as he liked a
good "hus'ler" and liked to favor them all he could, when he knew they
were square.

My wife joined me a few weeks later, leaving little Frankie with my
mother. She traveled with me all summer and business kept fairly good.
We continued on till fall, when she returned to Ohio and I went South to
the climate my mother had previously recommended as adapted to straw
hats and linen dusters.

I remained there during the winter, meeting with fair success, and
returned to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where I remained a few weeks.

On May first my wife met me there, when we started on a trip to the Lake
Superior country, visiting all the mining towns and meeting with
unusually good success.

During the entire trip I paid all our traveling expenses with the sale
of needles. This I managed by employing four small boys each day in
every town to peddle them for me. I put the needles up in twenty-five
cent packages, and gave each boy five cents commission per package on
his sales, and always made it a point to select not more than one boy
from any particular neighborhood or locality, and instructed him to call
on every relative and neighbor he had, and if possible make a sale; and
for every extra day I remained in town I would employ a new set of boys.
In this way I managed to reach almost every house in every town I
visited, and although my time was almost wholly occupied in keeping my
auction stock in shape, I was able to manage this little scheme so as to
net me a regular profit of from three to ten dollars per day.

I still kept my two-wheeled cart, which I could hardly have dispensed
with in a country where horses and carriages were scarce. We pushed our
way toward the north, with but few incidents worthy of mention.

At Sault St. Marie we were obliged to remain five days before getting a
boat to Marquette, and the first night I opened my sale there was called
upon by an officer who demanded a State license. This was the first time
I had ever been asked for State license, and the first intimation I had
ever had that there was a law requiring it. But as Governor Crosswell
and staff were then visiting the town and were at that moment sitting on
the porch of the hotel witnessing my sale, it instantly occurred to me
that the gentleman was making himself over-officious, with a view to
making a favorable impression upon the State officials.

And as he showed considerable awkwardness in demanding a license by
inquiri