d sayings used during and
immediately after each sale.

My sales were made on what is termed the down-hill plan, or Dutch
Auction, instead of to the highest bidder, as is common in selling farm
implements and stock. I would first describe the quality of the article
for sale, and after placing its price as high as it usually sold at,
would then run it down to our lowest bottom price, and as soon as a sale
was made, proceed to duplicate and sell off as many of them as possible
in a single run; and then introduce something else.

To give the reader a more definite knowledge of the manner of conducting
this business and describing the goods, I will give an illustration on
one or two articles, including a few sayings frequently used between
sales. It should be borne in mind that as soon as I opened my sale I
began talking at lightning speed, and talked incessantly from that
moment till its final close, which usually lasted two to four hours. I
have talked six hours, incessantly, but it is very exhausting and
wearing, and could not be kept up.

To hold the people and keep them buying, it was necessary to entertain
them with a variety of talk. Whenever a sale was made, I would cry out
at the top of my voice:

"Sold again;" and would not lose a chance then to add some joke or
saying that would be likely to amuse the crowd, before offering another
lot.

I will now illustrate a sale on "Soap:"

"My friends, the next article I will offer for your inspection is
the homa jona, radical, tragical, incomprehensible compound extract
of the double-distilled rute-te-tute toilet soap.

"_T-a-l-k_ about your astronomical calculation and scientific
investigation, but the man who invented this soap, studied for one
hundred years. As he _d-o-v-e_ into the deep, _d-a-r-k_ mysteries
of chemical analysis, he solved the problem that _n-o_ man born
could be an honest Christian without the use of soap.

"Take a smell of it, gentlemen, eat a cake of it, and if you don't
like it, spit it out. I'll guarantee it to remove tar, pitch,
paint, oil or varnish from your clothing; it will remove stains
from your conscience, pimples from your face, dandruff from your
head, and whiskey from your stomach; it will enamel your teeth,
strengthen your nerves, purify your blood, curl your hair, relax
your muscles and put a smile on your face an inch and-a-half thick;
time will