The stock boy learns his business from the ground
up or better, as the Germans say, “from the
house out.” If one young man cannot become
a surgeon without going through the dissecting room,
then another cannot become a successful drummer without
having worked in stock. The merchant, who oft-times
deals in many lines, wishes to buy his goods from
the man who knows his business; and unless a man knows
his business he would better never start on the road.
But, my dear boy, to merely know your business is
not all. You may know that this razor is worth
$12.00 a dozen and that one $13.50; that this handle
is bone and that one celluloid; but that won’t
get you on the road. You must have a good front.
I do not mean by this that you must have just exactly
990 hairs on each side of the “part” on
your head; that your shoes must be shined, your trousers
creased, your collar clean and your necktie just so.
Neatness is a “without-which-not;” but
there must be more—a boy must work hard,
be polite, honest, full of force, bright, quick, frank,
good-natured. The “Old Man” may keep
to sweep the floor a lazy, shiftless, stupid, silly,
grouchy “stiff”; but when he wants some
one to go on the road he looks for a live manly man.
When you get in stock it is up to you; for eyes
are on you, eyes just as anxious to see your good
qualities as you are to show them, eyes that are trying
to see you make good.
[Illustration: “I braced the old man—it
wasn’t exactly a freeze. But there was
a lot of frost in the air.”]
How can I get “in stock?” That’s
easy. If you are in the city you are on the spot;
if you are in the country, “hyke” for the
city! See that you haven’t any cigarette
stains on your fingers or tobacco in the corners of
your mouth. Go into the wholesale houses, from
door to door—until you find a job.
If you are going to let a few or a hundred turn-downs
dishearten you, you’d better stay at home; for
when you get on the road, turn-downs are what you
must go up against every day. If you know some
traveling man, or merchant, or manager, or stock boy,
maybe he can get you a “job in stock.”
But remember one thing: When you get there, you
must depend upon Number One. Your recommendation
is worth nothing to you from that hour on. This
is the time when the good front gets in its work.
The city is a strong current, my boy, in which there
are many whirlpools ready to suck you under; yet if
you are a good swimmer you can splash along here faster
than anywhere else. A successful traveling man
once told me how he got on the road.
“I was raised in a little town in Tennessee,”
said he. “A traveling man whose home was
in my native town took me along with him, one day,
when he made a team trip to Bucksville, an inland country
town, fourteen miles away. That was a great trip
for me—fourteen miles, and staying over
night in a hotel!—the first time I had ever
done so in my life. And for the first time I
knew how it felt to have a strange landlord call me
“mister.” It was on that trip that
I caught the fever for travel, and that trip put me
on the road!
