicking humour and flow of animal spirits : 
 their boast being that they usually " go to bed and get 
 up the same day," and therefore cannot be called in- 
 dolent. "Bob" is not a representative of the " La-di-da" 
 man whom I shall mention, who breakfasts at ten 
 o'clock, &c. No ; the strangest thing about him is that 
 he is usually the first down, clean shaved, and looking as 
 
TIVO OR THREE GOOD STORIES. 89 
 
 " spick and span " as the latest military production from 
 a band-box. He chaffs the " early to bed " men as they 
 come down for being very poor mortals to require so 
 much sleep. He is ready for and enjoys his chop in 
 the morning, and cracks his joke about Cromwell's 
 famous luncheon when he " took a chop at the King's 
 Head." He keeps the guests at table roaring with 
 laughter at his quaint tales and romantic imaginings. 
 As a specimen : a courtier once asked the king if 
 Cromwell won the next battle what he would do, as he 
 would then be unable to continue to reign (rain). 
 " Why, I should then mizzle," replied the king. At this 
 moment I also remember a favourite repartee that he 
 was fond of quoting. Two Irishmen were walking past 
 the gallows, when Mike said to Pat, " If the gallows had 
 its due, where would you be now, old fellow? " " Oh," 
 said Pat, " I should at this moment be walking alone." 
 One more of " Bob's " pleasantries was a story of Sydney 
 Smith and the king. The king accosts Sydney by say- 
 ing, " I hear that you have laid a heavy wager that you 
 will make a pun upon any subject between the hours of 
 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. Now, as a test, make one upon 
 rpe." "I would," replied Sydney, *'but you are no 
 subject." And so our ''jolly good fellow" is clear- 
 headed, sharp-witted, and smart, no matter where or 
 when you meet him. If in a railway carriage, he had 
 always the latest news to impart, or some startling adven- 
 ture to relate. He was always modest in the presence 
 
90 WITH A '' 70 LL V GOOD FELLOWS 
 
 of ladies, but was brimming over with fresh thought and 
 genial pleasantries. I well remember, as a greenhorn, 
 my first meeting with him, and how I was taken in and 
 sold twice in one day by cheerful "Bob.'' "A very 
 singular thing," said he, taking up The Times and look- 
 ing down the list of births; "they say that on a Wed- 
 nesday — this is Wednesday, is it not ? " " Yes," I 
 innocently replied. " They say that all the births adver- 
 tised on Wednesday are illegitimate." " Indeed," said 
 I, unwittingly, "how is that?" "It's very true; don't 
 you see, they come before the marriages ? Births, 
 Marriages, Deaths." Result — the laugh of the whole 
 company at my expense. The other " sell " of his was 
 the following : " I didn't know old Ryland was a literary 
 man before." "Didn't you?" said I, "I did; I have 
 heard that he has printed a Bible with his own interpre- 
 tations and comments, and gives copies away to his 
 customers." "Ah, yes ! " he remarks, "I have heard of 
 that ; but what I refer to is the fact that he has purchased 
 The Manchester Examiner." " Dear me, what' has he 
 given for it?" "Well," replies Bob, "there is a great 
 difference between the statements. I have heard 
 ;;^2o,ooo, and yesterday I heard it was ^£^30,000 ; but 
 now I know the exact sum." " What is it ? " I eagerly 
 asked. " The amount was one penny," he replied ; and 
 a hearty laugh followed from our "jolly good fellow" 
 with myself at so good a joke. 
 
 No one was ever offended at him, and all who knew 
 
MORE OF ''BOBS'' STORIES. 91 
 
 him expected to be cheered out of their gloom by him, 
 and they were sorry when they were not going the same 
 journey. I say none was ever offended. I correct my- 
 self by relating an incident where he did give offence to 
 a very crotchety old stager. It was in this wise : Some 
 score of us were listening to his drollery, when he accosted 
 in his off-hand way a young gentleman who had just 
 balanced his accounts by saying, " You will excuse me, 
 sir ; it's very singular, but though at some distance from 
 you, I can tell you exactly what amount of money you 
 have in your pocket ; and I've done this more than once, 
 being gifted with second-sight or thought-reading." 
 "Indeed," said he. "Yes," says Bob, "if you will count 
 it on the table again I will place the amount on paper. 
 You shall do the same ; and then we will hand the 
 papers to any one you please, and he shall say if the 
 papers agree." It was done. The gentleman who 
 received the papers said they agreed " to a penny." 
 This astonished all present, and one old stager in par- 
 ticular, who happened to have a good deal of money 
 about him that evening; and so, wishing to put the 
 matter to a further test, he said, " Do you mean to tell 
 me that you know the exact amount I have in my 
 pocket?" "Most decidedly I do." "Well," said he, 
 "that's more than I do. I'll count it." And after he 
 had got it all on the table, he figured away and soon 
 handed his paper, " Bob " however, having given his in 
 first. " Now," said the old man, " for the benefit of the 
 
92 WITH A ''JOLLY GOOD FELLOWS 
 
 room read it aloud." "Bob's paper says that at this 
 moment the amount of money in your pockets is abso- 
 lutely none." The old gentlemen hurriedly took his 
 money from the table, retired to bed, and never spoke to 
 " Bob " again. 
 
 And so I might go on indefinitely, enumerating the 
 happy hits, the smart repartees, and the interesting tales of 
 our " jolly good fellow." It is now thirty years since we 
 first met ; and he still looks as happy and beaming as 
 ever. As I have hinted, our very jolly friends seldom 
 make a fortune for themselves, but they do more than 
 this for hundreds of their fellow-travellers. They help to 
 make a very arduous and toiling life a more pleasant one; 
 they add considerably to the sum of human happiness by 
 bringing a little more sunshine into the world, and they 
 thus make life more worth the living. Among the many 
 regrets I have in leaving the road, the supreme one is in 
 missing the genial countenance, the hearty laugh, and 
 the warm shake of the hand of " Bob," and of many 
 other " jolly good fellows." 
 
 " Brooks of Sheffield " is, however, quite another style 
 of man. Here is his autobiography as he gave it to 
 me : — " I am eighty years old ; I have travelled fifty- 
 eight years ; I married my second wife six years ago ; I 
 always go home on a Friday night ; she is a good wife to 
 me." These words were spoken by a white-cravated, 
 nimble old gentleman, who had previously introduced 
 himself to me as "Brooks of Sheffield," friend of Charles 
 
''BROOKS OF SHEFFIELDr 93 
 
 Dickens. " He speaks of me," he continued to say, 
 "in * David Copperfield,' when he went to the seaside, 
 you know. Mr. Brown, of Messrs. Eagle, Brown, & Co., 
 said that you wished to see me." ** I am heartily glad 
 to see you, friend Brooks," I replied ; " I have travelled 
 twenty-two years, and considered myself an old traveller, 
 but I am only a youngster compared with yourself. Will 
 you take a little refreshment? — a glass of sherry." 
 " Thank you, not wine. I could drink a glass of beer, 
 but you must not give it me too strong; it won't make 
 me fresh, will it?" said the patriarch of the road. 
 " Dear-a-me," he continued, as we walked through the 
 warehouse, " what a place you've got ! Has slackness 
 of trade found you out yet ? " I explained to him what 
 I thought to be the cause of so continued a depression, 
 viz., that more goods were produced than could possibly 
 be consumed. "Ah!" said he, "what a change since 
 I travelled fifty-eight years ago. It used to take me two 
 days and a night on a coach to get from Sheffield to 
 London, and now I come up by Great Northern express 
 in three hours and two minutes. No," he said, correct- 
 ing himself, "twelve minutes," and added, "My me- 
 mory is not so good as it used to be, sir." " But you 
 have given up travelling now, Mr. Brooks?" "Oh dear 
 no ; I am on a journey now. Look, here are some of 
 my samples," showing me a box of juvenile tools, which 
 he pulled out of the tail-pocket of his black frock coat. 
 ** I don't carry so many samples now as I used to do. 
 
 f UMIV 
 
94 ''BROOKS OF SHEFFIEDr 
 
 We have spent ;^i,3oo in an illustrated design book, 
 and I travel more by mind now, you know, describing 
 the articles as you see here," pointing to an illustrated 
 sheet. " Our firm is Brooks & Son ; I am the Son, and 
 our place is called Howard Works." I then asked him 
 if he still remembered Charles Dickens. " I should 
 think I do," he replied. " Why, he visited me, lent me 
 his books as they were published, and speaks of me 
 when he goes to the seaside. I used to meet him 
 regularly the other side of Cheapside, at a tavern close 
 to the church — not Bow Church, but at the back — in a 
 very small, dark, smoky, dingy room. Ah ! what 
 evenings they were ! " " Will you dine with me, Mr. 
 Brooks, on Sunday," said I. *' No, thank you," he re- 
 plied ; " I always go home on a Friday night to Sheffield. 
 I come to London every month. When I first travelled 
 I only came up twice a year, and I can't do half as much 
 business in the twelve times as I used to do in the two 
 journeys. You will excuse me now, sir," he concluded, 
 " I have an appointment." *' Allow me to tie up your 
 parcel, Mr. Brooks." "Excuse me," he said, "I like it 
 twice round," referring to the string, which I had put 
 only once round the parcel, and which he evidently 
 considered a slovenly piece of work. Then, taking up 
 his bag, off Mr. Brooks trudged, as anxious as ever to 
 keep his appointment, book his order, and catch the 
 2.45 train on the morrow. At nine the next morning 
 Brooks of Sheffield was seen hurrying to keep another 
 
CHARLES DICKENS OUR FRIEND. 95 
 
 appointment, and carrying rather a heavy sample-case 
 on a hot July day. One was disposed to pity this 
 veteran of the saddle-bag, turnpike-road, and railway, 
 but he appeared still to thoroughly enjoy travelling, 
 never forgetting that he was "Brooks of Sheffield, 
 friend of Charles Dickens." Charles Dickens was also 
 a friend to all commercials, and was in the habit of using 
 our room in preference to the coffee-room, and always 
 had a good cheery word for the *' Bagman," not for- 
 getting us in his prosperity, for he occupied the chair 
 at our annual dinner on two occasions, in 1854 and 
 1859. I think I can give a reason for this sympathy with 
 our fraternity. It is this : Charles Dickens sympathized 
 with all men of generous temperament and genial habit. 
 He mingled freely with commercial travellers ; he found 
 them to be full of anecdote, wit, and good-fellowship, 
 and possessing many of the qualities with which he was 
 most in sympathy. He may not have forgotten either poor 
 Micawber, whom he alludes to as follows : " I cannot 
 satisfy myself whether she told me that Mr. Micawber 
 had been an officer in the Marines, or whether I have 
 imagined it. I only know that I believe to this hour 
 that he was in the Marines once upon a time, without 
 knowing why. He was a sort of town traveller for a 
 number of miscellaneous houses now, but made little or 
 nothing of it, I'm afraid." Poor Micawber would have 
 made less to-day. 
 
96 THE ARISTOCRATS OF THE ROAD, 
 
 THE ARISTOCRATS OF THE ROAD. 
 
 Most travellers remember the story told of King 
 George, who one day, when at Brighton, noticing a 
 number of gentlemen rushing hither and thither with 
 parcels under their arms, inquired who they were ; and 
 when he was informed that they were commercial travel- 
 lers, and were a most industrious class of men, he 
 replied, "They are of great value to the state, bring them 
 here and I will confer the honour of knighthood upon 
 them all ; " and for many years afterward we were styled 
 the " knights of the road." I cannot give my readers 
 the names or the number of those who received the 
 king's honour, but I can give them the names of men who, 
 for noble deeds done and victories achieved, received 
 titles at the hands of our fraternity. Amongst the 
 many I may mention " The Duke of Richmond," a fine 
 old gentleman of aristocratic appearance, well known in 
 Yorkshire, who represented a foreign court, and retired 
 to one of the large government mansions. Another 
 popular man was "Sir Roger Gresley," of whom some 
 remarkable stories are told, but with which I will not 
 trouble the reader. The most blue-blooded member that 
 I knew was " Baron Hussey," of the Midlands, who was 
 hand and glove with the noblest of his time, and who 
 was also noted for his special breed and extensive flocks 
 of lattibs and kids. I next remember " My Lord Bishop 
 of Boston." His lordship was a great authority on 
 
THE DUKE OF RICHMOND, c5^•c 97 
 
 cucumbers, roses, and mustard oil. The greatest and 
 most eloquent orator of the road was " Lord John Russell 
 Boor," who, when in possession of the House, never 
 failed to make a good impression. 
 
TRAVELLERS AND TRAVELLING, PAST AND 
 
 PRESENT, 
 
 AND THE PROBABLE FUTURE OF 
 
 TRAVELLING. 
 
" The past is all by death possest, 
 And frugal fate that guards the rest 
 By giving bids us live to-day." 
 
 Fenton. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE locomotive and the electric current have revo- 
 lutionized many of the phases of life, and few 
 callings have been more completely changed by these 
 agencies than that of the commercial traveller. And 
 although giving us many advantages, in some respects 
 they are not an unmixed benefit to the human race. 
 For these and other causes have made the competition 
 in trade so keen that it has become impossible for any 
 but first-rate men of the strongest physical frames and 
 mental calibre to stand the wear and tear necessary to 
 the conducting of business to anything like a successful 
 issue. 
 
 The survival of the strongest and ablest, if not the 
 fittest and best, being the all-important factor in com- 
 mercial travelling, as it is in every other department of 
 
I02 TRAVELLERS AND TRAVELLING. 
 
 life, it is only those who are abreast of and in sympathy 
 with the times, those who can think ind act with preci- 
 sion, that are even in the race. For as a friend of mine 
 says, " If you mean to catch the hare you must follow 
 her wherever she goes ; and it's of no use your going 
 over the ditch to the right, if she has gone over the 
 fence to the left." This is a homely illustration, but it 
 vividly represents the rapid and subtle changes to which 
 the art of trading is now subject. How different all this 
 is from the old-fashioned, steady-going dingdong of 
 business, when the commercial travellers bestrode their 
 horses, with their saddle-bags in front of them, contain- 
 ing their samples ! They left London for six months at 
 a time, taking the statements of accounts with them, and 
 only writing occasionally, and sending their orders but 
 once a week or at longer intervals, thus saving the 
 expensive postage. What a contrast to the old coaching 
 times, when it took as many days as it does hours now to 
 reach London ! when the shopkeeper had to leave his 
 bed at all hours in the night to receive his goods from 
 the London stage vans ! Only twenty years ago driving 
 was the order of the day, and then was also the day of 
 orders. (Bishops in this respect are like commercial 
 travellers ; they hold their position in virtue of having 
 taken orders.) I remember my first visit to the " White 
 Hart," Gainsborough, a very old but most comfortable 
 hotel. The Boots happening to be out of the way, the 
 old ostler was requested to assist in taking the luggage 
 
104 TRAVELLERS AND TRAVELLING. 
 
 from the omnibus. I asked him if there were many 
 gentlemen in. He gruffly rephed (evidently not appre- 
 ciating the new state of things), "Three ge?itlemen driving, 
 and six or seven /el/o7i/s by the 'bus." 
 
 In the driving days I visited my customers every two 
 months, which was considered by many of them as much 
 too often. The latter part of my travelling days I saw 
 them every fourth week, and many of them every fort- 
 night : always doing the largest trade in towns to which 
 I could go most frequently. Twenty years ago drapers 
 bought heavy parcels twice a year. Nowadays the rule 
 is not to buy a large parcel at all. Contracts are made 
 with such carriers as Sutton, Davis, Foster, the Globe, 
 Roberts and Kent ; and now the parcels post gives such 
 facilities to the retail man for getting his wants supplied, 
 that travelling (no matter how large and good the house 
 one represents) has become one of the most laborious 
 and anxious of positions. In lieu of taking one or two 
 good orders daily, men have to take ten or a dozen. 
 Instead of visiting one or two towns in a week, they are 
 often in seven or eight, or more. The increase in the 
 expense of paper and string only, necessary for the extra 
 thousands of small parcels in all large wholesale concerns, 
 is something enormous. I have heard old travellers 
 remark that their customers used to come out several 
 miles of a summer evening to meet them, for the prestige 
 and pleasure of their company. The old drivers would 
 spend a day or two wuth some of their customers ; but 
 
THE ''DRIVING'' DAYS. 105 
 
 now you get ten minutes' grace, with five or six waiting 
 their turn outside for a similar reception. And if your 
 client is not in a good humour, he goes to his private 
 room, and is " not at home " to any traveller. 
 
 It was said that railways would bring all the buyers 
 into the markets, and that travellers would only be known 
 as men who were once useful adjuncts, but who are no 
 more necessary. But such people forgot that there was 
 a down as well as an up line, and that smart active men, 
 hungry for business, would not wait patiently until trade 
 came slowly to them, but would go out and seek it. 
 How this has been verified you can readily test by going 
 to any of the numerous enormous hotels built during the 
 last few years. You will find most of them full of travel- 
 lers, and unless you write for a bed you have either to 
 sleep in a garret or one is obtained for you elsewhere. 
 This is to be accounted for in a great measure by the large 
 number of special-department men, who, beside the 
 regular traveller, are constantly visiting the large towns ; 
 as many as six representatives being in one town from 
 certain London houses at the same time. Manchester 
 and Glasgow houses are equally notorious in this respect, 
 and it is the rule rather than the exception to meet two, 
 three, or four men from the latter place in the same 
 town, from the same house. 
 
 A greater and more deplorable feature of this competi- 
 tion is the extraordinary terms these Scotch houses are 
 in the habit of offering : as e.g.^ plain linen and Scotch 
 
io6 TRAVELLERS AND TRAVELLING. 
 
 goods, delivered in November, dated as April, subject to 
 2^ per cent, discount the ist June, or a three or four 
 months' bill ; in all, eleven months' credit. The London 
 houses are almost as reckless, delivering silks carriage 
 paid in October, dated February, 2^^ per cent, ist April, 
 or a three months' bill. I mention these matters in no 
 spirit of animosity to any particular house (for we are all 
 sinners more or less in this particular), but to show that 
 travellers were never more in request than at the present 
 moment, and never (if men of real " grit " ) able to com- 
 mand such handsome remuneration for their services. 
 Only a few years ago there were houses which prided 
 themselves on doing a magnificent business without a 
 single representative. This was no vain boast, but they, 
 like others, have succumbed to the inevitable law, and I 
 am not aware that there are more than one or two houses 
 of any repute that can command any large amount of 
 business without the aid of the commercial traveller. 
 
 Again, a few years ago a good wholesale firm would 
 have considered it as infra dig, to send out a circular, as 
 a first-class retail concern would to ticket their goods in 
 their windows. Now, the former spends hundreds of 
 pounds per annum in printing, and the latter tickets so 
 much that you fail to see the goods, the tickets being so 
 large and so numerous. If the retail drapers were to 
 read all the circulars that they receive- and listen to all 
 that the travellers have to say, they would not have a 
 moment for the conduct of their business, not even if 
 
TRA YELLING RE VOL UTIONIZED. i o 7 
 
 they gave Sunday to the task. What does it all mean ? 
 What would our grandfathers or even fathers say to all 
 this high pressure, this nervous anxiety, this intense 
 rushing as for very life to sell a few pounds more sugar 
 or a few yards more calico than we did the previous 
 year? Are we the happier? Do we enjoy life more 
 than our predecessors ? Is the game worth the candle ? 
 My forte is not preaching or moralizing ; but these 
 questions must force themselves on all reflecting minds. 
 Each one must answer them for himself. 
 
 Over-production is answerable in a great measure for 
 our present razor -like competition, while the American 
 high tariff also operates in the same direction. Supply 
 and demand is the one tangible guide for all trading. 
 So long as any goods are bought and sold, this will be 
 of necessity a scientific explanation which cannot be gain- 
 said. If a man wants a suit of clothes and there are 
 ten tailors who want the order, he will always get his 
 clothes cheaper than if there were but one or two. 
 
 In 1872-73-74 nearly every branch of industry was in 
 an abnormal and inflated state. All the world wanted 
 goods, and as we had seventy per cent.^ of the machinery 
 of the world, Europe and America had to come to this 
 " tight little island " for a large proportion of the goods 
 they wanted. During this most unusual demand (caused 
 
 ' In 1830 the power of machinery, in Great Britain, in mills was 
 equal to 6cx),ooo,ooo men, or one man being able to produce by its 
 aid as much as 250 men could have accomplished fifty years before 
 that time. What could it not produce to-day ? 
 
io8 TRA VELLERS AND TRA VELLING. 
 
 by two of the great European nations having been in the 
 throes of a gigantic war) our manufacturers hterally 
 coined money ; and being puffed up with such success, 
 and thinking that it was normal and lasting, they lost 
 their level heads and invested most of their savings in 
 new machinery, vainly imagining that trade would always 
 be as rosy. The rapid strides we then made by leaps 
 and bounds caused the intelligent foreigner to think that 
 he might as well try and make a few things for himself, 
 and he quickly put the thought into practice. " Charity 
 begins at home," whispered some. " It's time we exer- 
 cised it," said others. " Those Britishers are dapper 
 hands at shopkeepihg, we admit ; but if we place a duty 
 of from forty to seventy per cent, on their goods, we may 
 be able to do a little profitable shopkeeping on our own 
 account." And so they went to work, and did not only 
 a little but a great deal of manufacturing for themselves. 
 Unfortunately for our own manufacturers, it does not 
 pay to keep machinery idle. It must be kept going at 
 any cost. Well, it has been kept going, and at the cost 
 in most instances of more than the fortunes originally 
 made. This over-production has brought about a keen 
 competition and a lowering of prices unknown before in 
 the annals of British commerce. Four or five years ago 
 we thought goods had seen their lowest, but there has 
 been a steady decline, and, at the moment I am writing, 
 goods are at a ruinously low rate both for the manu- 
 facturer and the wholesale merchant. All free traders 
 
OVER PRODUCTION Q- COMPETITION. 109 
 
 believe in a cheap article and plenty of it. " A fair day's 
 pay for a fair day's work " is an excellent motto, and it 
 applies to the artisan and to the manufacturer who has 
 his capital in his machinery and to the trader who uses 
 his brains. I for one am not alarmed. On the con- 
 trary, one great and good feature in all this is that the 
 million, the working population, the farm labourer, and 
 the mechanic, were never so well off; and notwithstand- 
 ing the present cry of "horrible London," the great bulk 
 of the people were never so well clothed, fed, and cared 
 for in the memory of man. It is the great middle class, 
 the large manufacturers and warehousemen who are at 
 this moment the greatest sufferers, not so much for want 
 of business as from the want of a fair remuneration for 
 capital employed, brain-power expended, and work done. 
 No class of men work harder or have a more anxious 
 existence than the heads of our large mercantile houses. 
 
 The following particulars from The Daily News will 
 corroborate what I have advanced. 
 
 " In truth trade has expanded, and doubtless will 
 expand further, whatever may be the case at the moment. 
 We have grown accustomed to think that the year 1873 
 marked a period of dead, buried, and in these degenerate 
 days, incomparable prosperity. Strangely enough, how- 
 ever, the exports of the past eleven months only have in 
 many if not all instances greatly exceeded in quantity 
 those of the whole of the said year. The values, how- 
 ever, as we have just seen, are totally untrustworthy 
 
no TRA VELLERS AND TRA VELLING. 
 
 guides to a knowledge of the extent and volume of our 
 foreign trade. In 1872, we exported 3,382,762 tons of 
 iron and steel, then valued at thirty-six millions sterling ; 
 for the past eleven months only of this year, we have 
 exported 3,765,192 tons, valued at only twenty-six and a 
 half millions sterling. In that year, too, we exported 
 3,538 million yards of cotton goods; and already this 
 year we have sent abroad 4,185 million yards, although 
 the present valuation is less by ten miUions sterhng. In 
 many other instances the bulk of trade is more while the 
 value is less. What shall all this profit us if the money 
 value of export trade is no larger ? We do more for no 
 more money, and the exporters' profits are presumably 
 even less than on the export trade of the year 1883. 
 The profits cannot be altogether insignificant neverthe- 
 less, seeing that the cost prices of raw material are low 
 enough to leave a large "margin." More than all, it is 
 certain that the augmented bulk of trade goes to sustain 
 a largely increased working population, and here the low 
 cost of imports in the way of food tells favourably, and 
 implies that, even with diminished money wages, those 
 employed upon the manufacture of cheap goods can live 
 and save on wages which are less in pounds, shillings, 
 and pence, but in every other sense are considerable. 
 There is no evidence of seriously diminished trade, and 
 the low range of selling prices is not without its com- 
 pensations." 
 
 So that every buyer who is keeping up his return is 
 
BULK OF TRADE MORE, VALUE— LESS, iii 
 
 actually doing nearly a third more business; />., he is 
 sending out one-third more pieces of manufactured goods 
 than he was a few years ago to produce the same results. 
 So low are present values. 
 
 Personally the commercial traveller has in most re- 
 spects much improved during the last quarter of a 
 century. He is less of an animal, and more of a man. 
 He eats and drinks less, and thinks more ; he is more 
 intellectual, if not more divine. He is less hke an 
 automaton wound up to go a certain fixed time and to 
 perform certain mechanical gesticulations ; or, like the 
 famous marionnettes, only answering to the strings of the 
 man behind the scenes. He has observed the march 
 of intellect and profited by its upward movement. He 
 occupies now a much more important position than 
 formerly, if he be a first-rate man. He is not a traveller 
 or agent ; he is even something more than a mere re- 
 presentative. He is an ambassador, not with sealed 
 orders, but with a large margin of play for his own 
 individuality. "After the tenth of the month, sir, go 
 where you please and say what you choose ; only let me 
 see a sheet of foolscap well filled with orders on my desk 
 every morning," once said a principal to me more than 
 twenty years ago. But few governors were then smart 
 enough to see the necessity of such a liberty, which would 
 develop the best energies of their men ; and there was 
 not the need for this margin that there is to day. " The 
 time has come, and a man with and for the time," was 
 
1 1 2 TEA VELLERS AND TRA YELLING. 
 
 once said of a great but now greater statesman. It is 
 quite as true to say that the times have changed, and 
 the whole aspect of business and the apphances neces- 
 sary to secure it ; therefore you must have men who are 
 able to adapt themselves to the times. The ambassadors 
 must be left free to act very much as the day and the 
 hour demand. And it is only this liberty that will assist 
 in developing the capacity of the salesman, and add to 
 the lustre of great business houses. 
 
 This class of representative has passed the " examina- 
 tion " period of travelling, and can bring to the discharge 
 of his work experience, now so necessary and so vastly 
 superior to the mere theory of business, which the 
 rapidly changing modes of commerce demand. 
 
 There is little hope for a man rising if he has not 
 carved out for himself a position prior to the attainment 
 of his thirtieth year. He may not have reached the 
 goal, but he must have shown a talent, a fitness for a 
 position of trust and responsibility. There is another 
 type of travellers, who, having made a competency, if not 
 a fortune, are satisfied with being mediocre. They be- 
 lieve in the " conservation of energy," and will not go in 
 for any change that causes extra thought or labour in 
 their declining years. They are passive, and argue that 
 they have had their share of toil of mind and body. The 
 old style was good enough for this man and his father 
 before him ; and he cannot see, for the life of him, 
 why younger and more enterprizing men want to be 
 
VILLAGE AND TOWN TRAVELLERS. 113 
 
 constantly altering the old rules and substituting new 
 ideas. The fact is circumstances compel radical changes 
 in the conduct of every business; and the question is 
 whether you are to drift backwards as the slave of circum- 
 stances, to be petrified and fossilized, or whether you 
 will be the creator of some and master of all conditions. 
 I have known scores of old-fashioned conservative tra- 
 vellers who were satisfied with the dingdong of driving 
 six or seven miles an hour, seeing one or two customers 
 a day, and going to villages with a population of a few 
 hundreds, exactly the same number of times per annum 
 as they went to the large towns with their 50,000 or 
 100,000; and thus, not adapting themselves to the new 
 state of things, their trade fell off in the small places, and 
 they were not in the cities often enough to make up the 
 deficiency. Village travellers lose touch with the style 
 necessary for success in big towns, if they ever had it ; 
 and rail travelling totally unfits a man to do justice to 
 the small village customer, who can only do his business 
 in a grandmotherly fashion. It is the spirit of the age 
 that compels men, almost against their wills, to follow an 
 attraction which kindles among them 'an enthusiasm for 
 commerce. The saddle-bags, the gigs, the four-wheelers, 
 are all left behind by the railroad ; the six to seven miles 
 an hour give way to the sixty or seventy ; the one or two 
 orders per day to one or two and twenty ; the one letter 
 a week to one or two a day, with a telegram or two be- 
 tween. The multiplicity of small things, rapidly but 
 
 9 
 
114 TRA VELLERS AND TRA YELLING. 
 
 carefully executed, may be compared with the one or two 
 large parcels of former times. 
 
 With all the wear and tear of this friction a great many 
 good points have been forced upon the traveller. For 
 instance, he has not now time for so many heavy meals, 
 and he cannot afford to spend so much money on bitter 
 beer or wine. The hotel proprietors having advanced 
 their prices at least 12^ per cent., have helped the tra- 
 veller to a more independent position; and the extra 
 thousands of miles he has now to cover per annum have 
 so increased his travelling expenses that he is glad ta 
 economize. So nature's compensating law takes and 
 gives, and is doing for us all, unconsciously to ourselves, 
 a beneficent work. The wine-bibber and the debauchee 
 are no longer in the race, for they cannot compete with 
 the healthy young traveller, the quicked-brained, clear- 
 thinking, active, moderate man — not necessarily a tee- 
 totaler, but often more temperate than the so-called 
 temperance men. 
 
 Another incalculable benefit conferred by the railroad 
 is that it enables men to live in the centre of their 
 journey, and to get home three or four times during the 
 week; few of them being now compelled to spend 
 Sunday from home. Another enormous boon is that the 
 Great Eastern Railway — and the Great Northern follow- 
 ing so good an example — have given them a return 
 ticket at single fare at the end of the week. Other rail- 
 ways it may be hoped will do the same, it being to their 
 
TRUE PROGRESS, 115 
 
 interest to do so ; for hundreds of mea will then be able 
 to go home for much less than it would cost them to 
 stay at hotels. The railway companies would receive the 
 single fare where they now receive none, and thus a dual 
 benefit would be conferred. The hotel proprietors will 
 suffer, but the percentage of good is advanced ; and this 
 is as it should be. This is true progress, the real good 
 (a word which is Saxon god), and therefore real godli- 
 ness, for the greatest number. I know of no class of 
 men who are more sinned against than sinning than the 
 commercial travellers. That there are scamps and vaga- 
 bonds amongst them I will not attempt to deny ; in 
 what class are they not to be found ? But I can assert 
 that the fraternity to which I had the honour to belong 
 for over twenty years, and for which I have still the most 
 profound respect and sympathy, will bear a most scru- 
 tinizing and favourable comparison with any other class 
 of men. Those who sit in judgment upon the com- 
 mercial traveller are usually men who are surrounded by 
 the safeguards of home, of wife and family ties ; these no 
 one can really estimate at their true value but those who 
 for weeks and months are separated from such benign 
 influences. Again, the traveller has large amounts of 
 money at his command ; he exists in the very midst of 
 temptation; he has a positive excuse for drinking "for 
 the good of the house," &c., all of which are no mean 
 enemies to encounter. These things test the stuff human 
 nature is made of, and in the case of the traveller they 
 
1 1 6 TRA VELLERS AND TRA FELLING, 
 
 prove for the most part his superiority to the allurements 
 with which his path is beset. And, to their honour be it 
 said, hundreds of travellers are noble examples to those 
 who sit at home at ease, and who can know nothing of 
 the daily struggles with temptation which the commercial 
 traveller has to encounter. 
 
 J. J. Colman, Esq., M.P., speaking at a commercial 
 travellers' dinner at Norwich, said he " had known a 
 good deal of commercial travellers for a very long period. 
 Whilst it was well to look with a discriminating eye on 
 the reports which travellers might bring, it was certain 
 that if there were not a good understanding between 
 principals and their travellers, it would be a bad thing for 
 the house who sent those travellers out. As a matter of 
 curiosity, he had asked his representatives, by way of a 
 joke, what would happen if a firm tried to do without 
 travellers ; and they replied, '■ You would maintain a 
 certain amount of your trade for a considerable time, but 
 you would begin to find it fall off unless you had com- 
 mercial travellers.' He had no doubt that was perfectly 
 true, and he quite agreed with the remark. One of the 
 speakers had referred to the temptations and wear of 
 commercial life, and in recognizing the truth of that 
 remark they ought to highly respect and heartily esteem 
 those travellers who escaped the temptations to which 
 they were exposed, and who conducted themselves 
 honourably and well.. Things had changed in com- 
 mercial life of late years. He recollected the time when 
 
THE OPINION OF J. J. COLMAN, M.P. 117 
 
 they shook hands with a traveller going to the north, not 
 knowing hardly when he would be back. Those were 
 not the days when one knew exactly where to find a tra- 
 veller on the Sunday ; but now, if a letter were posted on 
 the Saturday night to the residence of one of their repre- 
 sentatives, it was pretty sure to find him. He did not 
 regret * the good old times,' as some persons were apt to 
 do; for he beheved a man did his business no worse in 
 the week because he had an opportunity of spending his 
 Sunday at home with his family. " In thanking Mr. Allen 
 for the complimentary way in which he had proposed 
 his health, and in saying what he had done about com- 
 mercial travellers he simply gave utterance to what had 
 been in his heart. Though it had not been his lot to have 
 much to do with the road, yet he most heartily, thoroughly, 
 and sincerely sympathized with commercial travellers. 
 Some of the gentlemen who represented his firm had 
 travelled for it between thirty and forty years, and when 
 he had an opportunity of meeting them at the social 
 board or for business purposes, he felt it to be a source 
 of satisfaction and almost of inspiration." 
 
 I repeat that our traveller, by the aid of improved 
 locomotion, is enabled to spend much more time in the 
 bosom of his family at his own fireside ; and under those 
 happier influences he is a wiser and a better man. He 
 is a superior being, physically, intellectually, socially, 
 morally, as compared with the old stager by whose dim 
 but not religious light the modern traveller is too often 
 
1 1 8 TRA VELLERS AND TRA VEILING. 
 
 judged ; and from the stigma of his misdoings I hope 
 these lines will in a measure relieve his successor. There 
 was an excuse for much of the grossness of the old port- 
 winy tuberosity appearance of the now antique bagman, 
 for he was, for the most part, a bachelor. A bachelor only 
 half lives. He thinks he escapes many sorrows, but he 
 knows nothing of the joys that are more than commen- 
 surate. A man who vegetates at hotels becomes a cynical, 
 sordid hypochondriac, compared with the social husband 
 and father. The one is selfish and morose, with all his 
 best feelings parched ; the other is genial, gentle, loving — 
 living a dual life, a second youth over again, in his chil- 
 dren. The modern commercial traveller is, therefore, a 
 brighter, wiser, and happier man. He has to compete 
 with forces which urge him onward with almost lightning 
 rapidity ; but he receives increased home comforts and 
 more mental pleasures as his reward. 
 
 THE PROBABLE FUTURE OF TRAVELLING. 
 
 My main reason for speaking so much of the past and 
 present life and work of the commercial traveller was to 
 draw some distinctions and conclusions respecting the 
 probable position he will hold in the immediate future. 
 I have shown that the entire scope of an ambassador's 
 peregrinations, system of doing business, mode of living, 
 his relation to his employer and customer, has been and 
 is still subject to the great and somewhat grinding law of 
 evolution, and the severe strain of competition, which, 
 
I20 THE FUTURE OF TRAVELLING. 
 
 for better or worse, will force employers to select a very 
 differently constructed being to the old bagman, if they 
 desire to hold and sustain with any degree of success 
 this most important branch of their business machinery. 
 In all great changes some good in the old will be de- 
 stroyed in making way for the new and greater benefit. 
 Applying this to the subject in hand, I have no misgivings 
 as to the future of the commercial traveller, for whenever a 
 greater degree of intelligence is necessary a higher being 
 is always evolved to carry on the work. I have already 
 shown that the present-day traveller is in many respects 
 by the aforenamed law a vastly superior man, and as the 
 years roll on he will have still to submit to the inevitable, 
 and move on, or he will be moved with the weak " to 
 the wall," for every leading position in all large mercantile 
 houses will require a closer and more intense application 
 of all the faculties ; the hours may be shorter, but the 
 moments will be keener and more anxious ; the business 
 problems will be much more complex for the middle man 
 and the merchant. It will therefore require a much more 
 subtle mind and dexterous hand to bring about results 
 satisfactory to both employers and employes. To no 
 class of business men does this apply with greater force 
 than to the commercial traveller, the great pioneer of all 
 large trading operations, for upon his general intelligence 
 and acumen, upon his power of conception and intre- 
 pidity of execution, very much depends. Ergo^ the men 
 who have not grown and advanced with the times will be 
 
NECESSITY OF SMARTER MEN. 121 
 
 left a long way behind in the race, and those only will be 
 able to retain their positions who can properly estimate 
 and quickly adapt themselves to the ever-advancing and 
 rapidly- changing circumstances, which will continue to 
 influence and govern the entire conduct of the nineteenth 
 century commerce. 
 
 Under these altered conditions we must look to the 
 young, pliable, industrious traveller to make a brilliant 
 future for himself. There is no appointment in a house 
 of business which offers such scope for large ideas and 
 magnificent results, as the future of travelling, and I can 
 confidently recommend any man with a thorough know- 
 ledge of his business to select this work, with this proviso, 
 that if he have all the gifts, all the qualifications of all the 
 best men who have ever travelled combined, and lacks 
 that intense application, that determination to work 
 fourteen, sixteen, or even eighteen hours per day, year in 
 and year out, he lacks the one thing above all others 
 needful. 
 
OUR INSTITUTIONS. 
 
" That charity is bad which takes from indepen- 
 dence its proper pride, and from mendicity its 
 salutary shame." — SOUTHEY. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ©ur ^n»tituttan»» 
 
 THE Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans," and 
 "Charity begins at home," are not quite synonymous 
 adages ; for the former gives an imperative " No " to any 
 dealings by people with those outside their own race, and 
 the latter implies a charity which should have its begin- 
 ning, though not its ending, with one's own " kith and 
 kin." Christianity has done much to broaden men's 
 views, and make them more cosmopolitan, more huma- 
 nitarian, and therefore more religious. To all the world 
 and to every creature was the command : " pure religion 
 and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit 
 the fatherless and the widows in their affliction, and to 
 keep one's self unspotted from the world ; " but after 
 1800 years of this preaching, self-preservation, the first 
 law of nature, still strongly asserts itself, and compels us 
 
126 OUR INSTITUTIONS, 
 
 to provide for ourselves and our own household; and 
 then, if there be anything to spare, we think of our neigh- 
 bour. And Heaven knows, with millions of our neighbours 
 the wide world over, how infinitesimal the little to spare 
 is ! To be just, then, to ourselves, our families, and our 
 creditors, before we are generous, is worth remembering ; 
 as also to use much discretion in the giving of charity. 
 Indiscriminate charity is a great curse, for it is a gigantic 
 pauper manufactor)^ These two errors we should avoid ; 
 and on the principle of helping those who help them- 
 selves, we cannot go far wrong if we help the Commercial 
 Travellers' Schools and the Commercial Travellers' 
 Benevolent Institution; both of them admirable insti- 
 tutions, and the very best insurance companies for 
 commercial travellers to join; for as long ago as 1859 
 Charles Dickens, speaking of the former, said " that any 
 commercial traveller could establish an individual right 
 and title by the humble contribution of an annual guinea, 
 and it could be handsomely maintained if every com- 
 mercial traveller would give to it one half-crown on a 
 given day every year. I hope then, sincerely, that the 
 time is not far distant when the commercial traveller 
 who does not belong to this Institution will be a rare 
 and isolated case. I do hope this with some confidence, 
 because I cannot believe that it is possible that many 
 commercial travellers can look upon their own dear 
 children, and not feel that they would be better and 
 hghter-hearted for being sharers in this institution 
 
THE USE AND ABUSE OF CHARITY. 127 
 
 Gentlemen," he went on to say, " we should remember 
 to-night that we are all travellers, and that every round 
 we take converges nearer and nearer to our home; that all 
 our little journeys bring us together to one certain end ; 
 and that the good that we do, and the virtues that we 
 show, and particularly the children that we rear, survive 
 us through the long and unknown perspective of time." 
 Any commercial traveller who may chance to read this 
 true, beautiful, and touching appeal is less than a man 
 if he does not at once send his guinea, or what he can 
 spare, to the treasurer, Mr. James Hughes, Bow Church- 
 yard, Cheapside — an old traveller, who once publicly 
 said, "All my success in life, humanly speaking, is 
 owing to the habit of self-reliance I learned upon the 
 road;" and of whom another gentleman has privately 
 and voluntarily said in a letter to me this day, " James 
 Hughes has done more for the commercial travellers than 
 any other man living." 
 
 I have read a great number of the speeches made 
 at our annual meetings since Dickens spoke, and find 
 that the burden of them, like his, has been an appeal 
 to our body for its personal support. These speeches 
 were from the Duke of Cambridge, Sir Moses Montefiore, 
 the late Dean Stanley, from bishops, successive lord 
 mayors and sheriffs. " Why is it that so few com- 
 mercial men subscribe?" There is no tangible reason. 
 " A lame excuse is better than none," says the old 
 proverb ; but I differ from this wise saw, and consider 
 
128 OUR INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 a lame excuse worse than none j and the very la?ne 
 excuse that we hear from many is that they do not sub- 
 scribe because ;z^;2-subscribers' children are admitted. 
 Now there has never been a case of a subscriber's child 
 who has not been finally elected to the benefits of this 
 institution ; therefore the excuse is a very lame one 
 indeed. Further, thousands of pounds have been sub- 
 scribed by the governors, and are still being continued, 
 because the institution is founded on the principle of 
 " relieving the children of commercial travellers without 
 reference to the parents having been subscribers ; " and I 
 am disposed to think that, as this is one of its funda- 
 mental rules, even an Act of Parliament could not be 
 obtained to alter it. But to prove the entire fallacy 
 of the excuse, let us look at the sister institution, "the 
 Benevolent." It is managed by popular commercial men 
 themselves, and none but subscribers are admitted ; and 
 yet the Right Hon. W. H. Smith, M.P., said on Decem- 
 ber 28, 1883, that "he had been informed that 27,000 
 out of the 30,000 commercial travellers were not members 
 of this institution." One is therefore forced to adopt 
 the conclusion that it is not the rules of the ' ' schools " 
 which require altering, but the indifference of the travel- 
 lers to a proper sense of their duty towards these two 
 noble institutions — associations that any traveller should 
 be proud to be a member of. For any man who is 
 eligible to receive the benefits of either of them to say 
 that he cannot afford to subscribe, is the poorest, not to 
 
I30 OUR INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 say the most untruthful, of all excuses \ for one glass of 
 grog per week less, and the thing is done ; and the man 
 is better in health and in the consciousness of having 
 performed his duty to himself, his family, and the great 
 brotherhood of commercial travellers. 
 
 To ask our employers, or any one outside of our 
 fraternity, for help, is, I say, most humiliating. Why ! if 
 we were men and had any self-respect, any native dignity 
 in our constitution, we should no longer permit the 
 possibility of our widows and our children being paupers 
 at the gate begging for a pittance. No ! we should at 
 once rise to our full height, thank our benefactors for 
 what they have done in the past, remove the disgrace by 
 subscribing in sufficient numbers, and thus make our 
 institutions self-supporting. This would be accomplished 
 if only a third of our fraternity subscribed a guinea per 
 annum to each of the institutions. 
 
 The idea of forming the Commercial Travellers' 
 Schools originated with Mr. J. R. Cuffley, who was warmly 
 supported by Mr. George Stockdale, Mr. Roberts, and a 
 few other travellers. They called upon Mr. Moore, who 
 at first doubted whether commercial travellers would 
 combine for such an object. However, at the instance 
 of Mr. Moore, these gentlemen collected ;^20oo. Mr. 
 Moore was now ready to go heartily with them. A public 
 meeting was held at the London Tavern on the 30th 
 December, 1845, George Moore in the chair. He was 
 the first treasurer, and Mr. J. Masterman, M.P. for the 
 
THE HISTORY OF '' THE SCHOOLS." 131 
 
 city of London, consented to be the president. From 
 that time the success of the project became assured. 
 The first premises for schools were at Wanstead. In 
 1847 the first twenty children were elected; in 1848, 
 thirty more, and in 1849,. ten more. The schools at 
 Pinner were opened on the 27th October, 1855, Prince 
 Albert being present. There were then 142 children in 
 the schools. The Prince Consort gave 100 guineas, 
 ^2000 being in all collected. The schools cost ;£'2 5,000. 
 On the occasion of building an infirmary, swimming-bath, 
 and laundry, and adding a new story to the main build- 
 ing, Mr. James Hughes, the present treasurer, occupied 
 the chair at the annual dinner, supported by the Lord 
 Mayor and the Sheriff's ; at which gathering Mr. Hughes 
 was enabled to announce the largest amount ever collected 
 at a charity dinner, viz., ;;^ 17,000. This amount was 
 raised principally by the untiring energy and herculean 
 labours of Mr. Hughes, to whom, for help and sympathy 
 in many other ways, we owe a deep debt of gratitude. 
 His most recent, well-timed, and magnificent offer is, that 
 if the commercial travellers will exert themselves and 
 secure during the year 1885 a thousand new annual 
 subscribers of a guinea each to the schools, he will 
 supplement these subscriptions with a thousand guineas 
 as a donation, or, in other words, Mr. Hughes will give a 
 guinea himself for every guinea as a subscription, up to 
 1000 guineas. 
 I can further state that if any of my readers will make 
 
132 OUR INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 an appointment with Mr. James Hughes (who visits the 
 schools almost every Tuesday during the year), he will 
 be pleased to see them at Pinner ; and I may add that 
 when once visited the cases are rare that an augmentation 
 of its funds are not the result. 
 
 The following special information respecting our in- 
 stitutions will be found of interest : — 
 
 Commercial Travellers' Schools for Orphan 
 AND Necessitous Children (Founded a.d. 1845).. 
 Patron— ¥L.^,YL. The Prince of Wales. Vice- Patron — 
 H.R.H. The Duke of Cambridge. President—^. C. 
 L. Bevan, Esq. Trustees—]. D, Allcroft, Esq., M.P., 
 Alderman R. N. Fowler, Esq., John Baggallay, Esq. 
 Treasurer — James Hughes, Esq. Chairman of the Board 
 of Manage7nent. — D. R. Harvest, Esq. Secretary — Mr. 
 Henry Lendon. Head Master — Mr. William Francis. 
 Richards. Offices — 37, Milk Street, Cheapside, London,, 
 E.C. 
 
 The Institution next in age is that of which the fol- 
 lowing are useful particulars : — Commercial Travellers' 
 Benevolent Institution for the Relief of Aged and 
 Necessitous Commercial Travellers, being Members, 
 and the Widows of Members. Offices — 47, Finsbury 
 Circus, London, E.C. Patrons — George Burleigh, Esq., 
 James Hughes, Esq., A. J. Lewis, Esq. President — Sir 
 Sydney H. Waterlow, Bart., M.P. Trustees— i:, F. 
 Blackwell,Esq., J. N. Blyth, Esq., W. Harvey, Esq., W. 
 Hudson, Esq. Chairman of the Board of Ma7iagement—- 
 
FOUNDING OF " THE BENEVOLENT:' 133 
 
 T. Binsted, Esq. Treasurer — George Burleigh, Esq. 
 Secretary — Mr. Joseph Kaines, 
 
 The idea of founding this Institution occurred to 
 Messrs. W. G. B. Gunton, H. Browning, J. W. Scott, S. 
 Blankensee, and T. Smith, at Penzance, in September, 
 1849. It met with approval and goodwill from many old 
 commercial travellers, as it was felt that there was much 
 need for an Institution, the object of which should be 
 " the establishment of a fund for the relief of necessitous 
 commercial travellers, being members, who were aged, or 
 incapacitated from earning a subsistence, and for their 
 widows, and for no other purpose." The words " Com- 
 mercial Traveller" were to "be understood as describing 
 such persons only on whose behalf satisfactory evidence 
 should be offered to the Board of Management that they 
 are employed in that capacity, and had travelled in the 
 country for two years or more, and at least six months on 
 an average in each year, «Sz:c." 
 
 Qualification of Members. — A subscription of one 
 guinea per annum or a donation of ten guineas ; and 
 any traveller having attained the age of fifty years must 
 pay a donation of ten guineas or ten annual subscriptions 
 to render himself or his widow eligible as a candidate for 
 an annuity. 
 
 Special Relief Fund. — A Special Relief Fund has been 
 established by T. Binsted, Esq., for the temporary xeXiQi 
 of the more needy candidates waiting to be elected, for 
 which subscriptions and donations (however small) are 
 
134 OUR INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 earnestly solicited. The grants from this Fund have 
 already been as gratefully received as they were urgently 
 needed by candidates. 
 
 At the Annual Festival held at the Freemasons 
 Tavern, 1884, N. R. H. Humphreys, Esq. (Chairman of 
 Messrs. Bradbury, Greatorex, and Co., Limited), presided, 
 and on proposing the toast of the evening, "Success to 
 the Commercial Travellers' Institution," said that the 
 Institution had started in the year 1849 with very small 
 beginnings. It had achieved a success of which they 
 might well feel proud, but with which he hoped they 
 would not feel satisfied. By that he meant that they 
 must not be satisfied until they were able to elect every 
 eligible candidate. The affairs of the institution had 
 been extremely well managed, and he thought they had 
 shown much wisdom in not building an asylum. They 
 had the satisfaction of knowing by the system they had 
 adopted that every guinea subscribed, with but a frac- 
 tional deduction for the expenses of management, went 
 straight to the pockets of the pensioners. Besides, the 
 family ties of the recipient were not broken. There was 
 no degradation in receiving the annuity, because it was 
 simply the reward of thrift in more prosperous times. 
 The vicissitudes and changes of this life were so varied, 
 that it was impossible for any man in flourishing circum- 
 stances to say what would happen in a few years hence. 
 It was therefore incumbent upon every one to make 
 some provision for the future. The subscribers to this 
 
SPEECH OF N. R. H. HUMPHREYS, ESQ. 135 
 
 institution had the best possible insurance. No insu 
 ranee office would guarantee that for less than one penny 
 per working day a sum of £^0 per annum would be paid 
 in case of illness. One important point was, that out of 
 212 annuitants only twenty-five had been travellers, the 
 remainder being widows of travellers. This showed the 
 determination which the travellers had to work until the 
 last, and not fall back upon the funds of the Institution 
 until really obliged; then they had the comfort of 
 knowing that a band of brothers and fellow-workers were 
 ready and willing to assist them in their time of need. 
 He would be very much disappointed if at that time next 
 year he did not hear that each of the present subscribers 
 had added another to the list." 
 
 A younger institution is that which will now be men- 
 tioned : — 
 
 The COxMMercial Travellers' Christian Asso- 
 ciation (Founded 1882). President — George Williams, 
 Esq. Ex-Prestde?it — Henry Lea, Esq. Hon. Treasurer — 
 Mr. P. J. Whittaker. Chairman of Committee^ 1885 — 
 Mr. Leonard Courtney. Hon. Secretary — Mr. Henry 
 Holme. General Secretary — Mr. John Wells Thatcher. 
 
 Objects of the Association — i. The promotion of inter- 
 course amongst Christian commercial Men. 2. The 
 advancement of the moral and spiritual welfare of the 
 entire body. 3. The placing of libraries of standard 
 works in commercial rooms. 4. Placing copies of 
 the Word of God in all hotel bedrooms. 5. Extending 
 
136 OUR INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 sympathy and pecuniary help to commercial travellers 
 (members and non-members) in temporajj need through 
 sickness or loss of employment. 
 
 Offices — 1 86, Aldersgate Street, E.G. 
 
 Henry Lea, whose name is a household word amongst 
 commercial travellers, was the first president. His name 
 alone being a guarantee not only for the respectability 
 but integrity of this or any association ; and there can 
 be no doubt as to the broadness of its Christian charity, 
 for it extends not only its sympathy but its pecuniary 
 help to those who are not members. This is the test of 
 all tests. I wish this same charity had been extended 
 to the many libraries which the Committee have so 
 generously supplied. They should have added books 
 which would amuse and interest men who, after a hard 
 day's work, are in no mood to study metaphysics, or 
 read even so excellent a book as Motley's " Dutch 
 Republic." ^ 
 
 The Report for the year ending December, 1882, alludes 
 to a further idea which the association was considering, 
 namely, the establishment of a commercial travellers' 
 paper advocating the claims of the ^association, and all 
 other kindred societies for commercial travellers. 
 
 Early in 1883 the association appointed Mr. J. Wells 
 Thatcher the editor, and his journalistic experience gave 
 
 ^ Since the above was written I have read in "On the Road " 
 that the style of the vohimes now supplied leaves little to be 
 desired. 
 
HENRY LEA, OF READING. 137 
 
 to the newspaper its proper literary tone. It is called 
 *' On the Road," and is published monthly, at a penny. 
 
 The last Annual Report of the Commercial Travellers' 
 Christian Association (November 30, 1883) shows a 
 membership of 2000. Ten thousand well-bound Bibles 
 have been placed in as many commercial bedrooms; 140 
 libraries have been set up in the leading hotels at a cost 
 of about ;£^2o each. The total income for 1883 was 
 ;£"997 8s. 4d,, and the balance at the same time was 
 ^£"226 17s. 6d., and all debts paid. 
 
 One of the most recent results of the Commercial 
 Travellers' Christian Association is the founding of the 
 British Commercial Travellers' Provident Society ; 
 the object of which is to make weekly payments to 
 members in times of sickness, and to grant annuities. 
 This new association is quite distinct from the Com- 
 mercial Travellers' Christian Association, both as to its 
 funds and management. The basis of the new society 
 is that indicated by the Friendly Societies' Act, and it 
 is in no sense a charitable institution. A member may 
 receive from j[^\ to £^7, a week during sickness, and the 
 payment to be made to ensure any of these sums 
 depends upon his age at time of entry. 
 
 Next in order comes the United Kingdom Com- 
 mercial Travellers' Association. That the objects of 
 this association shall be — To unite all gentlemen engaged 
 in commercial travelling in a bond of union to advance 
 their common interests ; to secure to its members all rail- 
 
138 OUR INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 way concessions, free legal assistance, and all other ad- 
 vantages which, by united action, can be more readily 
 obtained, the question of the legal defence of any member 
 being first approved at a special meeting of the Central 
 Board or Local Committee. A commercial traveller shall 
 mean a gentleman specially or chiefly engaged in repre- 
 senting any manufacturer, merchant, wholesale house, or 
 company, for the purpose of securing orders and pro- 
 moting business. Such definition shall not include those 
 who are known as " specials," or occasional departmental 
 men sent out on short, intermittent journeys, and whose 
 special functions are those of warehousemen. 
 
 The above association, if properly worked, and the help 
 of a few more influential, practical, and popular business 
 men sohcited, might become an association which has 
 been wanted for a century. It has already secured " end 
 of the week return tickets " at single fares from the Great 
 Eastern and Great Northern Railways. B. Foster Mac- 
 Geach, Esq., J. P., an old traveller, and at the head of 
 the Fosters Parcels and Express Company, is the presi- 
 dent. This gentleman's intimate knowledge of the rail- 
 ways has already proved of so much advantage. Mr. J. 
 W. Thatcher is the founder ; he also is a man who has 
 been a commercial traveller, and who enters into his work 
 with a zeal and a knowledge of our wants which ought 
 to be a source of benefit to our fraternity. 
 
 The association has already the following representa- 
 tives : — Alderman Thomas Witty, Chairman Hull and 
 
THE U. K. C. T, ASSOCIATION. 139 
 
 District Branch; Mr. John Clark, Vice-Chairman Hull 
 and District Branch; Mr. Thomas Cummings, Chairman 
 Glasgow Branch; Mr. James Couper, Hon. Treasurer 
 Glasgow Branch ; Mr. J. W. DaVis, Chairman Bristol 
 Branch ; Mr. F. F. Sully, Vice-Chairman Bristol Branch ; 
 Councillor John Barker Ellis, Chairman Newcastle-on- 
 Tyne Branch ; Mr. George Harrison, jun.. Chairman 
 Edinburgh and Leith Branch; Mr. David Macfarlane, 
 Treasurer Edinburgh and Leith Branch. Branches also 
 are started in Manchester, Birmingham, and Liverpool. 
 
 Hofi. Secretaries — Mr. George Mahaffy, London 
 Branch (Parent Society) ; Mr. F. Ingham, Hull Branch ; 
 Mr. William R. Bogle, Glasgow Branch; Mr. John 
 Withers, Bristol Branch; Mr. George Watson, New- 
 castle-on-Tyne Branch ; Mr. John R. Russell, Edinburgh 
 and Leith Branch. Each of the branches has a powerful 
 committee of from twenty to thirty members, and the 
 construction of the Central Board will require modifica- 
 tion as the association develops. Gen. Ho7i, Sec., Mr. 
 Thomas Fawcett. 
 
 The following societies are also established for the 
 benefit of commercial travellers : — 
 
 The Commercial Travellers' Society of Scot- 
 land. — From the report by Mr. J. C. Reid, C.A., 
 Secretary, 48 new members have been enrolled during 
 the year 1885, ^7 have died, and the number of members 
 at close of year was 1383. The expected number of 
 deaths was 23*885. One deceased member drew 430 
 
140 OUR INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 weeks' aliment, two upwards of 300 each, one 90 weeks', 
 the remainder in smaller proportions ; while in one case, 
 during a membership of over 40 years, no sickness has 
 been recorded. The sickness experienced cost ;^2, 665, 
 while the amount expected was ;^2,o65. The funds of 
 the society have been increased during the year by the 
 sum of ;£" 1,894 15 s. Tid. The total funds now 
 amount to ^^47,6 10 16s. 4d., the annual revenue to 
 ;^5,io8 1 6s. 4d., while the money paid to the members 
 amounts to ;^*48,ii4 los. lod. The figures fairly 
 show the strength of the society, and the large amount 
 of relief for which it has provided. Each member is 
 urged to further the interest of the society on all 
 proper occasions. It has always to be noted that the 
 institution has stood the test of nearly half a century, 
 and that it is more vigorous with each advancing year, 
 so the public may join its ranks with the utmost con- 
 fidence, the large sums distributed being a warrant that 
 it supplies a solid want. From Mr. Arthur's gift and the 
 members' fund for widows, the directors were enabled 
 to allocate allowances to four applicants — two of ;^2 2 9s. 
 each, and two of ^^12 los. each. The report was 
 approved of, and office-bearers thereafter elected, those 
 for 1884 being : — President — John Couper (Mann, Byars, 
 and Co.); Vice-President — David Mitchell, 51, Miller 
 Street ; Treasurer — Robert Gourlay, banker ; Secretary — 
 John C. Reid, C.A. Directors — James Irons, J. Ban- 
 nerman, William Gibson, Alex. Smith, Alex. Campbell, 
 
NORTH OF ENGLAND ASSOCIATION. 141 
 
 Wemyss Walls, John Morison, Alex. Dunbar, Jervis 
 Coats, jun., A. Mellish, Gilbert Innes, Wm. Connell. 
 Surgeon — Professor Wm. Leishman, M.D. ; Actuary, 
 Thos. Marr, F.I.A. ; Law Agents — M'Grigor, Donald, 
 and Co. — Glasgow Mail. 
 
 The North of England Commercial Travel- 
 lers' Association. President — Mr. William Slaughter ; 
 Treasurer — Mr. W. Murton. The Secretary (Mr. G. 
 A. Allan) says in his report, 1883: "The number 
 of our ordinary members at the beginning of the 
 year was 158, not 164, as stated in last year's report. 
 Seven have left the association or been reluctantly 
 struck off for not complying with Rule 3 of the asso- 
 ciation; 16 new members have joined during the year: 
 so that the number now stands at 167. We numbered 
 91 honorary members at the beginning of the year; 
 5 have been removed by death or other causes; 4 
 joined us during the year, but one of the four, we are 
 sorry to say, died during the year — we allude to the late 
 Sheriff of Newcastle — so that our number of honorary 
 members now stands at 89. A great number of names 
 have been proposed for membership during the year, but, 
 for some cause, they have not come forward and joined 
 us. Our income for the year 1883 has been, from all 
 sources, £^1^ 9^- i°d., as against the sum of ;£'366 13s. 
 9d. for the year 1882. The increase is small, but it is 
 consoling to know there is an increase. The expenditure 
 for the year is the most favourable item, ^181 17s. id., 
 
142 OUR INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 which includes the £,2^ paid to annuitant, and also 
 ^9 13s. 9d. loss at the concert, being an increase of 
 1 6s. 4d. over 1882. The disbursements in benefits to 
 members have been exactly the same as last year, viz., 
 ^37, ;^i5 of which was paid to one member who had 
 the misfortune to have his leg broken : so that there has 
 only been ^24 paid for actual sickness, which we think 
 speaks well for the healthiness of commercial men as a 
 body, seeing that disease has been so rampant in our 
 midst. We are very happy to be able to say the same as 
 was said last year, that the interest received from funds 
 invested has been more than sufficient to pay sick bene- 
 fits and the annuity as well. Your committee are very 
 happy to be able to state that there have not been any 
 deaths among our members during the year, an immunity 
 which has not occurred to us for the last nine years ; and 
 we wish hereby to record our heartfelt gratitude to the 
 Great Architect of the universe for His great goodness to 
 us. It will thus be seen that the excess of revenue over 
 expenditure for the year has been ;£io8 12s. Qd. The 
 total value of your association, as represented at the end 
 of the year, was ;^i,76o 14s., of which ^1,700 is placed 
 in approved security, and ;^6o 14s. 4d. remains deposited 
 with your bankers. 
 
 North and West of Ireland ComxMercial Tra- 
 vellers' Association. — The objects of this useful 
 association are to protect the interests of commercial 
 travellers, to raise funds for the assistance of widows and 
 
NORTH OF IRELAND ASSOCIATION 143 
 
 orphans of members, and to provide legal and educational 
 aid. The annual subscription is los. The sick fund 
 grants £,\ per week for twelve months to all members 
 enrolled for two years, and who pay £^1 per annum 
 additional subscription. The report contains one sche- 
 dule of recommendations to hotel proprietors, and one to 
 members. Both are very emphatic as to what should be 
 expected at the hands of the proprietors of hotels. The 
 actual receipts of 1883 were £,26^ 2s. 8^d., of which 
 amount £^102 represented 204 subscriptions. There was 
 a balance in hand at commencement of the year, amount- 
 ing to ;^669 IDS. i^d., and ;^2o is. gd. was received 
 for interest. These sums bring the cash available up to 
 ^935 14s. 8d. The benevolent grant made amounted 
 to ;^ii5; general expenses, ^72 19s. iid. ; cash in 
 bank, £(ii ; Government Stock, ;^702 14s. 9d. Presi- 
 dent — Mr. JohnM'Vea; Vice-President — Mr. E. Donaghy; 
 Treasurer — Mr. James M'Cardle; Hon, Sees. — Messrs. 
 Thomas Scott and Samuel Entrican ; Secretary — Mr. W. 
 M. Johnson, 3, Hampton Terrace, Belfast. 
 
TOWN TRAVELLING. 
 
 II 
 
" I do not think that in any capital in Europe — 
 and I am acquainted with most of them — there 
 could be found a more eminently respectable set 
 of business men, or a sharper class of dealers in 
 merchandize." — "One of the Crowd," The 
 Daily Telegraph. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 ^0xvn ^vaxtMin^i^ 
 
 IN 1826 it was evident that Messrs. Fisher, Stroud, & 
 Robinson, for whom George Moore travelled, con- 
 sidered that it required a more talented traveller for the 
 large towns in the provinces than it did for London; 
 hence their remark that " George " was "too good for 
 town travelling." Whatever may have been the difference 
 then, there is now but little, if any. For both town and 
 country travellers, to be successful, must be men of 
 undoubted ability, unswerving honesty, good judgment, 
 great tact, and determined perseverance. The two best 
 men whom I have recently known, returned over a thou- 
 sand pounds a week all the year round. One of them, a 
 town traveller, represented B. G., and Co., and the other, 
 a country traveller, represented J. H., and Co. Both of 
 these men were blessed with herculean strength and 
 
148 TOWN TRAVELLING. 
 
 endurance — Napoleons of the road. It must not be 
 understood that so gigantic a return was made by the 
 actual sales of the individual man without supplementary 
 aid, for this would be impossible; it would be more than 
 poor flesh and blood could sustain. They secured the 
 assistance of special department men in obtaining large 
 season orders, and goods purchased by customers in the 
 warehouse, who were influenced by them to go to their 
 respective houses rather than elsewhere. Many cus- 
 tomers, knowing little of the firm, but much of the tra- 
 veller, often follow him if he exchanges employers ; others 
 visit the markets weekly, and will do nothing with travel- 
 lers. Of course, the tradesmen who make their purchases 
 of the representatives must be " decent fellows." 
 
 Comparing once more the town and country man. I 
 should say that the average return of the latter is heavier 
 in amount, and that the town man's ability does not 
 differ in degree so much as in kind. It has been said 
 that cities have been the cradles of human liberty, and 
 that the great agency in calling forth a man's capabilities, 
 whether for good or for evil, is contact with our fellow 
 man. The picturesque may be with the country, but the 
 intellectual, speaking generally, is with the town. This 
 applies to the business man and the traveller. You get 
 smarter and keener-witted travellers in London than in 
 the provinces. As a country traveller (and I doubt not 
 but that it is the experience of others), it always did me 
 good to run up to the warehouse for a day or so to brush 
 
KEENNESS OF TOWN MEN. 149 
 
 against the quick-brained men and the rapid movement 
 and bustle of town warehouse life. It always proved an 
 inspiration to myself. The city men seemed to have a 
 reserve of " bottled lightning " always in hand, and have 
 the faculty of charging other men who have the capacity 
 to receive it (some have not), and they impart it to their 
 customers in the country. I have heard it again and 
 again said, " So-and-so is advised : he will wake the 
 guv'nor up and put him into better humour ! " 
 
 George A. Sala facetiously writes of the citizens of 
 London as follows : " There are some of those gay clerks 
 who go down to their ofifices with roses in their buttonholes 
 and with cigars in their mouths ; there are some who wear 
 peg-top trousers, chin tufts, eye-glasses, and varnished 
 boots. I observe — to return to the clerks who are wend- 
 ing their way citywards — that the most luxuriant whiskers 
 belong to the Bank of England ; I believe that there are 
 whisker clubs in that great national institution, where 
 prizes are given for the best pair oifavoris grown without 
 macassar. You may, as a general rule, distinguish 
 government from commercial clerks by the stern repudia- 
 tion of the razor, as applied to the beard and moustaches 
 by the former ; and again I may remark that the prize 
 for the thinnest and most dandy-looking umbrellas must 
 be awarded, as of right, to the clerks in the East India 
 House — mostly themselves slim, natty gentlemen of 
 jaunty appearance, who are all supposed to have had 
 tender affairs with the widows of East India colonels. 
 
I50 TOWN TRAVELLING. 
 
 You may know the cashiers in the private banking-houses 
 by their white hats and buff waistcoats. You may know 
 the stockbrokers by their careering up Ludgate Hill in 
 dog-carts and occasionally tandems, and by the pervading 
 sporting appearance of their costume ; you may know 
 the Jewish commission agents by their flashy broughams 
 with lapdogs and ladies in crinolines beside them ; you 
 may know the sugar bakers and the soap boilers by the 
 comfortable double-bodied carriages with fat horses in 
 which they roll along; you may know the Manchester 
 and dry goods warehousemen by their wearing gaiters — 
 always carrying their hands in their pockets and fre- 
 quently slipping into recondite city taverns, up darksome 
 alleys, on their way to Cheapside, to make a quiet bet or 
 so, on the Chester Cup, or the Liverpool Steeplechase. 
 You may know, finally, the men with a million of money, 
 or thereabouts, by their being ordinarily dressed very 
 shabbily, and by their wearing shocking bad hats (which 
 have seemingly never been brushed) on the back of their 
 heads." This was written more than twenty years ago. 
 Twenty-five years ago, the principals of a firm I know 
 very well would not allow a man in their employ to culti- 
 vate a moustache, and our senior partner made his son, 
 an officer in the army, shave his upper lip when he was 
 on leave, at home — adding the remark that when he 
 was in civilized society he must follow civilized rule. 
 Many of my readers will remember the skit which 
 appeared in Punch at the time when Messrs. Copestakes 
 
THE CITIZENS OF LONDON. 151 
 
 had requested all their employks to shave the upper lip, 
 for this powerful firm added a terrible rider to their order, 
 it was to the effect that those who did not comply must 
 seek fresh fields for their business abilities and their 
 moustache. I was one of the first in our own house who 
 dared to appear with one. I remember going home from 
 my first country journey with a moustache, and was told 
 by one of the firm not to let the senior partner see me. 
 This was in 1862. One can hardly believe that such 
 arbitrary rules were enforced. In our large northern 
 towns one observes more liberty, larger ideas, broader 
 sympathies, and more rapid reforms. Dr. Laird Collier, 
 who was secretary of the Chicago Relief Fund after the 
 great fire, told me that he considered it one of the sights 
 of London to stand near the Bank of England and see, 
 from 8.30 to 10 a.m. the thousands of young men pour 
 into the city by omnibus and by rail, well dressed, kid 
 gloved, silk umbrella-ed, black silk hatted, smart, clean- 
 looking, intelligent men, with more of the appearance of 
 well-to-do professional gentlemen than men connected 
 with commerce. The country men of business compare 
 most favourably with what I have written, especially the 
 country commercial traveller, for although not so smart 
 a body of men, they have " more grit," to use an Ameri- 
 can expression, more depth. The pure cockney type is 
 superficial. He has more dash than the country travel- 
 ler, but not the staying power; more gush but less ballast; 
 more effervescing and frothy; more "Frenchy;" takes 
 
152 TOWN TRAVELLING. 
 
 his orders by dashing and storming the citadel \ but the 
 man of the provinces is more of a steady plodder, less 
 brilliant, but having a good constitution and magnificent 
 physique, more reserve force and reflective power, where- 
 as the pure cockney's whole life-education, and pre-natal 
 as well, has prepared him to live more by his wits from 
 day to day. Both can labour: the town man wants 
 immediate results, and is querulous and dissatisfied if he 
 does not get his rapidly grown mushroom. The provin- 
 cial traveller is naturally slower and does the digging, 
 the sowing, the harrowing, the weeding, the watching, 
 and the waiting, but he usually gathers a good harvest. 
 Both types are very much the creatures of certain sets 
 of circumstances. We cannot, if we would, relieve our- 
 selves of our past and present environments. Some live 
 in a whirlpool of commercial excitement, and are rushed 
 through the world in our largest cities ; others exist, or, 
 rather, vegetate in placid villages or country towns, where, 
 save on the market day, or on a Saturday evening, 
 there is not even a ripple to disturb the quiet calm of the 
 smooth business stream. We are all more or less dragged 
 down to the level of our surroundings or raised to a 
 higher platform by the wholesome friction with brighter 
 souls. If an unusually bright country lad — which is 
 often the case — catches the inspiration of the city man, 
 he has a combination of forces that will make him in- 
 valuable to his employers and lift him to certain success. 
 The enormous advantages which a town traveller has 
 
■:^ii^\j»,^^ 
 
154 TOWN TRAVELLING. 
 
 over a country representative is that the number of 
 customers he can see in a day, if he only properly applies 
 himself, is practically unlimited. 
 
 It is now, I believe, generally admitted that, other 
 things being equal, the traveller's position is most sought 
 after by men of position in the departments. I have 
 known well-paid buyers apply for town travellers' berths. 
 A traveller is more his own master and freer in all 
 respects, has less responsibility, is not always under the 
 immediate eye of the firm, has no large stock to trouble 
 him, or the rapid change of fashions to distract him. If 
 a town ambassador has the tact, talent, and application 
 to secure daily a fair amount of business with the present 
 mode of travelling which the best drapery houses provide, 
 he has by far the best berth in the ship. 
 
 The town travellers, I am aware, argue that the pur- 
 chases of London retail men are much smaller than those 
 of the provinces, and that their friends are so near the 
 market that travellers are not so necessary ; this I admit, 
 but they can call upon many more customers per day. 
 The town traveller is not in a railway carriage two, three, 
 and four hours at a stretch, he is not in a small town 
 where, if he misses one train, there is not another until 
 the entire day has gone. He has no market days, fair 
 days, flower shows, fetes, half holidays in the middle of 
 the week, agricultural shows, and so on. If a town client 
 does often go into the city for a special matching line, or 
 to secure the first pick of some new, fashionable article, 
 
TOWN AND COUNTRY MEN 155 
 
 it is in the morning, and the traveller often catches him 
 in the afternoon or evening. It is a notorious fact that 
 town buyers rush through the city warehouses, barely 
 giving themselves time to look ai their purchases ; and 
 why ? because their time is of so much value to them at 
 home. They select fancy goods, and give their orders for 
 plain goods and their season's parcels to travellers who 
 are " decent fellows." One thing is certain, that both town 
 and country buyers are more alive to the great practical 
 lesson, which they have been some time in learning, viz., 
 of keeping much smaller stocks, buying from hand to 
 mouth, allowing the warehousemen to keep stocks for 
 them from which they can hourly replenish by the aid 
 of the telephone, halfpenny cards, the parcel post, &c. 
 They are compelled to do this by sheer force of cir- 
 cumstances. 
 
 During the last twenty years the entire system of busi- 
 ness has undergone a radical change amounting to a 
 revolution. The era of large profits and big dividends 
 is over, and woe to the retail or the wholesale buyers 
 who do not see the sign of the commercial times, and 
 conduct their business in sympathy with it. The only 
 chance nowadays to make money is in the rapid and 
 continuous turning over of the stock. Nimble six- 
 pences are better than slow shillings. Small profits and 
 quick returns are commercial adages which were never so 
 important to be remembered and religiously practised ; if 
 not there will be little or no profit for the retail man, and 
 
156 TOWN TRAVELLING. 
 
 no dividend for the wholesale shareholder. Good man- 
 agement in all the details is also most essential. There 
 never was a time in the history of commerce when good 
 practical men at the head of large firms were so neces- 
 sary, and when judicious management goes for so much. 
 The cue for all travellers, especially for town men, is 
 that the multiplicity of small orders is the order of the 
 day. The mode of town travelling has much improved, 
 and has materially assisted the traveller in town to adapt 
 himself to the new state of things. " One of the Crowd," 
 a very graphic and intelligent journalist, speaking of 
 town travellers, says : " Another class, quite a higher 
 grade, may be seen any morning as one enters the city, 
 issuing from Cheapside or the adjacent streets, on the 
 top of vehicles, which sometimes bear a painful resem- 
 blance to hearses, and sometimes to travelling showmen's 
 cars. There is another class of more desirable car- 
 riages, closed up, it is true, with the traveller and his 
 driver seated in front, but still more presentable vehicles, 
 lighter and less dismal in appearance. But they are by 
 no means the aristocracy of the trade. They, indeed, 
 have their lines cast in exceedingly pleasant places. 
 They ride in a brougham, sometimes enveloped in boxes, 
 but frequently with only a small satchel by their side, and 
 a liveried servant on the box. To these belong a certain 
 potentiality of respectability, such as a man who carries 
 his goods in his pocket, on his back, or in his hands can- 
 not easily aspire to. They are the very top of their 
 
''THE GRAND SEIGNEURS 157 
 
 profession — notables in the trade, head men of the clan, 
 chiefs, grand seigneurs. . . . They make comparatively 
 few complaints. Trade may be good or bad, but their 
 knowledge or their skill surmounts every obstacle, and 
 they contrive each night as they send in an order-sheet 
 to the house to which they belong, to place upon it satis- 
 factory commands, even though the whole market be 
 down." I can fully endorse these remarks, for one hears 
 few complaints from good salesmen. They are usually 
 too busy to find time for grumbling, and certain travel- 
 lers of my acquaintance, with whom I have again and 
 again compared notes, have often been doing an increas- 
 ing business when the majority of travellers have been 
 trade-sick, or groaning with commercial dyspepsia. The 
 truth is, that the commercial traveller, and especially the 
 town representative, is more absolutely the pioneer of his 
 own fortune than any other class of men engaged in 
 commerce. Ergo^ he has no one but himself to blame if 
 he does not attain to more than the average of success. 
 A sterling fellow laughs at impossibilities, and says, " It 
 shall be done ! " He argues, " I am in as good form as 
 Mr. A., physically and mentally. I have been as well 
 educated. I have been through a retail apprenticeship. 
 I have had several years' experience of the wholesale 
 trade, and therefore, being his equal in so many respects, 
 what reason is there that I should not be his equal also 
 in doing a business." Few men having this faith in 
 themselves miss the mark. On the contrary, the half- 
 
158 TOWN TRAVELLING. 
 
 hearted croaker, the perpetual grumbler, does no good 
 for himself. He depresses and discounts other men's 
 
 enthusiasm. I would any day sooner meet the , 
 
 well the Angel Gabriel himself, than the commercial who 
 is known as the habitual growler, the " tear 'em " of the 
 road. It is impossible for the town traveller, or any 
 other man, if he be of this type, to be successful, for he 
 dries up the very springs that would yield him a supply. 
 He kills the goose that would have laid him the golden 
 egg ; he nips up, with his bitter east wind, the germ of 
 an order sprouting in his customer's breast. Poor 
 deluded fellow ! he does not know his commercial 
 alphabet ; he has mistaken his caUing. He is a .round 
 man in a square hole. He ought to be packing the 
 goods sold by better men, not attempting to sell them 
 himself. 
 
 There are a few similar men, proprietors of retail 
 establishments, who are unable to estimate at their proper 
 value the services of the commercial gentlemen who call 
 upon them — men who may be in most respects their 
 equals, or even their superiors, and who address them in 
 a courteous, respectful manner, but who receive in return 
 not only a cold, haughty, ignorant reception, but in many 
 instances, uncivilized, brutish treatment. Councillor 
 George White, of Norwich, knew this to be the case. He 
 an old commercial traveller, and friend of the writer's, a 
 partner in one of the largest and most enterprising con- 
 cerns in the Eastern Counties, said at a pubhc dinner in 
 
THE HABITUAL GROWLER. 159 
 
 aid of the Commercial Travellers' Benevolent Institution : 
 "Looking back for some years, he remembered the 
 time when he should not have been classed as a visitor, 
 for he served nearly an apprenticeship upon the road, 
 and therefore he had a brotherly feeling with the ma- 
 jority of those he was addressing. The experience 
 gained on the road was of very great service to business 
 men. He looked back with great satisfaction to the time 
 when he was privileged to dwell amongst the commer- 
 cial travellers and to gain an amount of experience which 
 had, he believed, been of much service to him subse- 
 quently. In another way it was well that business men 
 should have some experience of the road. They would 
 then know how to treat a commercial man when he 
 called upon them — they would be careful not to waste 
 his time, and would be civil and polite to him when he 
 was endeavouring to do his best for his employer. That 
 consideration was not found among some of the trading 
 community." 
 
 I have spoken of the bilious commercial, "One of 
 the Crowd " shall give my readers an illustration of him : 
 
 " You have no idea what an awful job it is to sell 
 things nowadays compared with what one used to find 
 only a very few years ago," said a somewhat discon- 
 tented member of the fraternity to me. " You drive up 
 to the door of a shop, and perhaps find four or five 
 other traps there before you. If you get down and go 
 inside you find four or five other men with precisely the 
 
i6o TOWN TRAVELLING. 
 
 same description of goods as yourself, all waiting to take 
 a turn at the shopkeeper. Very likely he happens to be 
 busy. Of course no man keeps more hands in his shop 
 than he is obliged to, and if it is not a very large es- 
 tablishment the master is engaged just as hard as the 
 men in trying to push his business. The very last person 
 in the world that he wants to see is a commercial 
 traveller, and yet he is pestered by them half a dozen at 
 a time. If there were only one he would not be in- 
 clined to refuse to look at his stuff, but with six all in a 
 row he is much more ready to order them all out of the 
 shop than to hear a word of what they have to say. 
 Yet not one of the six likes to go and leave the field 
 open to the others, and all the time the day is slipping 
 away and other places have to be gone to, many of 
 which will he found assailed in the same fashion when 
 they are reached, and yet the order-sheet has to be filled 
 up somehow or other. That is not exactly the kind of 
 life to long for. Why, I have rebuffs enough to make a 
 man mad in the course of a day sometimes ; then, having 
 done my utmost, have returned to the warehouse to get 
 well wigged there for not having obtained more orders. 
 Pray don't fancy that a town traveller's life is all honey. 
 If you tried it for about a fortnight I think you would 
 find that you had had enough of it." 
 
 Poor fellow. " One of six that does not like to go 
 away ! " He should have started an hour earlier in the 
 morning, and kept well ahead of his opponents, and 
 
THE BILIOUS COMMERCIAL. i6i 
 
 then ihey would have waited, not he. For it does not 
 pay to wait outside and feel "all the time is shpping 
 away." If time is money to any one it is to the traveller, 
 and he does not make the best use of it for himself and 
 his employers by kicking his heels outside the shop-doors; 
 but by getting inside early, not wasting the buyer's 
 precious moments by unnecessary jargon. The best and 
 smartest men, like the two mentioned at the commence- 
 ment of this chapter, are out early in the morning. One 
 hour to the commercial before midday is what one hour 
 before midnight is to the sleeper — worth two hours after- 
 wards. 
 
 The following represents a good, sound, plucky 
 traveller — an opponent not to be despised. 
 
 "Said one of the gentlemen whose acquaintance I 
 happened to make. *Town travellers nowadays have 
 to use all their wits to get along, but, as in every other 
 kind of life, the best men succeed the most. Com- 
 petition is so tremendously severe ! I travel in ready- 
 made costumes. My house is one of the best in London, 
 and I am able to offer the very finest articles at prices 
 that you would think must defy competition. But the 
 fact is, I find myself rivalled by quite eight or ten other 
 men, some of whom make it their business to undersell 
 me even at a loss, in hopes of getting me eventually out 
 of the trade. The dresses that I take,' said he, showing 
 me some marvellously pretty styles of female apparel,. 
 * are about the prettiest that can possibly be designed.. 
 
 12 
 
i62 TOWN TRAVELLING. 
 
 You have no idea of the pains that are taken to get these 
 things up. Our buyers are, I beheve, the best to be 
 found. They ought to be pretty good men, for they are 
 well paid. And yet I have all I can do to send in a 
 good order-sheet at night. Sometimes I am lucky and 
 get a good line ; sometimes I find myself blocked where- 
 ever I go. On the whole, I managed to keep up my 
 returns pretty well even in the dull times we have gone 
 through, but that was by working like a slave. It is 
 true I am not very badly paid. With salary and com- 
 mission, and a certain allowance for expenses, I manage 
 to get from ;£^3oo tO;^35o a year, but then I have to 
 work for it. Have I found it useful to be a Freemason ? 
 Yes, occasionally. Some customers who would scarcely 
 look at what I have got to sell are very good friends of 
 mine because I belong to the craft, and give me a line 
 sometimes when they might not otherwise do so. But I 
 fancy I get on as I do — and I have done pretty well — 
 simply because I am obliging and my house is prompt. 
 If I give my word that an order shall be executed in a 
 certain time, my client knows that it will be done.' A 
 brisk and evidently exceedingly sharp business-like man. 
 
 Again : " ' I am rather young at the trade,' said one of 
 the town traveller toilers to me, as we talked over the 
 subject of his employment. ' It is not very long since I 
 was a salesman in a wholesale house. I did not par- 
 ticularly like the buyers — long hours, the somewhat over- 
 bearing conduct of the heads of departments and the 
 
THE MODEL MAN. 163 
 
 buyers, and the confinement of the warehouse, made me 
 anxious to get out of doors. I appHed to the partners of 
 the firm for a berth as town traveller, and as I had done 
 rather well as a salesman in the warehouse, and there 
 happened just then to be a vacancy that they thought 
 would suit me, I got the berth. I started of course on 
 a low salary, one per cent, commission on the business I 
 should do, and a small sum a day allowed me for ex- 
 penses. They gave me a horse and trap, and a boy to 
 drive it. Of course I knew I could not long keep the 
 berth if I did not get orders, so I worked as hard as it 
 was possible to do. Very fortunately for me, the man 
 whom I succeeded had been lazy, and I fancy a little 
 disagreeable to the clients. That perhaps accounted for 
 my success. Any way, I more than doubled the orders 
 be got, getting some capital lines from houses that would 
 not look on our stuff before, and since then I have had 
 iny salary increased, and I am doing pretty well. I am 
 on good terms with most of my customers, and I mean 
 to keep so.' As I looked at this quick, hopeful young 
 traveller it certainly seemed to me that, having got his 
 •foot on the lower rungs of the ladder, he would be likely 
 before very long to rise to the top." 
 
 I have quoted at some length from "One of the 
 Crowd" to give my readers an opportunity of seeing 
 how an unbiassed outsider has corroborated all that 1 
 have advanced, and I conclude with his words : 
 
 " From time immemorial a certain halo of romance 
 
1 64 TOWN TRAVELLING. 
 
 and interest has hung round the commercial traveller. 
 In the East the stories of his caravans and his adventures 
 have formed the subject of a thousand tales. In the 
 West his enterprise, ingenuity, and energy have con- 
 tributed, perhaps more than anything else, to the jspread 
 of civilization and desirable habits. In England we 
 have been accustomed to associate the commercial 
 traveller with a peculiarly happy and fortunate life, full 
 of enjoyment, fairly free from cares, and well furnished 
 with pleasant excitement. 
 
 " It was clear that in very many cases the town travellers 
 were an exceedingly well-to-do sort of men. Of their 
 keenness, their capacity for business, and their excellent 
 appreciation of what was needed by the public, it is 
 impossible to speak in too high terms." 
 
MEN WITH AND MEN WITHOUT AN IDEAL. 
 
He aims too low who aims beneath the sky." 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 Pl«n n>itlj ati^ W^en tvxtljont an ^^eaL 
 
 A YOUTH who for the first time was about to start 
 on a country journey for one of the largest London 
 drapery warehouses, was asked by the senior member of 
 the firm if he had confidence in what he was about to 
 undertake. " Certainly," said the young man ; " I have 
 been taught that * he aims too low who aims beneath the 
 sky.' " The old gentleman remarked, " Take care, sir ;. 
 take care that you don't aim beyond the sky." This is 
 quite possible, and is as useless as aiming at the solid 
 earth. All thoughtful men picture to themselves several 
 possible courses. One aims at a bush, and is satisfied if 
 he kills a hedge-sparrow ; another at a tree, and con- 
 siders it a distinguished feat if he bags a rook or two. 
 Another is a genuine sportsman, and aspires to game 
 swift on the wing in the open field. And yet another is 
 
1 68 WITH AND WITHOUT AN IDEAL.^ 
 
 unsatisfied unless an eagle is dead at his feet. There 
 are many who shoot at random beyond the sky, alto- 
 gether quixotic in their ideas, often shooting themselves. 
 These individuals should not be trusted with even a pop- 
 gun. This homely illustration represents some with an 
 average aim in life, some above the average ; others with 
 the very highest, and those with no ideal whatever. The 
 latter are mere machines driven at will by men with 
 ideas. For 
 
 ** This proverb's true on every soil — 
 The men who think shall govern those who toil." 
 
 John Bright in his haste once said that the world was 
 made up of knaves and fools, and that the knaves lived 
 on and out of the fools. This, although there may be a 
 modicum of truth in it, is much too sweeping an asser- 
 tion, and I think even John Bright himself would now 
 mix such a sentiment cum grano salts. Neither does one 
 believe in Carlyle's blunt dyspeptic cynicism when he 
 would have us beheve "that there are 30,000,000 souls 
 in these islands, mostly fools." These are extremes 
 that all who can lay claim to thought and feeling must 
 deprecate; but it would be equally idle to ignore the 
 fact that there are thousands of very ignorant and stupid 
 people in existence. Hence the common remark, "What 
 a foolish fellow So-and-so is ! Whatever possessed him 
 to do this, that, or the other ! He must have lost his 
 level head ! " " How stupid some people are ! I cannot 
 
KNAVES AND FOOLS, 169 
 
 understand what some people are made of ! " ** He 
 seems to be without an idea ! " But such is life, and so 
 much the better for the cleverer ones, those who have an 
 idea or two in their heads, an aim, and a plan of life. 
 For if there were no stupid, thoughtless persons, there 
 would be less chance for the steady, industrious, ener- 
 getic, shrewd ones. The simple explanation is, that one 
 part of mankind is reflective, the other part not so. 
 Longfellow aptly supplies us with a couplet which vividly 
 illustrates this principle : 
 
 *' Be not like dumb, driven cattle, 
 Be a hero in the strife," 
 
 thus dividing humanity into two classes, the drivers and 
 the driven; or, in other words, men with and those 
 without an ideal or standard. There are those with an 
 aim, a plan, a guiding principle, something worth living 
 and working for ; and there are the mere, useless crea- 
 tures, sa7ts aim, sans idea, sans hope. I am reminded 
 that Tennyson sings, " That nothing moves with aimless 
 feet" Perhaps not. A poet should always be more 
 and see further than a prosy business man. But I am 
 free to confess that I fail to see what many are aiming 
 at, except it be the destruction of all that is noble and 
 beautiful in their own natures. Darwin has lifted the 
 veil which ignorance had woven over the retiring earth- 
 worm, and he has shown us what a magnificent, uncon- 
 scious agriculturist it has been for millions of years, and 
 
lyo WITH AND WITHOUT AN IDEAL, 
 
 how it has prepared this planet for the better service of 
 the world's population. But I think it would require a 
 greater mind than that of a Darwin to inform us what 
 really good use some men and women are to themselves 
 or to any one else. 
 
 It being impossible to make progress but at the com- 
 mand of mind, pictures must be photographed on the 
 mind before thought can be embodied in action. Varied 
 in design and value they may be ; some very poor indeed, 
 but the most insignificant better than none at all ; others 
 great in conception, original and masterly in detail and 
 colouring. Apply this to the subject in hand, what do 
 we observe ? Numbers of business men leaving their 
 schools and homes for their venture in the wide world : 
 some minus the semblance even of an idea — " Come day, 
 go day, God send Sunday " sort of folk, who eat, drink, 
 sleep, and smoke, doing the little they do in the most 
 mechanical and perfunctory manner. Year in and year 
 out they do exactly what they are told, and not a particle 
 more. Easily satisfied souls : no ambition, no spirit of 
 emulation, no movement, no growth. You leave them 
 in a certain situation ; return in twenty or thirty years 
 after having gone round the entire globe, made a fortune, 
 married a wife, reared and educated a family, been Lord 
 Mayor of London, M.P. for the city, &:c., and you find 
 your fellow-apprentice, John, still drudging behind the 
 counter, dressed in the same shaped clothes, speaking 
 the same broad provincial dialect, a quiet unobtrusive 
 
A CONTRAST, 171 
 
 creature, who reads the weekly local, goes to church on 
 Sunday, sings a song occasionally at the village inn — " It 
 was grandfather's custom and so it shall be mine" — 
 smokes a long clay pipe, and drinks very small beer. 
 He is perfectly happy, and cannot understand what you 
 or any one else can have or desire beside. His standard 
 of life is a low one, and is reached without thought or 
 effort. Look at a contrast in his friend. He was a 
 brother apprentice, and, in every respect save one, com- 
 menced his career on equal terms. Their homes were 
 similar, their parents business folk. Each of the lads 
 moved in the same grade of society, and were educated 
 at the same school by the same masters. What then 
 was it which widened the gulf between them ? It was 
 simply the advantage in the one case of having an incen- 
 tive in the shape of a motive, an idea ; to be and do 
 something more than his parents in the world, a justifi- 
 able, legitimate ambition. He read, thought, observed ; 
 in common parlance, put two and two together and 
 made thoughtful and definite resolves and plans, that as 
 soon as his apprenticeship was over he would go where 
 he could see more business, have more scope for his 
 energies, that he would take his talents to the best 
 market. He is told on leaving that if he only makes as 
 good a man as his master he will do well. His reply is, 
 that if his master has taught him all he (the master) 
 knows, he is a poor fool if he does not know something 
 himself, and therefore hopes to make a better man than 
 
172 WITH AND WITHOUT AN IDEAL, 
 
 his master. He reads that admirable book, " The Suc- 
 cessful Merchant," Smiles's " Self Help," and others of 
 a similar character, and keeps a sharp look out on all 
 that is hourly occurring around him ; absorbs inspira- 
 tion from all quarters as "Joey Ladle" did, even at the 
 pores. It is marvellous what an amount of mental food 
 a young intelligent fellow can take in in a few years in 
 our larger cities, consciously and unconsciously, if he 
 only keep his eyes and ears well open. This inspiration 
 impels him onward, takes possession of him, and never 
 leaves him day nor night. He naturally begins to feel, 
 after some two or three years in his first situation, that 
 he has absorbed nearly all the knowledge he can obtain 
 there ; and true power of this kind only makes him thirst 
 for more ; and as all turnpikes lead to London, so does 
 all genuine desire for information lead to the great 
 centres of intelligence, where it can be most easily and 
 abundantly gratified. So our young friend comes to 
 town ; and after repeated calls at some of the largest 
 warehouses — early in the morning — plainly but well 
 dressed, clean, smart, and fresh (without a walking-stick), 
 beaming with intelligence, he is engaged by a Wood 
 Street firm. Five-and-twenty years from that day he is a 
 knighted sheriff of London, and, speaking to an audience 
 of young men, he tells them the sense of what I have 
 already related, and, in addition, the following : 
 
 " I came to London with a very few pounds in my 
 pocket ; / made tip my mind to get into the very best 
 
THE TRUE SECRET OE SUCCESS. 173 
 
 house ; and when I did get in to make tnyself of so much 
 value to my employers that they could not do without me'^ 
 Mark well the secret of his success. He determined to 
 do something, and that something was not quixotic ; it 
 was, as I have said, to make himself, by punctuality, by 
 attention to all the small rules and regulations of the 
 concern, by cleanliness, honesty, respectful obedience to 
 his superior officers, and by incessant application, a 
 power in the business : thus to gain the confidence of 
 those above him and of his employers, so that he becomes 
 a necessity to them. So much was this the case, that a 
 partnership was offered and accepted. Any man with 
 tact and application will, other things being equal, always 
 be able to reach a certain altitude of success in the com- 
 mercial world; hut the eminence attained will always 
 depend a?id be in proportion to a previously conceived ideal 
 based on a maji's convictions afid ability to estimate himself 
 at his true value. 
 
 That a man should know himself thoroughly and only 
 accept positions that knowledge and experience have 
 educated him for is most essential. For if he has false 
 notions of his own value, failure is certain. I am dis- 
 posed to think that many fail from underrating themselves 
 and so lose ground, allowing others of less intrinsic worth 
 but more confidence (I was going to say impudence) to 
 march before them. Want of confidence is certainly not 
 one of the failings of an accomplished commercial travel- 
 ler : in fact, it is this confidence in himself and in the 
 
174 WITH AND WITHOUT AN IDEAL. 
 
 prestige of his house, based on rectitude and on goods of 
 sterhng value, that is his strength. Further, I am of 
 opinion from some considerable experience, that a travel- 
 ler's sales will be much about what his preconceived 
 notion of what they should be ; and there is scarcely a limit 
 to the amount if the ambassador's idea is but a high one. 
 " He aims too low who aims beneath the sky," I repeat. 
 It is imperative to keep on aiming upwards, as the result 
 must be in proportion to the object aimed at : hence the 
 well-known figures attained by different men, one man 
 with a high ideal doing treble the amount of business 
 over a poorer ground, done by another whose standard 
 is a low one. " According to thy faith " is as applicable 
 to business as it is to ethics ; and a constant application 
 to doing an honest day's work is as necessary to morals 
 as it is to making a fortune. 
 
OUR COLONIAL TRAVELLERS AND THE 
 AMERICAN " DRUMMER." 
 
" The English trade does not exist for the ex- 
 portation of native products, but on its manufactures, 
 or the making well everything which is ill made 
 elsewhere. They make pouches for the Mexican, 
 bandanas for the Hindoo, Ginsing for the Chinese, 
 beads for the Indians, laces for the Flemings, 
 telescopes for astronomers, cannon for kings." 
 
 Emerson. 
 
 " Commerce is a foreign policy in itself." 
 
 Lord Rosebery. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 HER Majesty, it has been said, was once asked by 
 one of her Indian subjects to what she attributed 
 England's greatness. She unhesitatingly replied, "The 
 Bible." Others tell us it was due to our great generals 
 and brave soldiers, our mighty men of war, the wooden 
 walls of old England, Nelson and his intrepid sailors, 
 who never knew when they were beaten. These have 
 doubtless been some of the means which have helped to 
 make us a great nation, but this is only part of the 
 reason; we must go deeper than this. That principle 
 which Emerson designates the "genius of business," 
 which has made of us "a nation of shopkeepers " on the 
 one hand, has in a wider sense made us rulers of the fifth 
 part of the globe's population. The peoples now speaking 
 the English language are over 100,000,000. 
 
 13 
 
178 OUR COLONIAL TRAVELLERS. 
 
 It is our trading ability that has made us so great a 
 colonizing power. As early as the Conquest it has been 
 remarked, in explanation of the wealth of England, " that 
 its merchants trade to all countries." Our insular position 
 accustomed us to a seafaring life. The very smallness of 
 our island home and the few luxuries nature produced 
 here tempted our forefathers to visit more genial climes, 
 and to exchange our manufactured goods for the pro- 
 duce of the tropics and every other land. To do this, 
 travellers were a necessity long before Sir Walter Raleigh 
 brought us the necessary potato and the soothing tobacco. 
 So that I can claim for the fraternity to which I belong, 
 and for the first commercial traveller who exchanged a 
 metal button for an elephant's tusk, the credit in no 
 small degree of adding to the great wealth of the greatest 
 nation the world has ever seen ; and to which every man 
 at home, in our colonies, and in our great Indian empire,, 
 is proud to belong. To quote the words of Pope : 
 
 *' Let India boast her palms, nor envy we 
 The weeping amber nor the spicy tree ; 
 While by our oaks these precious loads are borne, 
 And reahns commanded which those trees adorn." 
 
 Great generals and mighty admirals have done wonders 
 in making our power felt the wide world over; but 
 where did the sinews of war come from ? Who paid the 
 income-tax? Why, the trading community, the great 
 middle class who are the vertebral column of the empire. 
 Commercial travellers were the pioneers of this business 
 
CAUSE OF ENGLAND'S GREATNESS 179 
 
 wealth which has proved such an enormous civiHzing 
 force ; for it has become a truism that just in proportion 
 to the trade influence and interest you can bring to bear 
 upon the nations of the earth, do you lessen the chances 
 of war. Of course there are a few mercenary men 
 interested in chemicals and war materials, and others 
 who would indirecdy " feather their nests " by war, but 
 the great bulk of the manufacturers, merchants, and 
 shopkeepers would be enormous losers. Many might 
 for a short time get higher prices for their present stocks, 
 but sooner or later the crash would come, reducing the 
 early gains to less than the average profits of peaceful 
 times. So that we commercial travellers pride ourselves 
 in not only establishing in a large degree the commerce 
 which has grown to such gigantic results, but in its 
 indirect influence proving one of the greatest if not the 
 supreme civilizing power and the chief neutralizer of 
 war. We commence with beads and trinkets, and end 
 with bales of calicos and woollen goods, steel rails and 
 locomotives— too often, I admit, with the intermediate 
 fire-arms and "Old Tom." 
 
 "For many centuries England has taken the lead. 
 amongst the nations of the earth in commerce. At the 
 beginning of the present century, when Australia and 
 New Zealand were practically unknown, when the great 
 cities of the United States were many of them not in 
 existence, when the trade of the world with the far East 
 was carried round the Cape of Good Hope, the total 
 
i8o OUR COLONIAL TRAVELLERS. 
 
 amount of imports and exports were little more than 
 seventy millions. In half a century — in the year 1845 — ■ 
 it rises to 250,000,000. The year that brought the repeal 
 of the corn laws, when the shackles that bound commerce 
 were burst asunder and struck away, it again rose to 
 three hundred and fifty millions; and when free trade 
 was further developed, the great cities of our empire 
 became the centres of manufacture for the whole globe, 
 and our ports and harbours the emporium of universal 
 commerce; and in 1873 the sum reached 700,000,000, 
 ten times the amount it was at the beginning of this 
 century, when the trade was restricted by laws made for 
 the imaginary purpose of its extension, but which really 
 defeated their own object. This mighty commerce is in 
 all its branches, one way or another, represented by com- 
 mercial travellers, who form the very life-blood of all 
 industry; for without their aid it would be useless to 
 manufacture such vast quantities of merchandize; and 
 without their talent for travelling, selling, bartering, and 
 distribution, millions of pounds sterling would lie idle, 
 and millions of our population would be compelled to 
 remain worse than idle. They go north, east, west, and 
 south — from England to Japan, from China to Peru, from 
 London to Constantinople, from Manchester to Calcutta, 
 and from Glasgow to St. Petersburg — to represent and 
 ^promote the trade of England. They are to trade what 
 :the electric telegraph is to thought, what the veins and 
 ;arteries are to the human body. They go forth as trusted 
 
THE BASTARD ARISTOCRAT. i8r 
 
 agents to deal sometimes with vast amounts, sometimes 
 with troublesome accounts, to make known various new 
 inventions, new fabrics, whatever is produced as an article 
 of commerce : these things must by them be heralded to 
 all parts of the civilized and uncivilized corners of the 
 earth." 
 
 The merchant princes at home who have sent these 
 travellers to our colonies are men, usually, of magnificent 
 physique, having large round Cromwellian heads with 
 massive square foreheads, keen perceptions, and active 
 brain power, for the most part Yorkshire and Lancashire 
 born. They are men who work hard and think harder 
 than any other class of Englishmen. Simple in their 
 habits, and many of them unpretentious, homely, and 
 even rough, uncouth, and illiterate, but made of such 
 sterling material that it goes far to condone for an un- 
 gainly exterior. I am now speaking of the grandfathers 
 and fathers of many of our rich merchants who are now 
 M.P.'s, basking in a sunshine of wealth and magnificence 
 made by their forefathers. Query ? — whether if this wealth 
 had depended upon many of iki^ present merchant princes 
 themselves it would have been forthcoming ; for it is a 
 well-known fact that few men inherit the ability of their 
 parents. It has been said that it takes three generations 
 to make a clever man, a genius ; but that you can make 
 a fool any day of the week. One can hardly understand 
 why an ignorant aristocrat should look down upon an 
 intelligent business man as being several grades lower in 
 
1 82 OUR COLONIAL TRAVELLERS. 
 
 the social scale ; but it is much more difficult to see the 
 reason why a merchant prince who has not himself made 
 Si penny of his money, should look down with scorn on 
 the pit from which he has been digged and the rock 
 from which he was hewn. Yet this, however inconceiv- 
 able, is a deplorable fact. Mr. Gladstone remarked at 
 Liverpool as long ago as 1872 : "I know not why com- 
 merce should not have its old families, rejoicing to be 
 connected with commerce from generation to generation. 
 It has been so in other countries ; I trust it will be so 
 in this country. I think it is a subject of sorrow and 
 almost of scandal when those families who have either 
 acquired or recovered station and wealth through com- 
 aiierce turn their backs upon it, and seem ashamed of 
 lit." But this will continue to be the case so long as Mr. 
 Gladstone and other prime ministers offer bribes in the 
 shape of knighthoods, baronetcies, and peerages, for poli- 
 tical electioneering and not for statesmanlike qualities. 
 For many of the manufactured knights make only bastard 
 aristocrats. If we must have a House of Lords, if we 
 must have an aristocracy, let us have the right colour ; 
 let it be of the purest blue blood. I know that it is 
 computed that it costs ;^3o,ooo,ooo per annum. What 
 of that ? Some Americans would give ;£'40j 000,000 
 a year for such an aristocracy. But after all, the true 
 aristocracy is that of the intellect. Commercial or 
 otherwise, it is brain power, a living, working, directing 
 force, that evolves order out of chaos, health from disease. 
 
THE GENUINE ARISTOCRAT. 183 
 
 beauty from deformity, and commerce out of barbarism. 
 ^Vhile commercial men have nothing but contempt for 
 those who disdain commerce, they do not consider it any 
 compliment to their fraternity that the Duke of Argyll's 
 son should be in the tea trade, though they admire the 
 courage that dares to run amuck against the class idiocy 
 \vhich maintains such silly objections. 
 
 Those who recognize cause and effect must see that 
 it is the business faculty that is the motive power which 
 stimulates and develops human progress. It is this 
 power, as I have already said, which urged our fore- 
 fathers to leave our shores and go to all parts of the world 
 trading with, civilizing, and clothing the inhabitants of 
 every clime ; and that the accumulation of wealth in busi- 
 ness, as The Daily News says, "neither dulls nor entirely 
 absorbs the intelligence nor relaxes public spirit, is shown 
 by the intimate connection of manufacturing and com- 
 mercial firms with recent political history, and the im- 
 mense sums spent on the institutions of the great towns 
 of the North and Midlands. Mr. Gladstone, as every 
 Englishman knows, is the son of a Liverpool merchant, 
 while Mr. Bright lives close to his mill on the fringe of 
 the moor at Rochdale. Mr. Forster is a prominent 
 member of the firm whose enterprise has brought wealth 
 into the retired region of Upper Wharfedale; Sir Charles 
 Dilke is the grandson of the founder and is actually 
 owner of The Athcticcum ; Mr. Chamberlain has only 
 within a few years retired from the manufacture of wood- 
 
i84 OUR COLONIAL TRAVELLERS. 
 
 screws, as they are called, in order to devote himself to 
 political life ; Mr. Mundella manufactures hosiery ; Lord 
 Dudley is a coal merchant and iron manufacturer, and is 
 one of a long list of Peers who, like Lord Londonderry, 
 *run' their own collieries, or let them to great consumers 
 like those of Jarrow and Middlesbrough. Lord Ardilaun 
 is a brewer, like Mr. Stansfeld and Mr. Bass; Lord Wim- 
 borne is an ironmaster ; Lord Jersey is a banker, like Sir 
 John Lubbock, the Barings, Glyns, and Eothschilds; 
 and the well-known names of Mappin, Colman, Palmer, 
 Fairbairn, Feilden, Henry Holden, Hope, Jardine, Lea- 
 tham, and others too numerous to mention, testify to 
 the close alliance between trade and the public life of 
 England." 
 
 The human animal is born naked now, whatever our 
 pre- Adamite originators were. He is therefore compelled 
 to clothe himself, and can in consequence fit himself to 
 inhabit any and every clime. The English have not only 
 clothed themselves, but a great part of the uncivilized 
 world ; and I am of opinion that, if necessary, they could 
 quickly produce machinery that would supply every man, 
 woman, and child with clothing the wide world over, and 
 our merchants and colonial travellers would, if they were 
 well paid, take a pleasure in distributing it. 
 
 Addison remarks : " There are not more useful mem- 
 bers in a commonwealth than merchants. They knit 
 mankind together in a mutual intercourse of good offices, 
 distribute the gifts of nature, and find work for the 
 
EMERSOJSrS OPINION OF ENGLISHMEN. 185 
 
 poor. . . . Trade, without enlarging the British territories 
 has given us a kind of an additional empire ; . . . . made 
 our landed estates infinitely more valuable, and added an 
 accession of other estates as valuable as the lands them- 
 selves." Emerson says : " I find the Englishman to be 
 him of all men who stands firmest in his shoes. They 
 have in themselves what they value in their horses- 
 mettle and bottom. On the day of my arrival in England, 
 a gentleman, in describing the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, 
 happened to say, 'Lord Clarendon has pluck like a cock, 
 and will fight till he dies;' and the one thing the EngHsh 
 value is pluck. The cabmen have it, the merchants have 
 
 it, the bishops have it The Englishman speaks 
 
 with all his body. His elocution is stomachic, as the 
 American's is labial. The Englishman is very petulant 
 and precise about his accommodation at inns and on the 
 roads ; a quibble about his toast and his chop and every 
 • species of convenience, loud and pungent in his expres- 
 sion of impatience at any neglect, in his manner, in his 
 respiration, and the inarticulate noise he makes in clearing 
 the throat—all is significant of burly strength. He has 
 stamina ; he can take the initiative in emergencies. 
 
 •• * O'er bog or steep, through straight, rough, dense, or rare, 
 With head, hands, wings or feet, pursues his way, 
 And swims or sinks, or wades, or creeps or flies ' {Milton). " 
 
 This our colonial traveller has done, and will do 
 again, with the pluck and endurance for which our 
 changeable climate has educated and fitted him, and the 
 
i86 OUR COLONIAL TRAVELLERS. 
 
 talent and tact for business and change which he- has for 
 centuries, inherited. A great deal has been said in re- 
 spect to our being descended from the lost tribes of 
 Israel. Our desire for commerce and for '' inheriting 
 the land" (other people's) evidently points to a sympathy 
 with that race. 
 
 Talent and tact, I have said, are the essentials ; and I 
 can imagine that the traveller who leaves our shores for 
 the Continent, our colonies, or the other various countries 
 of the world, would require these two essentials to suc- 
 cessful business in no ordinary degree. And I shall cer- 
 tainly call him the King of commercial ambassadors, 
 for whatever ability our home travellers require for the 
 successful conduct of their work, the colonial travellers 
 require the same kind of talent intensified — endurance, 
 courage, judgment, knowledge of mankind, physical prow- 
 ess, tact, and general ability, and all of a higher order. 
 For the colonial traveller has to strap his cash around 
 his body and carry a brace of pistols in his belt. He 
 has to travel hundreds of miles through forest and swamp, 
 with no one but his faithful steed and dog as companions. 
 He is subject to storms which we only read about, and to 
 dangers of tropical heats and arctic cold which we can 
 only imagine. He travels literally with his life in his 
 hands, often outside the limits of civilization, seeing more 
 wild beasts than men, and hearing more roars and growls 
 than human voices. He above all requires the tact that 
 has the open eye, the quick ear, the judging taste, the 
 
TACT AND TALENT CONTRASTED. 187 
 
 keen scent and the lively touch; a tact that shall be *'the 
 interpreter of all riddles, the surmounter of all difficulties, 
 the remover of all obstacles." 
 
 Tact and talent are often confounded as one and the 
 same principle, but they are totally different, tact being 
 as superior to talent as the sunlight is to a rushlight. 
 Scargill says, "Tact is useful in all places and at all 
 times. It is useful in solitude, for it shows a man his 
 way into the world ; it is useful in society, for it shows a 
 man his way through the world. Talent is power, tact 
 is skill; talent is weight, tact is momentum; talent knows 
 what to do, tact knows how to do it ; talent makes a man 
 respectable, tact makes him respected ; talent is wealth, 
 tact is ready money ; for all the practical purposes of life, 
 tact carries against talent ten to one. Talent may obtain 
 a living, tact will make one. Talent gets a good name, 
 tact a great one. Talent convinces, tact converts ; talent 
 is fit for employment, but tact is fitted for it. It has a 
 knack of slipping into place with a sweet silence and 
 glibness of movement as a billiard-ball insinuates itself 
 into the pocket. It can be at all points of the compass, 
 while talent is ponderously and learnedly shifting a single 
 point. Talent brings to market that which wants ; tact 
 produces that which is wished for. Talent toils for a 
 posterity which will never repay it ; tact throws away no 
 pains, but catches the passion of the passing hour. Talent 
 builds for eternity ; tact on a short lease and gets good 
 interest. Tact is useful, portable, applicable, always ahvc, 
 
1 88 OUR COLONIAL TRAVELLERS. 
 
 always alert, always marketable; it is the talent of talents, 
 the availableness of resources, the applicability of power, 
 the eye of discrimination, the right hand of intellect." It 
 is this tact that the English colonial traveller pre-emi- 
 nently possesses ; and for him it speaks all languages, is 
 a key to all hearts, the " open sesame " to all doors, the 
 philosopher's stone, the ready pen of a ready writer that 
 can always find blank cheques and can fill in the amount 
 to its own liking. Without this tact no traveller can be 
 successful either abroad or at home. To be with or 
 without this lodestone is to be with or without the all 
 in all. 
 
 The annexed particulars are copied from our own 
 valuable little paper " On the Road," ably edited by Mr. 
 John Wells Thatcher ; and they will assist the reader in 
 forming an opinion of the travellers' institutions in our 
 colonies, and will be of great service as an introduction 
 to our fraternity beyond the seas ; who, I can assert from 
 experience, will treat any brother commercial with the 
 utmost heartiness and respect, if he only carries with him 
 his proper credentials. 
 
 COLONIAL COMMERCIAL TRAVELLERS. 
 
 " The Rules of the Commercial Travellers' Association 
 of Victoria, Australia, the object of which is ' For neces- 
 sitous members, their wives, and for scholarships for 
 their children.' The association was established in 1881. 
 
THE AMERICAN '' DRUMMER." 189 
 
 Last year the members numbered ninety-eight; this year's 
 report shows an addition of thirty-three new members. 
 
 " In connection with the association a club has been 
 started, and the committee hope ' that before long they 
 will have such a building in the city of Melbourne as will 
 not only be an ornament to the city, but also an immense 
 benefit to all those connected with it.' 
 
 " It seems that our brethren over the water have 
 started a ' Relief-day Collection,' on the lines which are 
 so advantageously pursued by the associations in 'the 
 mother country.' 
 
 *' The association further states in its report that ' It is 
 a matter of regret that some few travellers— from the fact 
 that they are not likely to want pecuniary aid from the 
 society's fund— still stand aloof, instead of in a general 
 way giving their support and co-operation to a class to 
 which they belong.' We have heard the same statement 
 made much nearer home. We would add, in conclusion, 
 that the offices of the association are 12, Elisabeth 
 Street, Melbourne." 
 
 THE AMERICAN AND CANADIAN COMMERCIAL AGENT, 
 OR "drummer." 
 
 While travelling in the United States in May and 
 June, 1882, I found not a few of the very best and 
 smartest commercial travellers were those recently im- 
 ported from England. From their report, and from 
 what I have read in their own organs — which speak of 
 
I90 OUR COLONIAL TRAVELLERS. 
 
 there being over 100,000 "drummers" in the United 
 States — I infer that, notwithstanding the many advantages 
 a new country has to offer to men of health and enterprise, 
 they are not commensurate with the superior privileges 
 that one can command in an older and more civilized 
 community. And I am therefore still of opinion that the 
 chances of success to all honest men with tact, talent, 
 and character, are quite equal here in our own tight little 
 island to those of any part of the globe ; and that there 
 has been no time in our commercial history when men 
 of talent, commercial experience, and industrious habits 
 were so much in demand, and therefore able to com- 
 mand a corresponding position and remuneration at 
 home as well as abroad. If any one imagines that 
 competition is less keen, work less arduous, railway 
 travelling less fatiguing, legislation less harassing — a few 
 weeks, even, in America or the colonies will quickly 
 undeceive him. For instance, the State of Florida has 
 on her statute-books the following law relative to com- 
 mercial travellers : — 
 
 "Section 5 — Chapter 3413. — Any commercial agent, 
 usually known as a ' drummer,' who shall fail to exhibit 
 his license, as such, to a collector of revenue, or his 
 deputy, before soliciting any orders or doing any business 
 whatever, as a drummer or commercial agent, shall be 
 deemed guilty of a misdemeanour, and shall be fined 
 not less than fifty nor more than one hundred dollars, or 
 punished by imprisonment in the county gaol not ex- 
 ceeding two months." 
 
OUR COLONIAL ASSOCIATIONS. 191 
 
 The following particulars are from an American tra- 
 veller in a letter to myself, in which he says : " As you • 
 have some knowledge of this country, I will sketch 
 my route from New York to Cleveland, Columbus, St. 
 Louis, 1068 miles from New York; then Chicago, 
 Milwaukee, Grand Rapids, Detroit, Buffalo, Rochester, 
 Albany, New York. Each journey covers about four 
 thousand miles ; it takes forty-two to fifty days, at a cost 
 of about eleven dollars, or ;^2 4s., per day. Some 
 houses allow their travellers twelve dollars a day. Of the 
 time mentioned, I spend about a fortnight in Chicago ; 
 but the life is a dreary one. I spend most of my 
 evening in reading, writing, and straightening my stock, 
 which is large, weighing six to seven cwt." 
 
 For the use of any of my readers who may be 
 thinking of a Canadian journey, the undermentioned 
 Commercial Travellers' Associations will be found of 
 service: The Commercial Travellers' Association of 
 Canada, James Sargant, Secretary, Toronto, Province of 
 Ontario; The Dominion Commercial Travellers' Asso- 
 sociation, R. C. Simpson, Secretary and Treasurer, 38, 
 St. Joseph Street, Montreal, Province of Quebec, P. O. 
 Box 534; The Western Ontario Commercial Travellers' 
 Association, J. Atkinson, Secretary, London, Province 
 of Ontario ; The Maritime Commercial Travellers' Asso- 
 ciation, Halifax, N.S., Jas. Fraser, Secretary, P.O. Box i. 
 Young countries, like young men, go ahead of their 
 ancestors. This is notable in their railway ticket arrange- 
 
192 OUR COLONIAL TRAVELLERS. 
 
 ments, as the annexed extract plainly shows. But it is 
 much easier to do it in America and our colonies, as 
 they have not so many interests to consult. Yet I am 
 hopeful that our new association, the United Kingdom 
 Commercial Travellers' Alliance, will educate the railway 
 companies to see their own interest in this matter. The 
 Commercial Traveller of Toronto says,: — 
 
 "The thousand-mile ticket which came into popular 
 use on the American railroads some years ago, and 
 latterly on our own roads in Canada, was a great boon 
 to the constant traveller. The frequent trouble of 
 booking at the different road stations was in a great 
 degree lessened, and the railway companies' agents were 
 less crowded at their different wickets. There was, 
 however, possible ground for suspicion that these tickets 
 were just a little subject to a trifle of crooked business on 
 the part of the users desirous of gaining a few dollars by 
 actions of meanness and collusion, and, for a time, the 
 system was discontinued; it has again, however, been 
 revived and improved upon, and now we have, or they in 
 the United States have, what is known as the ' Highbee 
 ticket ; ' it is good for five thousand miles over different 
 lines of railroad, and a traveller may go from any point 
 to any point in a certain territory on this ticket. This 
 ticket has its coupons over different roads, which coupons 
 are cancelled and reported to the companies' offices as 
 they become dead. It is claimed that the ' Highbee 
 ticket ' will be productive of an increased passenger 
 
TRAVELLING IN AUSTRALIA. 193 
 
 business over the railroads, as they dispose of five times 
 as much travel on every ticket sold- Mr. F. D. Highbee, 
 an experienced railroad man of Chicago, is the originator, 
 and the Cmcijmati Drufiwier asks ' that its claims be 
 examined and given a fair discussion.' " 
 
 The following graphic description of roughing it as a 
 commercial traveller in Australia from H. J. W., which 
 appeared in " On the Road," cannot fail to be of interest 
 to all " Ambassadors of Commerce," and I heartily thank 
 H. J. W. for so valuable a contribution to our literature. 
 For no amount of theorizing or hearsay is equal to 
 practical knowledge. He commences thus : — 
 
 COMMERCIAL TRAVELLING IN AUSTRALIA. 
 
 Some few years back, my health not being good, I con- 
 cluded to take a trip to the Australian colonies. I there- 
 fore took passage in a large steamer to Melbourne, and, 
 after a very fair voyage, reached the town in forty-five 
 days. When I arrived at Melbourne, I at once went to 
 William's Hotel, near the Custom House, and I must 
 say that it was a most comfortable hotel for a stranger 
 arriving in a strange country. 
 
 I found Melbourne far from suiting my taste, although 
 the city is a most splendid place. It is laid out in square 
 blocks, with magnificent wide streets, but the style of the 
 people and their way of doing business did not agree 
 with mine. Every one that I met seemed to delight in. 
 what they termed " taking a rise out of me." 
 
 14 
 
194 OUR COLONIAL TRAVELLERS, 
 
 Concluding from what I saw that it was not suited to 
 my ideas of business, I determined to go on to Sydney. 
 I took a house at Woolloomooloo, in the suburbs of 
 Sydney, and in twenty-four hours I had the whole house 
 completely furnished. Three days afterwards I was en- 
 gaged as suburban traveller for a wine house ; so you see 
 I lost no time in getting a berth, although in a business 
 I knew nothing whatever about. 
 
 Many young men in going out there determine that 
 the first thing to do is to see the country and enjoy them- 
 selves ; and then, when they find their funds getting low, 
 they seek a berth, 
 
 I got on very well in my new line, and found no diffi- 
 culty in making trade, as the people were a different class 
 of persons to those in Melbourne ; in fact, their style of 
 business is more after the style carried on in the " old 
 country." 
 
 Not finding the W. & S. trade quite suitable to my 
 ideas or tastes, I kept my eyes and ears open, and soon 
 heard of a vacancy that was likely to occur in my par- 
 ticular business, and which I knew I should be more at 
 liome in. I applied for the vacancy, and had the pleasure 
 .of obtaining it. But this time it was not suburban travel- 
 ling. I was required to take up a journey covering the 
 principal parts of New South Wales, and at first I felt a 
 wee bit timid about undertaking it in a country that was 
 quite strange to me ; and besides, I knew that it would 
 not be such smooth travelling as we have in our own 
 
TRA YELLING IN A USTRALIA. 1 95 
 
 country. I had to get all my " traps " together, prepara- 
 tory to starting the following week. The said traps con- 
 sisted of a buggy, a light vehicle on four wheels, yet very 
 strong to stand the heavy travelling of the interior. In- 
 stead of steel springs, the buggy had strong leather braces, 
 because steel springs would fly to pieces at the first 
 boulder of rock one would drive over. I also had three 
 horses — one to use as saddle horse, or leader, when 
 necessary; the remaining two were " polers." Also I 
 liad to provide myself with a complete set of tools for 
 repairs ; two heavy American axes, to cut a way through 
 the bush when the road or track was blocked by a fallen 
 tree ; three large canvas water bottles, to carry stock of 
 water ; a light calico tent, mackintosh sheet and blanket ; 
 a " tin Billy can " to do cooking in, a few other utensils, 
 a brace of revolvers and ammunition, and, last of all, a 
 breechloading rifle. The latter I added myself, for the 
 .•sake of sport, knowing I should get some fine shooting. 
 I had a young man with me as groom, to attend to the 
 Hiorses, and to do all rough work, and to open my samples 
 out when I arrived at any large town. 
 
 You may imagine my feelings when I had to see to 
 all the above being got together. I felt almost inclined 
 to back out of my engagement. But I thought others 
 had been before me, and got on all right, and why should 
 not I ? 
 
 When all was ready I started off, and the first portion 
 of my journey was by rail over the Blue Mountains to 
 
196 OUR COLONIAL TRAVELLERS. 
 
 Wallerwang, my buggy and horses and other traps going 
 by same train. Upon reaching Wallerwang my journey 
 might then be said to commence, as I then had to drive 
 through the colony. 
 
 The first portion of the way was right enough, there 
 being a very fair road, but the farther I advanced the 
 rougher the country became, and the towns were situated 
 wider apart. Of course, when a town could not be 
 reached then we camped out, and our living was of the 
 most primitive fashion. We had to pitch our tent, and 
 prepare our own meals, which consisted mostly of corned 
 beef, tea, and damper, the latter being flour kneaded into 
 dough and made in a flat cake and baked in the ashes. 
 I can say now that I never enjoyed any meals in my 
 whole life better than those primitive meals on the grass. 
 I ofttimes look back with longing to those days when I 
 hear the waiters here droning through their usual cry, 
 day after day, of " Chops — steaks — ham and eggs." 
 
 As regards the horses, we had to carry a supply of 
 fodder for them, and when we pitched our nightly tent 
 we had to hobble our steeds and give them a feed, and 
 turn them loose in the bush. We never but once had 
 any difficulty in catching them again in the morning, 
 during the whole of my travels in Australia. 
 
 Travellers here at home talk of being hard worked, and 
 that they have this, that, and the other to contend with ; 
 but theirs is a king's life compared with what they would 
 have to do if they travelled the colonies ; and I should 
 
TRA VELLIAG IN A USTRALTA, 197 
 
 advise such to go out and try it, and they would be soon 
 broken in. You would never hear them utter a complaint 
 again. No home-stayer has any conception of the ups 
 and downs of colonial travelling, and the way in which 
 one has to rough it. One has mountains to ascend and 
 descend, rivers to ford, and to dig one's way out of a bog 
 occasionally, besides very often having to cut a road for 
 one's self through the bush. The roads are really no 
 roads at all, but simply a track through the immense 
 forests, and oftentimes that is very indistinct ; if it were 
 not for the "blaze marks " upon the trees one would not 
 know whether he was on the track or not. 
 
 Again, when crossing the mountains you drive over 
 boulders of rock with, frequently, two of the wheels 
 grinding the air, and having your teeth nearly jolted out 
 of your head. Then you go along the edge of some vast 
 precipice, where one false step would send you hundreds 
 of feet down on to the rocks beneath. 
 
 You will frequently get "bogged," especially after a 
 rain ; and it does rain there — in solid sheets of water. 
 The buggy and horses will sink two or three feet into the 
 mire, and then you have the pleasure of getting into it 
 yourself to dig away from the wheels and the feet of the 
 horses. I'wigs, boughs of trees, and young saplings, 
 must be placed under the horses' feet and under the 
 wheels, so as to enable them to obtain a footing and a 
 purchase. I have been many times six or seven hours 
 travelling through a mile of boggy country. 
 
198 OUR COLONIAL TRAVELLERS. 
 
 In fording rivers or creeks, where there are no bridges, 
 or where they are washed away, and the water runs deep, 
 you have then to procure a few good-sized trunks of 
 trees, and lash them to the wheels and the body of the 
 buggy ; then you swim your horses across, and afterwards 
 make them pull your vehicle across the river. 
 
 At other times, especially in the summer months, one 
 has to endure great suffering through the scarcity of 
 water when travelling across the plains. At night-time 
 the annoyance from mosquitoes and other insects is 
 almost unbearable, except in the mountains, and there 
 you have a little peace from the venomous little pests. 
 During the daytime one is again tormented with other 
 kinds of flies and insects, and it is necessary to wear a 
 silken net round the face and head to protect yourself 
 from the bites of these flies — oftentimes very serious, as 
 a bite from one of them in the corner of the eye will 
 close that optic for a week or ten days, besides which it 
 does not add to one's beauty, as it gives you the appear- 
 ance of having one, or a pair, of beautiful black eyes. 
 
 The hotel accommodation, in some parts of the colo- 
 nies, is detestable, and you are served with bad food, 
 bad drink, dirty beds, and little or no attendance ; but 
 they do not forget to charge ! Therefore, upon the 
 whole, camping out was in many cases far to be preferred. 
 The chmate is one of the finest under the sun, and 
 travellers can sleep out in the open (providing they 
 cover themselves up) during the whole year round, with- 
 
HOTELS IN THE COLONIES. 199' 
 
 out feeling any ill-effects. During the whole of my 
 travels in the colonies, extending over five years, I never 
 knew what it was to have a day's illness, and hardly such 
 a thing as a headache, except on a very hot day. 
 
 The winter time there is not like ours, because you see 
 little or no frost or snow, except on the mountains, whilst 
 on the plains it is as warm as our days in this country 
 are in June. 
 
 The business people are, in most cases, very glad to see 
 you, more especially those far into the interior, and your 
 orders are, generally speaking, something worth booking* 
 The transit of goods from the capital takes up a deal 
 of time, and in many cases it is three or four months 
 before a customer obtains his goods. The carrying is 
 done in the interior by large heavy waggons drawn by 
 from eight to twelve horses, or by bullocks yoked to- 
 gether in teams of from twelve to twenty. 
 
 Of course, it is a frequent occurrence to break the pole 
 of your buggy ; and if it is not possible to splice it, or 
 lash it together, you have to manufacture a new one your- 
 self. You cut down a likely sapling, and shape it ofT 
 with the axes ; plane it off smooth, and fit on the pole 
 irons ; and lo, presto ! you have another pole, almost as 
 good as could be turned out by a practical man. Some- 
 times one has a tyre come off the wheels, and it is really 
 the most awkward job one can have to do to put it on 
 again. 
 
 As I said before, I took a young fellow with me as 
 
200 OUR COLONIAL TRAVELLERS. 
 
 groom, to do most of the rough work ; but I found I had 
 to do much of it myself, otherwise we should never have 
 made any headway on our journey. 
 
 It is now nearly ten years since I went out, and things 
 have changed a little ; more railways have been opened 
 up, and the population has increased nearly double. 
 Wages are not so good, and provisions and all necessaries 
 are very much higher in price. Competition is keener 
 in almost every business; but notwithstanding this, if 
 a young man has all the necessary requirements and, 
 above all, plenty of confidence in himself that he can 
 conquer all difficulties, then I advise that one to go, and 
 he will no doubt be successful as a traveller in Australia. 
 
 I have found all the foregoing confirmed by conversa- 
 tion with old colonial travellers who are now rich men, 
 and with whom I come in daily business contact. And 
 in addition, I am informed that the original storekeepers 
 were men who knew absolutely nothing of the articles 
 they were vending ; many of them being retired military 
 officers, doctors, mechanics, navvies, &c. I have been 
 told of the case of a traveller who was met, and who, not 
 having any money about him, was stripped (^f his entire 
 clothing; of a well-known colonial traveller who lost 
 himself for five days through getting off the track. A 
 practical joke has been told me by another old colonial. 
 One day at the Castlemaine Hotel, there being no busi- 
 ness to be done, and it being known that a commercial 
 traveller was at a certain place some sixty miles away, 
 
A PRACTICAL JOKE. 201 
 
 eleven travellers agreed to wire the said lonely traveller 
 to come on ; for he (the one who was deputed to wire) 
 was alone, and there was plenty of business about. The 
 lonely one came, and was met, to his astonishment, by 
 the eleven, who had the laugh ; but, being decent fellows, 
 they stood him a good supper to soothe matters a bit. 
 However, the solitary commercial saw every customer, 
 and told them how he had been sold. They sym- 
 pathized with him, and gave him the very orders which 
 some of the conspirators would have obtained. 
 
 The annexed hints to the gushing, inexperienced, ob- 
 trusive commercial is from the pen of a well-known old 
 colonial traveller, now a buyer for one of the largest ex- 
 port firms in the city. I hope that those for whom it 
 was intended have profited by a sight of this placard 
 hung up in the office of my friend. It reads as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 READ THIS ! 
 
 1. Gentlemen wearing kid gloves, and wishing to sell 
 goods, should not knock, but open the office door, walk 
 in, and sit down. 
 
 2. Take a seat as near as possible to the desk. This 
 will enable you to overlook all our memos and corre- 
 spondence. 
 
 3. Should any goods of the same kind as you are 
 showing be lying on the counters, take them up, examine 
 them, ask the prices, and from whom we bought them. 
 
 
202 OUR COLONIAL TRAVELLERS. 
 
 4. Open out all your samples and goods, cover our 
 counters, expatiate on their superior value, but on no 
 account mention the price. This always saves time and 
 keeps other gentlemen from coming in. 
 
 5. If we say we are not buying the class of goods you 
 are showing, take no notice of this, as we are only luna- 
 tics, and it passes the time to make these remarks. 
 
 6. In our busiest season, if you have nothing to show, 
 call regularly every morning and ask after our health. 
 We are here for the sole purpose of answering questions 
 of this kind. 
 
 7. Should it be raining, put your wet umbrella on the 
 counter, the moisture from it will give all our silks, rib- 
 bons, &c., a nice shaded effect, and spoil those of your 
 competitors. 
 
 8. If we open our office door to say we do not want 
 to see you, ask us to spare just half-a-second and keep us 
 in the passage talking about your grandmother for twenty 
 minutes. All this facilitates our business and soothes 
 the tempers of the other gentlemen waiting. 
 
 9. Should you meet us in the street, take our arms 
 and ask us to step into a doorway to inspect your 
 samples, as these offices are only to look at, and not for 
 the purpose of buying goods. 
 
 10. In going out, pull the door to as violently as 
 possible. The noise made thereby helps to collect our 
 thoughts. 
 
TYPES OF SUCCESSFUL TRAVELLERS. 
 
" 'Tis not in mortals to command success. 
 We'll do more, Sempronius : we'll deserve it." 
 
 Addison. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 ^tjpe& of §ttccjc««ful ^vavMicva, 
 
 " IV TOTHING succeeds like success" is one of the 
 1 \| most popular of proverbs ; and, like most adages, 
 it has its converse, which we may render, " Nothing fails 
 like failure." In other words, there is undoubtedly a law 
 which governs failure and success in life, as absolute, if 
 we did but know it, as gravitation or the fact that two 
 and two make four. This adds to him that already 
 hath, and takes from the man who fails to properly 
 use even that which he possesses. 
 
 Success is simply the following up of our first accom- 
 plished task. The successful man is always moving, 
 growing, rising, developing from the lower to the higher, 
 the first success being the means of securing another 
 and yet another triumph. To be successful one must 
 never be absolutely satisfied. A young traveller, who 
 
2o6 TYPES OF SUCCESSFUL TRAVELLERS. 
 
 having succeeded in getting his feet firmly planted on 
 the central rung of the commercial ladder, once asked 
 his firm for a very large advance of salary. " Why," 
 said his employer, " it is only twelve months since we 
 gave you a handsome increase." " Quite true," replied 
 the young man ; " I think I'm worth to you what I am 
 asking." " Do you, indeed ? " was the employer's re- 
 sponse. He further remarked, " I tell you honestly what 
 I think ; that is, that some men are never satisfied, and 
 that you are one of that number." "True," said the 
 traveller, " and I never intend to be. You will, sir, 
 pardon me for saying that if you had been satisfied with 
 the ;^3o per annum you originally received, you would 
 not now have been receiving your ^2000 a year as 
 partner in this concern." The employer was so struck 
 with the reply that he gave him all he asked, and in ten 
 years from that day the same young man was as good as 
 XI partner himself in the same business. No sooner had 
 he gained one success than he was dissatisfied with 
 standing still, and he then set his face straight forward 
 to the next goal. There seems to me to be imprinted 
 on all nature the admonition. Move on ! You have 
 an appointed work; do it with all your might, and reward 
 is certain. Neglect it at your peril, and punishment is 
 equally sure. The thunder and the electric flash pro- 
 claim movement, the purification of the atmosphere, and 
 a healthier and sweeter life for the earthly inhabitants. 
 The magnificent roar of the tide as it rolls towards the 
 
MO VEMENT IS LIFE. 207 
 
 shore speaks of a constant, steady, and unerring deter- 
 mination not to stand still. Even the globe itself is 
 unable to retain its equilibrium except by continuously 
 revolving on its axis for the benefit of its myriad forms 
 and varieties of life. 
 
 " Beneath this starry arch 
 
 Nought resteth or is still, 
 But all things hold their march 
 
 As if by one great will. 
 Moves one, moves all : 
 Hark to the footfall ! 
 
 On, on, for ever ! " 
 
 This I consider to be the logical inference, and there 
 is no real success to be obtained if there be no dissatis- 
 faction with things as they are, and if there be no reach- 
 ing forward, no striving towards things as they should be. 
 
 Ruskin has said in his paper on " Pre-Raphaehtism : " 
 " It is written, ' In the sweat of thy brow,' but it was 
 never written 'in the breaking of thy heart,' shalt thou eat 
 bread. Now in order that people may be happy in their 
 work, these three things are needed. They must be fit 
 for it, they must not do too much of it, and they must 
 have a sense of success in it. The first thing a man has 
 to do, if unhappily his parents or masters have not done 
 it for him, is to find out what he is fit for. In which 
 inquiry a man may be very safely guided by his likings, 
 if he be not also guided by his p?-ide. People usually 
 reason in some like fashion as this : I don't seem quite fit 
 for head manager in the firm of A. B. «!v: Co., therefore I 
 
2o8 TYPES OF SUCCESSFUL TRA VELLERS. 
 
 am in all probability fit to be Chancellor of the Ex- 
 chequer. Whereas they ought rather to reason thus : I 
 don't seem quite fit to be head manager in the firm of A. B. 
 & Co. I might do something in a small greengrocery 
 business ; I used to be a good judge of peas. That is 
 to say, always trying lower instead of higher until they 
 find bottom. Once well set on the ground, a man may 
 build up by degrees safely ; instead of disturbing every 
 one in his neighbourhood by perpetual catastrophes. 
 There is no real desire for the safety, the discipline, the 
 moral good; only a panic horror of the inexpressibly 
 pitiable calamity of their living a ledge or two lower on 
 the mole-hill of the world, to be averted at any cost 
 whatever of struggle, anxiety, and even of the shortening 
 of life itself. Instead of all this a man should be a good 
 judge of his own work, and have the just encouragement 
 of the sense of progress in it, and an honest conscious- 
 ness of victory." 
 
 Here we see, I venture to assert, a strong corrobora- 
 tion of what I have already advanced ; for although 
 Ruskin teaches his pupils not to care for what the world 
 or society says or thinks about them, yet he insists upon 
 the necessity of the sense of progress, the sense of 
 success, just encouragement, and consciousness of victory 
 in all that we do. The only natural and true victory is 
 to act "that each to-morrow find us farther than to-day." 
 Making Perseverance our bosom friend, Experience our 
 wise counsellor, Caution our elder brother, and Hope our 
 
i? USKIN ON SUCCESS. 209 
 
 guardian genius— thus we make genuine progress, and 
 thus only. To quote the words of our Poet-Peer— 
 
 '* I hold it truth with him who sings 
 To one clear harp in clivers tones, 
 That men may rise on stepping-stones 
 Of their dead selves to higher things." 
 
 " Coming, seeing, and conquering," is very pretty as a 
 
 trinitarian poetic expression ; but real conquering means 
 
 a vast deal more than mere coming and seeing. David 
 
 the striphng was taunted by his elder brother as being 
 
 vain, and as leaving the few sheep in the wilderness 
 
 simply that he might come and see the battle. But 
 
 David had a deeper sense of the necessity of the time ; 
 
 that sense which suggested the brave words, "What shall 
 
 be done to the man that killeth this Philistine and taketh 
 
 away the reproach from Israel ? Who is this uncircum- 
 
 cised Philistine that he should defy the hosts of the 
 
 living God ? " and his bold and daring reply to the king : 
 
 " Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a 
 
 lion, likewise a bear, and took a sheep out of the flock ; 
 
 and I went out after him and smote him, and took it out 
 
 of his mouth : and when he arose against me, I caught 
 
 him by the beard and smote him and slew him. So thy 
 
 servant slew both the lion and the bear, and therefore this 
 
 Philistine shall be as one of them." 1 know of no story 
 
 so fraught with the true ring of a noble and brave spirit. 
 
 David had learned by much experience and, I doubt 
 
 not, by many a failure, how to use with deadly precision 
 
 15 
 
210 TYPES OF SUCCESSFUL TRAVELLERS, 
 
 (as events proved) the sling and the stone. He came, 
 he saw, he conquered ; not by the accident of birth, not 
 by having greatness thrust upon him, but by an act of 
 power and skill acquired by years of practical experience. 
 By a certain and therefore scientific aim did he conquer 
 and gain a victory which made the shepherd-boy a 
 king. 
 
 Here we have one of the greatest examples of success 
 depending on fitness for the work and "a sense of 
 success in it." It seems absolutely necessary for all 
 great men to have been, like David, for many years in 
 the wilderness with a few poor sheep, there to gain ex- 
 perience, to become educated and fitted for the position* 
 which will one day offer itself. We have a long time 
 often to wait for flood tide before we can lead on to< 
 fortune, yet everything comes to him, it has been said,, 
 who can work and wait. Emerson, in his " English 
 Traits," says that " the success of the English race is not 
 sudden or fortunate, but they have maintained constancy 
 and self-equality for many ages." I think it is the power 
 of endurance with a constant supply of hope that gives 
 us our pre-eminence. We are not satisfied to wait until 
 trade comes to us, but we go out to all corners of the 
 civilized and uncivilized world and force ourselves and 
 our commodities on all peoples, thus becoming in more 
 than an individual sense ambassadors of commerce. 
 But it is of the units I wish to speak first— of the steady^ 
 plodding, industrious^ 
 
THE AVERAGE " COMMERCIALr 211 
 
 AVERAGE COMMERCIAL TRAVELLER, 
 
 who represents this real and every-day success ; a success 
 that gives him happiness in his work and his employers 
 satisfaction. 
 
 Travellers who are regular in their habits, trustworthy 
 men, whose motto is "Give me neither poverty nor 
 riches," men who never get over-excited about business, 
 who have no idea of " setting the Thames on fire " (and 
 who do not see the sense of it if they could), prosecute 
 their labours in a quiet, unostentatious manner. The 
 smarter and more active men like this kind of man, and 
 call him a " decent fellow," because he is not too strong 
 an opponent; and the lazy and the indolent like him 
 because he does not set them too high a standard of 
 success. He is not less popular at home ; for whilst the 
 "slow coach" is nearly always behind, and the "gassy'' 
 man risky and uncertain— doing a big thing one day and 
 little or nothing probably for a week afterward— our 
 sound medium man, who does a genuine average busi- 
 ness, is after all the backbone of the house, and sa 
 of the greatest service. Why ? Because he works oa 
 day after day in a steady, natural way, and is to be 
 depended upon for a fair average trade. The value of this- 
 man is not represented by the actual orders he may send 
 through the post, but by the worth to the firm of the 
 ground he covers. Many a showy, dashing fellow will be 
 able to show larger figures at the end of the year as the 
 
212 TYPES OF SUCCESSFUL TRAVELLERS. 
 
 result of his sheet orders, but he usually does it with 
 fewer customers; and although well in with some, he 
 makes himself so offensive to others, that the actual trade 
 of the house over the whole ground is considerably less 
 than when the more modest traveller covered it. The 
 latter more truly represented the entire interest of the 
 house, and encouraged his friends not only to give him 
 orders, but to send them to the firm in the intervals of 
 his journeys, and also to visit it when in the market. All 
 this will be better understood if the term "ambassador" 
 be remembered, for it is essential that a good traveller be 
 a diplomatist. 
 
 THE ARTIFICIAL TRAVELLER. 
 
 This type represents a more pronounced success, a 
 making haste to be rich at all costs, even at the risk of 
 health and life itself. "Get money; get it honestly if 
 thou canst, but get money." Get position, and ape men 
 above you in the social scale. The M.P. argues, "If I 
 can only attach my name to this Act of Parliament my 
 present influence will be increased, I may get a seat in 
 the ministry, and my name will be handed down to pos- 
 terity ; I therefore intend to strain every nerve, to play 
 my cards right, to leave no stone unturned day or night, 
 ito accomplish my ends. It is most important that my 
 ■first venture should be a success ; for if I blunder in my 
 first attempt my constituents will forsake me, the press 
 •will write me down, I may never again have the chance 
 
THE ARTIFICIAL TRAVELLER. 213 
 
 of retrieving my shattered fortunes, and I may then con- 
 sider my poHtical career as practically closed." 
 
 The same argument applies with equal force to the 
 military man, the attorney, the physician, the preacher, 
 the traveller. To get a name nowadays seems to be the 
 one thing w^orth striving for. Do some daring deed, win 
 some popular case, cure some rich nobleman, preach a 
 few sensational sermons, pander in some way to the 
 popular craving for novelty, and you will get fame. Make 
 one mistake at the outset, and you are a Lord Chelmsford 
 disgraced. Only let fortune favour you at the beginning, 
 and, like Sir Garnet Wolseley, you rapidly become Sir 
 Garnet, General Sir Garnet, and ultimately Lord Wolseley. 
 In the one instance you sink into insignificance, in the 
 other you are petted, feasted, and worshipped as a fetich. 
 Lose your case, and you are a professional bankrupt; win it, 
 and you have more business than you can accept. Cure 
 your royal patient, and you are certain of a baronetcy, 
 and every sick rich noodle will have medical advice from 
 no one else. Your patient dies, and you may consider 
 yourself as professionally dead. " Nothing succeeds like 
 success." And nothing fails like failure. Men will give 
 an apple where there's an orchard ; they will give five 
 talents to the person who has five, and despise him who 
 has but one. 
 
 ''There's a success which colours all in life, 
 Makes fools admired and villains honest ; 
 All the proud virtue of this vaunting world 
 Fawns on success and power howe'er acquired." 
 
214 TYPES OF SUCCESSFUL TRAVELLERS. 
 
 This success is what may be termed hothouse success, 
 artificial in its character and unsatisfactory in its results ; 
 ii feverish anxiety and painful desire to be a mushroom 
 born of the fog and mist, withering under the bright sun 
 ■of reality and the purer air of genuine progress. Success- 
 ful men of this type never ask themselves — 
 
 ** Can gold calm passion or make reason thine ? 
 Can we dig peace or wisdom from the mine ? 
 Wisdom to gold prefer, for 'tis much less 
 To make our fortune than our happiness. 
 Nothing is meaner than a wretch of state, 
 The happy are the only truly great." 
 
 A further and appropriate answer I find in the following 
 -words by Howe : " He only is rich who lives upon what 
 he has, owes nothing, and is contented. For there is no 
 ■determinate sum of money nor quantity of estate that 
 can denote a man rich, since no man is truly rich that 
 has not so much as perfectly satiates his desire of saving 
 more, for the desire of more is want and poverty." I 
 remember, when at Manchester, being much struck with 
 this motto on a statue : '' My happiness consisted not in 
 the abundance of my riches, but in the fewness of my 
 wants." 
 
 If the end of progress be, as Bentham and John 
 Stuart Mill aver, " the greatest happiness of the greatest 
 number," and if true happiness is to have but few wants 
 and to thoroughly enjoy what one has, then the artificially 
 successful utterly fail ; for the constant craving for inore^ 
 
THE MISER. 215 
 
 more, is want and poverty. The pleasure of such men is 
 only in the acquirement and possession, not in the true 
 use, of wealth. The successful man of this type is worse 
 off than the absolute miser. His extreme anxiety and rush 
 for wealth and position give him no peace and no rest ; 
 whereas the miser has a measure of successful happiness, 
 being more content with what he actually has, and not 
 so over-anxious about the future. And if happiness con- 
 sists in the fewness of wants, the miser of all men should 
 be the happiest ; and I am disposed to think that he is 
 very far from being the most miserable of men. I never 
 saw this more strikingly exemplified than in the case of 
 '* Father Gaspard " in " Les Cloches de Corneville," in 
 which Shiel Barry so admirably portrayed the value to 
 the miser of the glittering coin. He kisses it, hugs it, 
 covers his head with it, worships it, and the very sound 
 of it is music to him and makes his heart rejoice. He 
 worshipped it not because he was able to say, " I am 
 worth so many thousand pounds more than my neigh- 
 bours," but because he could say, " So long as I have 
 this glittering gold in my possession, I have the means, 
 the wherewithal of obtaining anything I may require. 
 There is not a wish, if I choose, that need remain un- 
 gratified. If I buy land, it may decrease in value. If 
 I purchase houses, they will recjuire repairs, and I may 
 not get my rent, and so on. At the present moment I 
 am happy in possession of a power which can produce 
 this, that, and the other. But if I part with the cash I 
 
2i6 TYPES OF SUCCESSFUL TRAVELLERS. 
 
 lose the charm of hfe, and shall thus have no means of 
 gratifying my wishes." 
 
 A miser was once heard to say that he would do any- 
 thing to secure another thousand pounds. A wager 
 was laid privately that he should be asked to allow him- 
 self to be killed for a thousand pounds. It was men- 
 tioned to him. He took twenty-four hours to consider ; 
 and the time having expired, the parties called on him 
 again, when his answer was : '' Well, I have considered 
 your offer, and have come to the conclusion that your 
 thousand pounds would not be of any service to me 
 after my decease ; but I tell you what I am prepared to 
 do, I will consent to allow you to half kill me for five 
 hundred pounds." 
 
 This idea of being worth such and such an amount of 
 money, and of dying worth so many thousands, is a 
 very common one. Like many other things after a cer- 
 tain time in a man's life, use or habit becomes a second 
 nature ; and what is to be cornmended in a man from 
 twenty to forty years of age as being a necessary duty 
 (with a family to provide for, to educate, and to give a 
 fair start in life), may be fittingly condemned in one after 
 that time of hfe, if, when no necessity remains, he goes on 
 toiling and growling, speculating and worrying himself 
 and making his entire household miserable. His success 
 becomes unreal, artificial, a curse instead of a blessing. 
 In place of being a man, he becomes a slave. His mind 
 becomes warped and diseased. He once controlled a 
 
MORRISON THE MILLIONAIRE. 217 
 
 business and made money ; his business is now master 
 and controls him, and the profits he makes unman him 
 and reduce him to a pauper at his own gate. No more 
 striking instance can be given than that of the wealthy 
 Morrison, who rose from being a weekly paid hand to be 
 proprietor of millions, and who, after retiring from busi- 
 ness with vast riches, was so lunatic that he was accus- 
 tomed to go to the office regularly as of yore for his 
 weekly wage. All this applies to the men of the road. 
 I know of one notable instance of a very fine old gentle- 
 man, who has had for years more than enough to hand- 
 somely retire upon. A bachelor, I believe, and, so far 
 as I know, without encumbrance. The firm he repre- 
 sents wished him to give up, or he did give up volun- 
 tarily ; but having no charm outside his business, having 
 cultivated nothing but the hoarding of money, he was 
 miserable, and begged to be allowed to travel again if 
 only to keep his mind employed, and so be saved from 
 dying of sheer enmii. The usual reply to all this is, 
 *' It'sjbetter^to wear out than to rust out." True ; but if 
 you wear out before your time it is bad policy ; and this 
 will be the case most certainly if you fiddle too much 
 on one string. Is it not better to attune all the faculties 
 and get the harmony of concerted action, so that you 
 neither wear out nor rust out before the threescore years 
 and ten ? 
 
 Again, I have met men on the road, so excessively 
 anxious to do business and to add to their income, that 
 
2i8 TYPES OF SUCCESSFUL TRAVELLERS. 
 
 they have scarcely been honest in their deahngs. Cer- 
 tainly they were dishonest to themselves in takijng 
 insufficient time for necessary refreshment, or in going 
 altogether without their midday meal. I repeat that 
 this means dishonesty to one's self; and a few years of 
 such playing fast and loose with one's physical frame 
 finally causes a breakdown in health, and. premature old 
 age. This type of commercial traveller, too, is so fear- 
 fully excitable, and so unduly desirous of securing the 
 lion's share of the trade, that he is not very particular as 
 to the dodges he uses to best other men. 
 
 I have mentioned in the chapter on Commercial 
 Etiquette, that when one gentleman is engaged with a 
 customer it is usual for another not to interrupt or 
 intrude his presence. But the type in question is not at 
 all particular in this respect, and has to be on some 
 occasions very plainly told that he is wanting in tliat 
 gentlemanly courtesy due to a brother traveller, and if 
 he repeats such conduct a more drastic remedy will be 
 applied. I am happy to say that these cases are not 
 numerous ; but that they are not so is due to the strin- 
 gent unwritten laws of the road which are rigidly en- 
 forced. " All is fair in love and war," and in commercial 
 travelling too ; and very smart things may be done in a 
 straightforward, legitimate manner; but to exceed this — 
 as I am fain to believe even so excellent a type of 
 traveller as George Moore did — is distinctly reprehen- 
 sible. 
 
THE LA-DI-DA " COMMERCIALS 219 
 
 THE LA-DI-DA "COMMERCIAL." 
 
 Another type of traveller I may call the "La-di-da 
 Commercial" This is the showy, dashing, fashionably 
 dressed swell of the road. He is heavily diamonded, 
 elaborately pinned, and gold chain weighted, and you 
 must make way for him on all occasions. He is a loud 
 talker and a big bragger, has a farm, and talks of his " tits," 
 of his swans on his lake, and his groom. He hunts, re- 
 ceives and gives invitations to shoot over certain covers, 
 drives his own " tit " to the station, and instructs the 
 groom to meet the 4.30 train, as he has a few chums 
 dining with him at six. He is a regular country 
 " masher." He is well up in the Funds ; he made such 
 an amount by Turks, and landed a big thing out of 
 Grand Trunks; he discounts Egyptian stock, and the 
 imbecile Government with the G. O. M. — *' a G. O. fool " 
 — at its head. He can name the winner of the St. Leger, 
 and give the right tip for the Derby, while he made a 
 hatful of money at Ascot. He is always in good form, 
 and never has any losses. At least he does jiot speak of 
 them. He commences his day's business an hour or two 
 later than most men, and "shunts it" two or three hours 
 earlier. He has always done the biggest thing with the 
 largest man: would not condescend to open his book 
 for less than ten hogshead of claret at a price, or five 
 pipes of port ; only calls on wholesale buyers, is pleased 
 with the sobriquet " Champagne Charlie," or any other 
 music-hall slang which he is in the habit of usin^^ He is 
 
2 20 TYPES OF SUCCESSFUL TRAVELLERS, 
 
 always flushed with " the needful," and constantly boasts 
 of his income and of not paying income-tax. He travels 
 more for pleasure than business, and is more often seen 
 with kid gloves, cigar, and walking-stick than with 
 samples. The food is never good enough for his dainty 
 stomach, and the wine is " rubbish." He monopolizes 
 The Twies, the easy-chair, the fireplace, and the entire 
 services of the waiters, boots, and other servants. He 
 expects the most polite attention from every one else, 
 and is incapable of reciprocating it. He is badly bred, 
 ill-behaved, and purse-proud, as most of these " La-di- 
 da " fellows are. He is perhaps a son of the " governor," 
 or he has by accident, or by the will of his grandmother, 
 come into possession of a few thousand pounds more 
 than " these common travellers." He has neglected all 
 that is beautiful and noble in his nature, and imagines 
 that money makes the man as well as " the mare to go," 
 and that this gives him a right to disdain others who are 
 infinitely his superiors in every respect. 
 
 What is the end of all this spurious imitation of the 
 real article, the true man ? Walk into any commercial 
 room of any hotel in the kingdom ; go straight to the 
 mantelpiece ; take up half a dozen small printed cards ; 
 and amongst many of the most deserving cases of distress 
 you will find one which will answer the above question. 
 '* Mr. So-and-so, who travelled twelve years for such and 
 such a firm, died at the age of thirty-nine, leaving a widow 
 and five children totally unprovided for.'' 
 
THE BRILLIANTL V SUCCESSFUL. 2 2 1 
 
 RARE OR BRILLIANT SUCCESS. 
 
 "Such splendid purpose in his eyes." 
 
 Tennyson. 
 
 The theory of the survival of the fittest, which was only 
 a few years ago " pooh-poohed," is now adopted by all 
 the best minds of the world. Darwin the evolutionist, 
 while alive, w^as one of the best-abused and most maligned 
 men in Europe ; but dead, he is worshipped and called the 
 "epoch-maker," the genius of the nineteenth century. He 
 unfolded to us the great Bible of Nature, carefully turn- 
 ing over its leaves one by one : first the mineral, then the 
 vegetable ; then the creeping-feeling-plants, half vegetable 
 half animal ; then the animal wdth a simple stomach, then 
 a complete animal, then man. He taught us that a plant 
 became the strongest and fittest to live, and was most 
 successful in its growth, when as a seedling in the forest 
 it received a little more sunshine, a little more air, than 
 many of its neighbours ; that it shoots upward day by day 
 in virtue of its absorbing more food from the moisture 
 through its roots, week after week inhaling a greater 
 vitality from the atmosphere ; until, by its constant suc- 
 cesses, leaving many feet behind it the sapHngs that 
 have had a less favourable chance of life and growth, it 
 springs forth into beauty and perfection. 
 
 Our brilliant men who meet with such rare triumphs 
 have had similar natural advantages. There being no 
 royal road to success, it is only to be accounted for by 
 the successful person being born with many talents and 
 
2 22 TYPES OF SUCCESSFUL TRAVELLERS. 
 
 using them well. These are in a minority. The great 
 intellects of the world are mighty in power but few in 
 number. We may go a step farther back, and remark 
 that the giant oak towering in majesty over the average of 
 its little puny brother and sister saplings, is great in virtue 
 of circumstances occurring during its formation, long be- 
 fore it left its parent tree as an acorn, ere it dropped with 
 hundreds of others into the earth. It is equally true 
 with mankind. True greatness must have its foundation 
 in its embryo state ere it can be " to the manner born " 
 and survive as the fittest of forces in the world. A type 
 of success born of greatness depends upon an extraor- 
 dinary "fortuitous combination of atoms," too subtle to 
 discuss here in the abstract; and I only mention the fact 
 to show that all is the outcome of a beautiful, wise, and 
 beneficent law, and that nothing comes by chance ; that 
 a Raphael or a Shakespeare, a Galileo or a Newton, is the 
 outcome of special advantages, produced under more 
 favourable influences at work both before and after birth. 
 Individuals who have had mothers of rare power and 
 grandparents of marvellous ability are likely to be them- 
 selves remarkable. This is so evident to the ordinary 
 intelligence, that I need not quote instances. Such in- 
 dividuals are born of great circumstances to create greater 
 results for themselves and humanity at large. They are 
 epoch-makers whose creative brain Nature has shaped 
 with her own hands in the great womb of time, and who 
 create ideas that smaller minds in the following centuries 
 
^v 
 
 H, A. JONES, ESQ., THE DRAMATIST. 223 
 
 weave into mental garments with which still smaller souls 
 are clothed:— men and women, with giant minds, great 
 and successful almost in spite of themselves. 
 
 In applying these remarks to men with extraordinary 
 business capacity, it is only a question of degree. The 
 principle remains the same. 
 
 Not a few of the millionaires, statesmen, lord mayors, 
 and provincial mayors, were originally ^Embassadors of 
 Commerce. Such men as Cobden, George Moore, &c., 
 illustrate the stuff travellers are made of The best 
 among them are men of good parts, of large brains, in- 
 telligent, active, excellent tacticians, with strong physical 
 organization, plenty of endurance or staying power ; men 
 who can work, eat, and sleep well ; in fact, the very pick 
 of the commercial world, the select few of a warehouse. 
 When you have made your choice of the best of this 
 class of material, you find men who can render all they 
 l)ut their hands to brilliant and successful. 
 
 It is very singular that Bradford should have the dis- 
 tinguished honour of having possessed a popular com- 
 mercial traveller now widely known in another sphere. 
 I speak of the joint author of the famous drama "The 
 Silver King," H. A. Jones ; a man who has made his 
 mark, and of whom we as travellers are all proud. It is 
 not generally known that Cobden, the great Free Trade 
 statesman, was originally a traveller. He was the son of a 
 small Sussex farmer, who died while Richard was a boy. 
 He was taken charge of by an uncle who had a whole- 
 
2 24 TYPES OF SUCCESSFUL TRAVELLERS. 
 
 sale warehouse in London, into which he was in due 
 time introduced. He afterwards became a partner in a 
 Manchester printed cotton factory, and "took the road" 
 as a commercial traveller for the house. Of this period 
 in his career, Mr. John Morley says in his Life of Cob- 
 den : " From the drudgery of the warehouse he was now 
 advanced to the glories of the road. We may smile at 
 the keen elation with which he looked to this preferment 
 from the position of clerk to that of traveller ; but human 
 dignities are only relative, and a rise in the hierarchy of 
 trade is doubtless as good matter for exultation as a rise 
 in hierarchies more elaborately robed. Cobden's new 
 position was peculiarly suited to the turn of his character. 
 Collecting accounts and soliciting orders for muslins and 
 cahcos gave room, in their humble sphere, for those high 
 inborn qualities of energy and sociability which in later 
 years produced the most active and the most persuasive 
 of popular statesmen. But what made the life of a 
 traveller so specially welcome to Cobden was the gratifi- 
 cation that it offered to the master passion of his life — 
 an insatiable desire to know the affairs of the world. 
 Famous men, who became his friends in the years to 
 come, agree in the admission that they have never known 
 a man in whom this trait of a sound and rational desire 
 to know and to learn was so strong and so inexhaustible." 
 Cobden's subsequent history is too well known and ap- 
 preciated to make it necessary for me to recapitulate it 
 here. Suffice it to say that Sir Robert Peel, in a memor- 
 
COBDEN AS A " COMMERCIALS 225 
 
 able speech on June 29, 1846, wherein he gave all the 
 credit of the repeal of the Corn Laws to Mr. Cobden, 
 spoke thus : " The name which ought to be, and which 
 will be, associated with the success of these measures, is 
 the name of a man who, acting, I believe, from pure and 
 disinterested motives, has advocated their cause with 
 untiring energy and by appeals to reason, enforced by an 
 eloquence the more to be admired because.it was un- 
 affected and unadorned — the name which ought to be, 
 and will be, associated with the success of these measures 
 is Richard Cobden." The sum of ;£7o,ooo was collected 
 by his grateful countrymen and presented to him. He 
 was offered the presidency of the Board of Trade under 
 Lord Palmerston, which he refused to accept. His chief 
 reason was that he was a decided opponent of Palmerston's 
 warlike foreign policy. Now what were the principal 
 ingredients in Cobden's character? In what consisted 
 his true manhood ? In the first place, being the son of 
 a farmer, he had a well-knit, healthy body and a strong 
 physical frame. His motives were disinterested. He 
 advocated his cause, knowing and feeling it to be a right 
 one, with untiring energy ; and, being a clear thinker, by 
 appeals to reason and common sense ; and, being an 
 orator, by an eloquence to be admired because it was 
 simple and unaffected. Reverting to these facts, we see 
 the weft and the woof which made him a truly great man. 
 He had all the elements and forces, all the raw material 
 properly combined, which produced one of nature's kings. 
 
 16 
 
226 TYPES OF SUCCESSFUL TRAVELLERS 
 
 I think we may fairly claim Cobden as a product of " the 
 road ; " for it is only reasonable to conclude that if he 
 had not first travelled for the caHco-printing firm, he would 
 not have had the taste and desire which afterwards in- 
 spired him to visit Egypt, Greece, Turkey, and America. 
 He would not have written his famous pamphlet on^ 
 " England, Ireland, and America," and his other on 
 "Russia." He would not have been the man who to 
 this day is respected, and for generations to come will 
 be honoured as one who has blessed humanity by being 
 the statesman and leader of the Free Trade movement. 
 
 I have already spoken of George Moore as the Cum- 
 berland lad, who, as a rough, uncouth country youth, 
 came to London, and was at the beginning of his career 
 the stupidest of all the Cumberland boys his employer 
 ever had. He " felt out blind at first," but no sooner 
 did he find congenial work on the road as a commercial 
 traveller, than the stored-up energy and natural talent 
 which had been pent up and unseen for want of scope to 
 develop, began to be manifest. No sooner had " George " 
 the opportunity to use his reserve power than he quickly 
 went to the front, and held his own afterward, becoming 
 one of the richest merchants and partner in one of the 
 largest and most money-making concerns in the metro- 
 polis. George Moore, again, had similar genuine traits of 
 character to those of Cobden. Simplicity, directness, 
 vigour and determination, punctuality, promptness in 
 emergency, benevolence, sympathy, honesty, and withal 
 
GEORGE MOORE. 227 
 
 an iron frame — these were the attributes of George 
 Moore. I doubt not, if he had not shrunk from munici- 
 pal and parHamentary honours, he might have become as 
 great as Cobden himself, for he was made of the stuff 
 and guided by the principles which would ultimately 
 have placed him in the same rank. He was called the 
 " Napoleon of the Road," and as a graceful appendix to 
 this chapter two brief personal histories are here set 
 down. The first is a memoir of 
 
 GEORGE MOORE, ESQ., THE NAPOLEON OF THE ROAD. 
 
 No commercial traveller has had a greater claim to 
 this title than the late George Moore, of the firm of 
 Copestake, Moore, Crampton, and Co. (now Copestake, 
 Hughes, Crampton, and Co.) No obstacle ever appeared 
 too great for him to overcome, no opponent too formid- 
 able to vanquish, and no hill of difficulty too high for 
 him to surmount. In fact, the more stubborn the ob- 
 struction, the more intense became the pleasure to him 
 to annihilate it. He had in his mental, moral, and 
 physical composition the raw material of greatness, and 
 the judgment when very young to weave a strong double 
 warp and weft of character which enabled him to with- 
 stand the many baneful temptations and allurements of 
 the road which weaker men too often fall a prey to. 
 Like all successful men, he had an intense faith in work ! 
 work ! work ! He also represented his great prototype 
 in appearing despotic. The first time that I met George 
 
228 TYPES OF SUCCESSFUL TRAVELLERS. 
 
 Moore was at the London Tavern during our school 
 election. I was then a young traveller, and received a 
 most unfavourable impression of him. His manner 
 seemed to me to be most overbearing and dogmatic, too 
 much of the ego, and too little respect for either the 
 opinions or feelings of others. But when I knew more 
 of him from those who were his intimate acquaintances, 
 my views were at once modified, and ever since I have 
 been more than satisfied that George Moore laboured 
 with a genuine motive and pure spirit for the benefit of 
 humanity in general, and his own fraternity (the com- 
 mercial travellers) in particular. George Moore did 
 nothing by halves. He was a man with intense con- 
 victions and burning desires, with large powers of organi- 
 zation and a strong will to direct ; in short, he was a born 
 leader of men. Men of this stamp usually appear to 
 weaker souls despotic, because they cannot aiford to put 
 the hands of their timepieces back to suit the time of 
 the sluggard, or wait to argue each petty detail with 
 the drones. 
 
 Hero-worship will continue as long as there are real 
 heroes forthcoming, and George Moore is still a real one 
 to all commercial men, especially to the travellers. The 
 majority of men are more influenced by the personahty 
 and example of another man than by any amount of 
 theorizing or preaching. I have therefore determined to 
 give every one of my readers the advantage of gazing 
 upon a very striking portrait of our hero, and getting 
 
AMBASSADORS OF COMMERCE. 
 
 THE LATE GEORGE MOORE. 
 
2 30 TYPES OF SUCCESSFUL TRAVELLERS. 
 
 from the look an inspiration that may enable them to go 
 and in some measure do likewise. For what was actual 
 in George Moore, is possible in a very large degree to 
 many other men. I also reprint a short memoir from 
 an unbiassed source. It appeared in The Carlisle Journal^ 
 November 24, 1876, four days after the fatal accident. 
 
 "In 1825, at the age of eighteen, George Moore made 
 his first appearance in London, a smart, active young 
 fellow, with perhaps a little more than the traditional 
 half-crown in his pocket, but nevertheless with a purse 
 that was, if anything, rather lighter than his heart. The 
 shop in which he was placed had a high reputation, but 
 the year was marked by a financial panic that necessarily 
 had its effect upon all kinds of trade, and he had not 
 been long behind a London counter before his ambition 
 began to yearn for a still wider sphere of activity. The 
 retail trade was too slow for him; his dreams had been of 
 great enterprise and large dealings, and he felt that if he 
 was to get on in the world he must acquire a footing in 
 some wholesale house ; and accordingly he once more 
 made up his mind to seek another change. In this 
 resolution he was strengthened by a romantic incident 
 which has frequently been mentioned in pubhc, and 
 which we need not therefore hesitate to repeat here. 
 One day, soon after he had entered upon his duties in 
 Grafton House, Mrs. Ray, the wife of one of the prin- 
 cipals, entered the shop, accompanied by her daughter, 
 and the appearance of the young lady at once made a 
 
FIRST APPEARANCE IN LONDON 231 
 
 strong impression upon the susceptible heart of the 
 country lad. It was a case of love at first sight on his 
 part — of such love as one seldom hears of except in the 
 pages of fiction — a love that was 'an Adam at its birth,' 
 that carried with it a consciousness of its own power and 
 a determination to conquer what to many might under 
 the circumstances have seemed to be insuperable obsta- 
 cles. ' If ever I marry,' said the young shopman to one 
 of his fellows when the lady had departed, 'that girl 
 shall be my wife,' and it is a remarkable fact that for 
 many years that vow remained registered in his heart as 
 the expression of a fixed purpose, that it proved his chief 
 incentive to exertion, and that in the end, as will be 
 seen, it was auspiciously fulfilled by the prosperous city 
 merchant being united in marriage to the daughter of his 
 first London employer ! Young Moore's desire for em- 
 ployment in a wholesale establishment was generously 
 encouraged by Mr. Ray, who kindly used his influence, 
 and ultimately succeeded in obtaining him a situation 
 with Messrs. Fisher, of Watling Street, then regarded as 
 the first house of the kind in the world ; and with that 
 firm he began his career in the wholesale department of 
 trade, as a warehouseman with a salary of £^0 a year. 
 
 "The year 1825, as we have said, was a somewhat 
 disastrous one for the trader ; but it is an ill wind that 
 blows nobody good, and these mercantile embarrassments 
 proved a lucky wind for George Moore. Several hands 
 had either left their employment or had been transferred 
 
232 TYPES OF SUCCESSFUL TRAVELLERS. 
 
 across the Atlantic to a branch which Messrs. Fisher had 
 recently opened in the United States, and readier oppor- 
 tunities were thus presented far advancement in the 
 London, house. To be transferred from the post of 
 warehouseman to that of town traveller was only a 
 natural gradation for any man of intelligence, energy, 
 and industry; but in this case promotion was perhaps 
 more rapid than it usually is in the ordinary course of 
 events, so that at twenty-one George Moore found him- 
 self occupying a position that is often the goal for the 
 ambition of men of much more mature years. Though 
 young, however, he was more than a match for older and 
 more experienced hands. Fresh from the country, his 
 mind had been powerfully impressed by the contrast 
 between the petty dealings in a Wigton shop and the 
 great operations of a London warehouse ; and being 
 naturally of an inquisitive disposition, he never rested 
 until he fully understood everything he saw. His whole 
 interest was concentrated upon the work going on around 
 him ; he was not fully satisfied until he had mastered the 
 details not of his own department only, but of every other 
 that he had a chance of obtaining information about, 
 for he still kept before him his favourite motto, * Aim 
 high,' and he was convinced that his only hope of suc- 
 cess lay in knowing as much about his business as any- 
 body else. * They shall not crush me ; I ivill be great,' 
 wrote Charles Kean to a friend when envious London 
 critics disparaged his first representation of * Hamlet ; ' 
 
ENGAGEMENT WITH MESSRS. FISHER. 233 
 
 and he kept his word. ' I will rise ' was the reflection 
 ahvays uppermost in the mind of the tyro London tra- 
 veller, with his humble salary, and he too succeeded in 
 accomplishing his purpose. George Moore entered upon 
 his new duties with great alacrity. He brought to bear 
 upon them an ample knowledge of his business, but in 
 addition to that he possessed a quick intelligence, a 
 manner that was prepossessing by reason of its honest 
 bluntness and native candour, and, above all, he was^ 
 endowed with a strong and vigorous constitution, and 
 manifested a resdess energy that was ever seeking full 
 and fresh employment. Such qualities were not long in 
 making their mark. His employers found that Moore's 
 orders exceeded in number and amount those of any of 
 their other travellers, and they were not slow in recog- 
 nizing his services and turning them to better account. 
 In the course of a year or two the best ' country ground ' 
 visited by the firm became vacant, and the successful 
 young town traveller was sent out to occupy it. In his 
 new sphere he proved himsei: more than equal to his 
 work. His predecessor, it seems, trusting to the acknow- 
 ledged reputation of the firm he represented, had taken 
 things rather easily, and, acting upon the belief that 
 people could not get on without Fisher's goods, had not 
 done much to develop the trade. The new traveller, 
 seeing a good opportunity of distinguishing himself, at 
 once resolved to try how much he could increase his 
 receipts. He called upon every shopkeeper of good 
 
234 TYPES OF SUCCESSFUL TRA VELLERS. 
 
 credit in the towns that he visited, and made a point of 
 calling again and again until he got an order, for he was 
 sure that where he once succeeded in gaining a footing 
 he could not be dislodged ; and he never lost a moment 
 of time in lingering in a town after he had done his work. 
 His reputation as a pushing salesman at once spread. 
 He was talked about in all the commercial rooms, he 
 was complimented at the travellers' ordinary, and among 
 the tradesmen of Manchester and Liverpool and the large 
 towns of the north he was always w^elcomed as one to 
 whom orders could be entrusted with the certainty of 
 being executed with the greatest possible dispatch. But 
 withal he bore his honours very modestly, and was not 
 carried off his feet by the puff of praise. ' It is the lace, 
 not the seller of it, that does the work,' he was wont to 
 say; 'people can't do without Fisher's goods, and I only 
 supply their wants.' Yet he always took care to be on 
 the spot when goods w^ere wanted. In those days it 
 must be remembered there were no railways. The coach 
 was the only public conveyance, and between many 
 places coaches ran only once a day, and in some in- 
 stances less frequently. Nowadays if a traveller does 
 not finish up his work at night, he can still put in an 
 hour or two in the morning, and reach his next station 
 by the middle of the day ; but such a delay forty or fifty 
 years ago meant the loss of a day, and perhaps more. 
 In after years Mr. Moore used often to relate how, after 
 a hard day's work in taking orders, he had sat up all 
 
HIS BUSINESS TRAITS. 235 
 
 night packing his goods, and then rushed off by the early 
 coach next morning rather than lose a moment of time 
 unnecessarily ; and fortunately for him the ' flesh ' in his 
 case proved as strong as the * spirit,' and his physique 
 was able to bear the strain. It may perhaps be asked, 
 Why all this haste ? A man cannot do more than his 
 day's work, and he will get his orders from his customers 
 whenever he may turn up. But then a couple of days' 
 receipts added to the week's work made an important 
 difference to the sum total of the traveller's orders in the 
 course of a year, and it must not be forgotten that young 
 Moore had resolved to excel, if possible, every other 
 traveller on the road. One incident in his experience 
 had shown him the necessity of never allowing the grass 
 to grow beneath his feet. In one town that he had 
 visited he met a rival traveller, with whom he arranged in 
 the course of conversation to start for Liverpool on the 
 following day. The gentleman, however, did not appear 
 at the time appointed, and Mr. Moore proceeded on his 
 journey alone, flattering himself that he would have all 
 the field to himself On arriving at his destination, he 
 spent some time in unpacking his goods for inspection, 
 and then sallied forth in search of customers. At the 
 first shop at which he called he met with a sad dis- 
 appointment : Mr. So-and-so had been there before him 
 and had taken the order, and on making other calls the 
 same story greeted his ears. He had been outwitted and 
 forestalled; but he was determined to turn the tables 
 
236 TYPES OF SUCCESSFUL TEA VELLERS, 
 
 upon his opponent. Meeting him afterwards, the rival, 
 with a lively chuckle at his own sharpness, apologized for 
 not keeping his appointment, and very cordially asked 
 Mr. Moore to supper. The invitation was neither 
 accepted nor declined : but Mr. Moore saw his oppor- 
 tunity and availed himself of it. The rival, knowing that 
 he had taken the cream of the orders, and thinking that 
 Mr. Moore would be dallying about the town in the vain 
 hope of selling a few odd parcels, was preparing to enjoy 
 his ease with his customers, and no doubt expected to 
 have many a good joke with them at his friend's ex- 
 pense ; but, while the toast and song were passing gaily 
 round the supper table, the pushing young Cumbrian was 
 hard at work packing up the goods he had only opened 
 out a few hours before, and, by dint of unflagging applica- 
 tion during the whole night, succeeded in having every- 
 thing ready for the early morning coach, took his place, 
 got the lead of his rival in the next town (Manchester), 
 and never afterwards lost it. A tale of the road like this 
 loses, of course, much of its zest on being reduced to 
 writing, but those who have had the good fortune to hear 
 the principal figure in it relate how cleverly he succeeded 
 in giving his rival a Roland for his Oliver could not fail 
 to perceive that in that story was contained the great 
 secret of his commercial success. Indeed, we believe 
 that we are not wrong in stating that this one incident 
 constituted in itself the great turning-point in his career. 
 The traveller referred to was the representative of the 
 
OUTWITTING AN OPPONENT. 237 
 
 comparatively new house of Groucock, Copestake, and 
 Co., then struggUng into existence ; and so much was he 
 struck with the energy and determination exhibited by 
 Mr. Moore, and so hopeless did he consider it to struggle 
 against such an intrepid opponent, that he soon after- 
 wards induced his employers to try to come to some 
 arrangement with him. Mr. Moore was offered a con- 
 siderable increase of salary if he would transfer his 
 services to the new house ; but the offer was declined. 
 Then it was repeated in a more advantageous form, but 
 was again refused. At length Mr. Groucock himself, 
 seeing that if his firm was to have a chance in the great 
 markets his irrepressible rival must be got rid of in some 
 way, offered him as much as ;^5oo a year if he would 
 become their traveller. An advance of salary from 
 ^^150 to £,$00 a year was of course a very tempting 
 bait ; but at this time Mr. Moore knew pretty well what 
 he was worth, and he firmly announced his decision of 
 making no change except upon the condition of a 
 partnership. At this proposition the firm hesitated for 
 a time, but finding that they had no alternative but to 
 give way, they ultimately accepted Mr. Moore's own 
 terms ; and with an agreement under which he was to 
 receive a fourth share of the profits during the first three 
 years, the active young traveller became a member of the 
 firm of Groucock, Copestake, Moore, and Co. 
 
 " At this point, then, the subject of our memoir had 
 attained the highway that led to his subsequent eminence. 
 
238 TYPES OF SUCCESSFUL TEA VELLEES. 
 
 The arrangement with his partners was that he should 
 have a fourth of the profits during the first three years^ 
 and at the end of that time if the partnership was con- 
 tinued he was to have an equal share — that is, a third. 
 But in the calculations of the new partner the 'if had 
 no existence, for he felt assured that in the course of 
 three years he could make himself so valuable an acquisi- 
 tion that the firm could not afford to dispense with him ; 
 and the result fully confirmed his view. A man of lesser 
 mark, or of feebler confidence in his own powers, might 
 have shrunk from the task that lay before him. Here 
 for some years he had been persuading every shopkeeper 
 in the north that the public would be satisfied with none 
 but Fisher's goods : now he had to undo all his previous 
 work, and convince them that Groucock's were quite as 
 good ! But the difficulty of his new position only served 
 to display his business tact more conspicuously. He 
 never lost his temper, and never took offence — indeed it 
 was his maxim through life that it was bad policy to 
 quarrel outright with any one, and he ahvays made even 
 an unsuccessful call upon a shopkeeper an occasion for 
 creating, or increasing, a friendship that was always sure 
 to end profitably in the long run. The consequence was 
 that in these three years he took more orders for lace 
 than had ever before been taken in the same line of 
 business, and had so extended the connections of the 
 firm as to establish its position in the leading ranks of 
 commercial enterprise. Of course, the partnership was 
 
HE IS MADE A PARTNER. 239 
 
 then settled upon a permanent basis. A strong personal 
 attachment had sprung up between the old partners and 
 their new colleague — an attachment that ripened with 
 years, and has extended to the surviving representatives 
 of the original firm — and Mr. Moore, who has been the 
 last to leave this busy world, has often been heard to say 
 that no man could have been more fortunate in his 
 partners than himself One event which tended to 
 strengthen the position of the firm was the action which 
 they brought against a rival firm in the year 1834, and 
 which ended in a verdict in their favour. The whole 
 amount of the damages [£100] they at once bestowed in 
 charity, thus at once proving the disinterestedness of 
 proceedings that had only been undertaken with a view 
 of establishing the soundness of their credit. Their 
 capital was comparatively small at that time, it is true, 
 but their pluck and energy were remarkable, and as their 
 integrity was fully acknowledged, the sympathy of the 
 commercial world sided entirely with them. 
 
 " From this time their prosperity went on increasing ; 
 and as it did so the junior partner began to urge his 
 suit with the lady who had won his heart when he first 
 appeared in London; and not without success. In 1839 
 he married Miss Ray, and thus realized a hope that had 
 spurred him forward for nearly fifteen years." 
 
240 TYPES OF SUCCESSFUL TRAVELLERS. 
 
 JAMES WHITEHEAD, ALDERMAN AND SHERIFF OF LONDON 
 AND MIDDLESEX, J. P., D.L., ETC. 
 
 At the annual dinner of the Commercial Travellers' 
 Schools the subject of my sketch alluded in graceful 
 terms to his early connection with commercial travelling. 
 He said : " It may be, if the Corporation should continue 
 to exist and my health should be sustained, that in course 
 of time I may arrive at the Civic chair. Sir, that will be 
 a very proud distinction to me, but not a more proud 
 boast than I am able to make that I began life as a 
 commercial traveller ; and that all my early experience, 
 and much of the information which enabled me to win 
 the position I now have the honour to occupy, was 
 gained 'on the road.'" He also observed that "if the 
 surplus funds of the City Guilds were, as was under- 
 stood, to be applied to purposes of public utility, he 
 knew of no object of public utility which deserved the 
 aid of these surplus funds more than the Commercial 
 Travellers' Schools." And he further suggested that as 
 the " simultaneous collections " had been of such great 
 advantage to the Institution, " it would be a graceful thing 
 to perpetuate the happy idea of their originator, Mr. 
 William Holt, by the erection of a wing in his honour." 
 
 Listening to these sentences, and observing the calm 
 manner and the modest demeanour under which they 
 were spoken, I was strongly impressed by the feeling 
 that I was in the presence of no ordinary man of busi- 
 ness; no everyday commercial traveller. They were 
 
AMBASSADORS OF COMMERCE. 
 
 ALDERMAN AND SHERIFF WHITEHEAD, J. P., D.L., ETC, 
 17 
 
242 TYPES OF SUCCESSFUL TEA VELLEES. 
 
 simple and unpretentious words, but were brimful of 
 common sense and genuine good feeling towards the 
 fraternity to which he once belonged \ and we may infer 
 that no matter what position Alderman and Sheriff 
 Whitehead may eventually occupy (I know that it will be 
 one of the highest), he is not the man to forget or dis- 
 avow the more humble, though not the less honourable, 
 one he had held in early, life. 
 
 I make much of these remarks for obvious reasons, 
 the strongest of which is, that in these days, when so 
 many men "are not what they seem,'* it is a treat to 
 hear the true ring of manly speech and the fearless 
 though modest utterances of one who in this and other 
 respects adorns his high office. 
 
 Mr. Alderman and Sheriff Whitehead has always re- 
 cognized, both in his conversation and actions, that— 
 
 " Rank is but the guinea's stamp, 
 The man's the gowd for a' that." 
 
 As a traveller Mr. Whitehead had extraordinary success, 
 the result chiefly of untiring energy, agreeable manner, 
 and dogged perseverance. The days were never long 
 enough for him, and I have heard him say that for many 
 years his daily average was sixteen working hours. He 
 commenced his career as a traveller at eighteen, going 
 out occasionally ; and from the time he was twenty-one 
 he was out ''all the year round." From the first he far 
 outstripped his contemporaries, and before he was yet 
 
JAMES WHITEHEAD, J.P., D.L., (^c. 243 
 
 twenty-four I have heard that his sales in the country 
 were more than three times those of any other traveller 
 representing the same firm. At twenty-five he came to 
 London to establish a business for the firm he had repre- 
 sented in the country, and here again his success began 
 from his first appearance in the metropolis. Fortune 
 always seems to have favoured him ; while in the country 
 he never had "a balloon" but twice, and that calamity 
 never once befell him in London ! The orders from his 
 own pencil in town exceeded ;^i2o,ooo a year; and 
 when he afterwards took a few assistants his sales reached 
 between;^ 2 00,000 and ;£3oo,ooo per year. 
 
 Mr. Whitehead was a man whom you always felt the 
 better for having met. He was a strong and honest 
 opponent, with quick business perceptions; one who 
 always gained your confidence, and was ever true as a 
 friend. If you were in trouble or difficulty he would, if 
 it were in his power, be sure to help you out of it. It is 
 seldom now that you meet a man "on the road" who 
 possesses such qualities; and the ruin of many a one 
 might have been prevented by the timely advice and 
 influence of such a friend. 
 
 These traits in Alderman Whitehead's character 
 singled him out long ago as one above the ordinary 
 run of commercial men. His customers, too, had more 
 than a passing business attachment for him. He made 
 friends by being true to the best instincts in himself, and 
 therefore could not be false to any one. He thus early 
 
244 TYPES OF SUCCESSFUL TRAVELLERS. 
 
 gained the confidence of a vast number of large buyers — 
 a confidence which he retains to this day, many of his 
 old customers being even now his most intimate friends. 
 
 His commercial position in the City was always a 
 popular one; and besides being engaged, as I have 
 previously said, in the "Bradford trade," he has been 
 associated in the estabHshment and development of 
 other large and successful mercantile concerns. He 
 was for some time, also, proprietor of The Citizen news- 
 paper, and until he sold it I have heard that he himself 
 wrote those drastic financial articles which have given 
 that journal its present high standing as a critic of 
 balance-sheets. 
 
 Although he retired from active business in 1881, he 
 still fills up some of his spare time in commercial pur- 
 suits, which he treats as a recreation rather than a labour. 
 Amongst other occupations he has a seat on the Board 
 of Messrs. Pawson & Co., Limited. 
 
 As a public man he is not less popular than in the 
 commercial world. He is an ardent politician on the 
 side of progress, and has consented to stand in the 
 Liberal interest for the Northern (Appleby) Division of 
 Westmoreland, his native county. Should he be suc- 
 cessful in securing the seat, he will make an excellent 
 representative of commercial interests in the House of 
 Commons. 
 
 The following extract from The Illustrated London 
 News, given with an excellent portrait, conveys in a 
 
JAMES WHITEHEAD, J.P., D.L., &>€. 245 
 
 concise form his past history and present position ; and 
 with this I conclude my brief but, to me and all 
 commercial men, very interesting and instructive sketch. 
 " Mr. Alderman Whitehead, the recently elected Senior 
 Sheriff of London and Middlesex, is a son of the late 
 Mr. James Whitehead, of Appleby, Westmoreland. He 
 came to London in i860, and from that time until his 
 retirement in 1881 was engaged in what is known as the 
 ' Bradford trade.' In 1882, on the death of Mr. Alder- 
 man Breffit, a requisition, signed by nearly the whole of 
 the electors of the ward of Cheap, inviting him to stand 
 for the Aldermanic Gown, was presented to him, and he 
 was elected without a contest. During the short time 
 he has been connected with the Corporation, he has 
 served on several important Committees, including City 
 Lands, Coal, Corn and Finance, City of London School, 
 and Library Committees. He is also a member of the 
 Irish Society, a Governor of Queen Anne's Bounty, 
 Christ's Hospital, St. Bartholomew's, Bethlehem, Bride- 
 well, and Emanuel Hospitals. Besides being a magis- 
 trate and one of Her Majesty's Lieutenants for the City 
 of London, he is a Justice of the Peace for the county of 
 Kent, a Justice of the Peace and Deputy-Lieutenant for 
 the county of Westmoreland. He is a member of the 
 Devonshire and City Liberal Clubs, on the Board of 
 Management of the Commercial Travellers' Schools, and 
 a trustee of the Rowland Hill Benevolent Fund for aged 
 and distressed Post Office employes, which he was 
 
246 TYPES OF SUCCESSFUL TEA VELLERS. 
 
 largely instrumental in founding. He was born in 1834, 
 and in i860 married Mercy Matilda, fourth daughter of 
 Mr. Thomas Hinds, of Huntingdon. Their family 
 consists of four sons and two daughters. Mr. George 
 Hugh Whitehead, B.A., their eldest son, obtained an 
 exhibition at Trinity College, Oxford." 
 
THE BEST HOTELS TO VISIT. 
 
 Aldershot 
 
 Royal 
 
 y. Martin^ Proprietor^ 
 
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 White Horse 
 
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 George 
 
 Henry Ctipitt, Proprietor. 
 
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 T. G. Ehrlich, PropHetor. 
 
 Ashford 
 
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 Thos. Echmrds, Propnetor. 
 
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 N. SaxoHy Proprietor. 
 
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 Castle 
 
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 >» 
 
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 Belper 
 
 Lion 
 
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 Bideford 
 
 New Inn 
 
 Henry Ascott, Proprietor-. 
 
 Birmingham 
 
 Great Western 
 
 y. 0. Daviesy Proprietor. 
 
 >> 
 
 Stork 
 
 J. H. Tailby, Proprietor. 
 
 Bishop's Castle 
 
 Castle 
 
 J. A. Poole. 
 
 Bodmin 
 
 Royal 
 
 A. C. Sandoey Proprietor. 
 
 Bournemouth 
 
 Pembroke 
 
 Carr Gibbs ^Son, Proprietors 
 
 Bradford 
 
 Boothroyd's 
 
 Misses E.^ R. DavieSy Pros. 
 
248 THE BEST HOTELS TO VISIT 
 
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 Janus Reynolds^ Proprietor. 
 
 j> 
 
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 ' T. J. Chapman, Manager. 
 
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 Dolphin 
 
 — Ballard, Proprietor, 
 
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 George 
 
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 Diss 
 
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 Shakespeare 
 
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 >> 
 
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 Crown 
 
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 j> 
 
 George 
 
 Henry Woore, Proprietor. 
 
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 )» 
 
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 >> 
 
 Royal 
 
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 Frome 
 
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THE BEST HOTELS TO VISIT 249 
 
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 ^""^^^y Yarborough Arms W. Roberts, Proprietor. 
 
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 HolywelirNTw. King's Head T. A. Lambert, Proprietor. 
 
 Horncastle Bull c. J. Caswell, Proprietor. 
 
 Hull (15, Jarret St.) Family and Commercial T. Fawcett, Proprietor. 
 
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 •London {77, High ^ ,^ ,, ^ . 
 
 Street Boro George Mrs. Murray, Proprietress. 
 
 18 
 
250 
 
 THE BEST HOTELS TO VISIT. 
 
 y. Hunt, Manager. 
 
 ^ sJfeeO ^^^^^''^^'^ Manchester 
 
 M » 
 
 Queen's 
 
 Alfred Best, Proprietor. 
 
 Loughborough 
 
 King's Head 
 
 y. W. Greenwood, Proprietor. 
 
 Louth 
 
 King's Head 
 
 Nimrod Long, Proprietor. — 
 
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 W. G. Chappie. Proprietor. 
 
 Margate 
 
 White Hart 
 
 E. Fagg, Proprietor. 
 
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 Rich. Wycherley, Proprietor, 
 
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 Bugle 
 
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 Bell 
 
 — Owen, Proprietor. 
 
 M 
 
 Castle 
 
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 Black Boy 
 
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 Roebuck 
 
 y. A. Drayton, Proprietor. 
 
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 )> 
 
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 management) 
 
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Peterboro' 
 
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 >> 
 
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 >> 
 
 Royal 
 
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 Retford 
 
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 Rye 
 
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 >> 
 
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 »> 
 
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 Wolverhampton 
 
 Swan and Peacock 
 
 y. W. Carroll, Proprietor. 
 
 Yarmouth 
 
 Angel 
 
 Edward Garrett, Proprietor. 
 
 IM 
 
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