he remarks, "have I seen go out of the
shop, the tears welling up into her eyes, and saying, 'I am sure I shall
never like it:' some shawl or dress having been forced upon her contrary
to her taste or judgment."

The new clerk, although by nature a very honest young fellow, soon
became expert in all the tricks of the trade. It was the custom then for
employers to allow clerks a reward for selling things that were
particularly unsalable, or which required some special skill or
impudence in the seller. For example, they kept on hand a great supply
of what they were pleased to call "remnants," which were supposed to be
sold very cheap; and as the public of that day had a passion for
remnants, the master of the shop took care to have them made in
sufficient numbers. There were heaps of remnants of linen, and it so
_happened_ that the remnants were exactly long enough for a shirt, or
some other garment. Any clerk who could push off one of these remnants
upon a customer was allowed a penny or twopence as a reward for his
talent; and there were certain costly articles, such as shawls and silks
of unsalable patterns, upon which there was a premium of several
shillings for selling.

There was one frightfully ugly shawl which had hung fire so long that
the master of the shop offered a reward of eight shillings (two
dollars) to any one who should sell it at the full price; which was
twenty dollars. Our lad covered himself with glory one morning, by
selling this horrid old thing. A sailor came in to buy a satin scarf for
a present. The boy saw his chance.

"As you want something for a present," said he to the sailor, "would you
not like to give something really useful and valuable that would last
for years?"

In three minutes the sailor was walking out of the store, happy enough,
with the shawl under his arm, and the sharp youth was depositing the
price thereof in the money-drawer. Very soon he had an opportunity of
assisting to gull the public on a great scale. His employer bought out
the stock of an old-fashioned dry-goods store in another part of the
town for a small sum; upon which he determined to have a grand "selling
off." To this end he filled the old shop with all his old, faded,
unsalable goods, besides looking around among the wholesale houses and
picking up several cart-loads of cheap lots, more or less damaged.

The whole town was flooded with bills announcing this selling off of the
old established store, at wh