after he had greeted half a
dozen Western customers; "I got enough to do here, Mawruss, without
running around the country. We ought to do what other houses does,
Mawruss. We ought to get a good salesman. We got three thousand dollars
to throw away on real estate, Mawruss; why don't we make an investment
like Sammet Brothers made it? Why don't we invest in a crackerjack,
A-number-one salesman?"

"I ain't stopping you, Abe," Morris replied. "Why don't we? Klinger &
Klein has a good boy, Alec Goldwasser. He done a big trade for 'em, Abe,
and they don't pay him much, neither."

"Alec Goldwasser!" Abe cried. "I'm surprised to hear you, Mawruss, you
should talk that way. We paid Alec Goldwasser enough already, Mawruss.
We paid him that two thousand dollars what he got with Miriam Rabin."

Morris looked guilty.

"Ain't I told you yet, Abe?" he said. "I thought I told you."

"You ain't told me nothing," said Abe.

"Why, Alec Goldwasser and Miriam Rabin ain't engaged no longer. The way
my Minnie tells me, Rabin says he don't want his daughter should marry a
man without a business of his own, so the match is off."

"Well, Mawruss," Abe commented, "you can't make me feel bad by telling
me _that_. But anyhow, I don't see no medals on Alec Goldwasser as a
salesman, neither. He ain't such a salesman what we want it, Mawruss."

"All right," Morris replied. "It's you what goes on the road, not me,
and you meet all the drummers. Suggest somebody yourself."

Abe pondered for a moment.

"There's Louis Mintz," he said finally. "He works by Sammet Brothers.
He's a high-priced man, Mawruss, but he's worth it."

"Sure he's worth it," Morris rejoined, "and he knows it, too. I bet yer
he's making five thousand a year by Sammet Brothers."

"I know it," said Abe, "but his contract expires in a month from now,
and it ain't no cinch to work for Sammet Brothers, neither, Mawruss. I
bet yer Louis' got throat trouble, talking into a customer them garments
what Leon Sammet makes up, and Louis' pretty well liked in the trade,
too, Mawruss."

"Well, why don't you see him, Abe?"

"I'll tell you the truth, Mawruss," Abe replied. "I _did_ see him. I
offered him all what Sammet Brothers gives him, and I told him we make a
better line for the price, but it ain't no use. Louis says a salesman's
got to work hard anyhow, so he may as well work a little harder, and he
says, too, it spoils a man's trade when he makes changes."

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