They told him
he had better wake up and know what he was doing; and said it was his
duty to collect pay for messages, and not send them for nothing. I
listened attentively to what passed between them; but finally our side
won by his saying that he wanted them to understand he was running that
office himself, and needed no advice.
The next day after reaching Fort Wayne, we received a letter from the
landlord, in which he stated that it would be impossible for him to
send cream biscuit by express, but said: "Please find enclosed the
recipe for making them." We gladly accepted it, and had the pastry cooks
at different hotels make them for us, which greatly pleased every one
else who partook of them, besides ourselves. Later on, I made use of the
recipe by presenting it to my aunt, Mrs. Frances E. Owens, and it has
long been one of the favorite recipes of Mrs. Owens' Cook Book.
From Fort Wayne we went back through Ohio and stopped at Findlay, where,
just as we were about to close a trade, I received a letter from the
patentee saying he had bargained to sell out all his right to one man,
and requested me to return the papers at once, and not to make another
sale under any circumstances.
I complied with his request. The next day we met on the streets of
Findlay a gentleman having a sample band-cutter--an attachment for a
two-tined fork, to be used when threshing.
The man who pitched the bundles from the stack to the machine cut the
bands on each bundle at the same time he pitched them. This had just
been patented, and he was anxious to have us take the agency for the
United States. We concluded to do so, and went to a lawyer's office and
fixed up a Power of Attorney for the whole United States from him to me.
Profiting from my experience in losing a good sale, as just related, I
had the following clause added: "This Power of Attorney is revocable
upon thirty days notice from the said patentee."
The attorney then informed me that according to the United States laws
we would be compelled to have our Power of Attorney recorded at
Washington, D. C. We therefore sent it on for that purpose, with
instructions to the Recorder to mail it to Fort Wayne, Ind., as soon as
possible.
On our way back to Fort Wayne we stopped off at Lima one day, and at
that place had our valise stolen from the depot. It contained all the
shirts and collars and cuffs belonging to both of us, except those we
had on, besides other articles of
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