d my letters,
and explained what I wanted.

They assured me that my reference was perfectly satisfactory, and they
would be glad to sell me all the goods I needed in their line, and
thereupon sold me the first bill of goods I purchased from the
manufacturers.

During the interview I mentioned that Johnston the jeweler, on the
Bowery, was an uncle of mine. One of the firm replied that that was in
my favor. Thereafter I did not forget to mention him to every
manufacturer I called upon; and soon learned that his original scheme
of buying "Duplicate Wedding Presents" had made him widely known. I was
then ready to forgive him for not having made any changes in his store
during my seventeen years' absence.

I found no difficulty in buying all the goods I needed on credit,
amounting to several thousand dollars' worth, to be shipped at once, and
to be paid for in from sixty days to four months.

After receiving my stock from New York, I opened up with headquarters at
Mr. Weil's office, Number 57 Washington street, and was ready to start
out on the nineteenth of September. Now came the necessity for greater
hus'ling than ever, as I must be prompt in the payment of my bills, if I
expected to establish myself in the confidence of the manufacturers.

With this thought uppermost in my mind I worked almost day and night,
and I believe I sold as many, if not more, goods in my special line in
one month than was ever sold by any one man before or since. At any
rate, later on, when I had seven agents on the road, not a single one of
them ever sold as many goods in a whole year as I sold the first month I
traveled, after establishing business for myself.

The result was, that before my bills were due I had paid up half of my
indebtedness, and when the balance came due I had the money to pay up in
full, and did so. Thereafter my trade was catered for by the best of
manufacturers.

To give the reader a better understanding of the hard work put in by me
during that first month, I will relate one instance in which I called
one of my customers out at a very dubious hour and sold him a bill of
goods.

It was at Boyne City, where I had arrived at one o'clock in the morning,
after having worked hard all the day and evening before in selling a
couple of very large bills. On reaching there I learned that the only
boat leaving for Charlevoix within the next twenty-four hours was to
leave at six o'clock in the morning; and as I must make th