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Show Confessions gf a j Mail Order Man liy Mr. M. O. X. ' Htvrlnllorn by On Whow P.xntr'tncr r Ihe H.,ln'n Covtrg afUniir t-rom Ottirr- Oov tiOnrin Mnir i Mil' I " n'l ' " " ,Sepgl j I ENTER THE MAIL OIIDtin BU3I- I NESS. With 30 In r-Bl money In my j pocket 1 mfldH m wny to (tnother cltv, j coMorrlnf nil of thU gr-at wraith, for to m It wm uch, by navIng ratlropd ' faro. I rode In a box i nr all th way and I had $29 loft when I decided that j I had traveled far PtioUBh. I didn't know th namo of the cttv , uhere I dlmbnrkrd, nor did I care to know. It naa all Bnfflrh-nt that I had carapptj front tho man who had HlittNPd and overworked me. He had rhargpd mo for tho oil I upd In tho lamp at nlRhtn whuti I lay hiddpn ! , hind Hip grorory rountr and nttidlou , my Itooka, for that waa tny on pa loti- to lparn loincllilnK. And I had lenrtiril. holh from him hiuI from tho booka It waa oarly on Monday tnornlntt uIipii I ttnlki'd up the atroot lcadliiK , Irnm the (n.-lnlit yards Into tlir- baai- . netia part of the city. My 42!) Iny niiiit? In my pocket Out In front of u dingy llttlo ntoro Hlood n win of Ahrti-ham. Ahrti-ham. HlrotchliiK hh nrnia ami blink-ItiK blink-ItiK llo had Junt eel out for illiplny n, variety of clothing, more or leaa worn, nml tills m it mo to thinking My chithea, of the theaoeat, lmd In-oii aRilly mimacd nml torn durltiK (lie tallroad Joiini'-y I Inlrnduil to . look for u Job, not In u inuill plac, , hut In h hig ono. If I could got It, mid my boyish mind conrelvod tho I bought that a job could bp moio anally ohtnlnotl If I -ro will tlrpsned 1 aaiintorod u to tho illsphtv and looked at a wilt that aectned Just about tny nlxe. "Oood mornlck," ald tho clotltler, "can I aell you aomcdlnk?" "An thing to tit mo?" J nuked. ".Shiirolj." ho replied, auj scUIiib mo by the arm lie b il un Inhi hlu nhop 'Ihe k onils were H.-cmullinnil, but thlH made no dllTeronro t.i mo. Ho fitted me with a milt. idiori. hat, sik'Kh, haudkurclilol'a, bhlita tuid titi-derwonr, titi-derwonr, all of which I tried on. oven to the Mlilrls, to neo ir they tilted mo perfectly. Tho milt wiih wrdl mado, or Kood cloth and had a nlllsli look. Ilo oven took down from a lielf a fair-ippenrltiR fair-ippenrltiR valine. Imitation leather, of courfio, but I did not know tho dltTur-enco." dltTur-enco." "Do wholo outfit for vlttPon dollars," ho said, an ho beamed a broad emtio. How Htnrtled I wnt! What n lump til money It neoined! I began to tnko off tho Fiilt In a huiry. This would never do. n apend no murh money. Hut tho look on bin fnco wan ono of dcnpalr. Ilo saw C it I wan determined deter-mined and nn I tool, oil :-" wnrnient nftor another he b-gan to tul. tho dnllam off bin jirK-a llefoio mu. . minutes ho wan down to $7. while I was down to w oil. never mind- I waa tintlsded wltl the price and paid It. Uieaaed In last. and good clothlnp, I Marled on m; qupt after a Job. Many rolmffa did I receive I realized that there went other boya from thn country In tho city aftor Job. Oood grnclotia, Low they havo Incrvnaetl since that time, too! It una four d- beforo I landed a place. And It wan not In, a big atore. either. I wm directed to n phuo where a "young man" wan wanted, IiiohgIi Hie kindnens of a hardwnro dealer. Yos. 1 son hired at $5 a wools. I wont to work In a tmiill room on tho ncc- ond floor of a IiIk building. 1 imckcd 100 watches In wooden caaoa ami the new bona took theno caaea and punted I labeln on them. Ho had an oprenn j mulilo at bin .dhow and conferred tit I'ctliiotit Inte.'valn with mi acaocliit m to the ud.lrenaea which ho Hlioiild :lte on thr Inliela. Then ho took n rubber ntnmp, Honiethlng 1 had never "i'i-u before, and stamped the letters c O D on enclt pneknge I observed that there were no or-1 or-1 r for thcHO watches. Wo nont out iimdredn of them, day aftor dny, n ireful ricord being kept of them, tho nne and aililrenH N'o letters cama ' i the ntllce and no money came In i iept an the tn.M,'cr'oii8 a..iHlnto , i rind over money for nn aatary. : is rt.nt on for weeks, and I had not i in-oil that there wore ao many I - iii he In the whole world. "i illv we nnUlu'd thla part of the ) Then we commenced again at j , t tuning with the lint of the j i. me. .mil mldrenaes to hleh tho I jti-hon had been acnt. A letter waa 1 ii rut cuieiulty uud with great erl-i erl-i upns It waa rewritten a doiontlmea i r being acceptable to tho bo-w, I ' lo to myai'ir, for I had Ukui a i In Ita preparation and had m. i it one or twu phraoea which they l to think addH to ita fore. ' er read aotnc-tiilng like tb - I vi-l i Alfitlt. llHiiivilli Mtnn. .'ir -CO Hg.i f hi' pHHt a ' hmlili ot Miur ' v ll, expii'm ' nn-, K ' H Th ii1 r Ih,- i u,-h , i I J 'in DmlU in I . d, ,,n ,,f ' i inrf to rei. Ir i , ,...,, ( ..Jina (!' Ir .unm I. iib piv ii. mir lett in Mw -Id havlni litltl.ninl ohari tl.e prlvlli-ae of von vvll" r. mlt to r 11 c iin.-unt of ihe- i r r i . . , i 1 1 , Jt 1 real! tb' ttliellOS I v ' ( -mate their value at nbotit ti "'" although there art now doEeti' of l"1' ter wntrhe mode which retu i '"r ' encli Tho whoh plan Whb nit mI'"- " fraud There nan tin Joltu Sn b " (vhatever nam" they U6d, In i' ' the town 'Ihe wotclllB wor. lrip.li' and kept fair time. ft waa all a trick to Mil to '1 ' " presa agents n hundridg o: small toMiia $8 watchca at $7.50 arh " imi a jtrnat trick, tho iucei"" ot which depended on the Skillful know I-edge I-edge of human tinturo posacsunl by my two clpver boatsos. In a fow daya after wo bogm n-'iid Ing mil the lettera tho rcturrn air.a In. Eirpreaa order, monoy onl "', checka and currency. Wo r.ihd about $7 from each wntch after ile-dinting ile-dinting the exireaa und COD charger.. So we kept It tip until wt had marketed thnuwindn of watclicit In thin way. "I belleo those follows will buy Bluff hi might," tetnurked out of my tiosurs to the other, ono day 'Tln-y have fallen Tor tho wntchea aiifl other thlnga." Tor wn had sunt out other ar tlclca or Jewelry on tho namo plan and j had discovered an on poo I al domain fol revolvers, guns, etc. We moved into more commodious quartern. We prepared n llttlo an- , iiotiticement on a sltu;lo ahcet of paper, pa-per, tho aho of n letter sheet. glMm; IlkiMlrfillonn of the mtlclea for Mlib'll wn had (Uncovered tho Cc.n id ami printing the prlre, tort'Jier with a stated voluo greatly In excess of the market pi Ire. It wan a miniature cata' logue, a mull order catalogue, because wo sent It only to tho oddreaies ol those wl-r lived In tho small towna ami In the country. . Hut wo suffered for lack of nunea Wo must have names, iib tho express agents ami rallrond uguuts lmd been ' loaded up. They woro on to the j giuno now. So wo aelected om or to : weekly newspapern which had a clr- (illation In the nmall tovnn nml amoiu I tho farmers and wo Inserted na ailvi r- J tlseim-nt In ublrh wu nnnounced a i lino revolver at n very low rrlce ; Vet thin pi b e gavo us tnoro than omt hundred per cent on tho cost to tin. Wo selected other newspapers ami id-vertlsed id-vertlsed watches, nuns, Jowclry. etc. An the tinmen enmo In wo flllfil the ' ordem mid sent to encli customer our llttlo catalogiio leatlet. The orilen came In by tho hundreds, by the thou-wiihIm. thou-wiihIm. My salary wan Increnscd. It roso to $10. to $12. to $11,, to $25 n week 1 wore no tuoro second-hand clothing, I went to a night ochool, uhcro I studied hard. I learned ibcrthand and typewriting. My valuo to tho business wna IncreasInK nil tlo time. My bosBcs mado thousands of dollars. Our cntnlorjuu lcallot tncrcvffd page by pngo na wo added various articles. Hut wo did not carry theso articles In stock. Oh, no. Wo had iirrangp-mentn iirrangp-mentn with various uholeealo houses to fill our ordern when they c.uno in Wo neer bought a dollar's worth ol goods until we had thn money In hand. Wo were do'tn: business nn other H-oplo'fl mim Can ou Imag leo anything no enn ami no profitable ' A i lomor would mnd un $10 with vlileli ii. till an order We would gu to tho whoiiriai- bouse and pay $1 ot $5 for the article i.il It to tho cus tonior and keep C e dlfferenco, v h' Ii wan our ptoflt (if course, ihoro wer. olllco o.penses to nav. Tliero wen pruning bills nml postanc bllla, but they woro merely incidental to the groat prollta which wo wero nlnclng In tho bank. Wo iilatuied nil sortn of tliltiKH. Wr dlmovered that the woman In tin- hoiiHoliold was the easy ono to dex" with, no wo play id up to tho female contingent. Wo at-pe il.-d to her vanity. to lmr lovo of heme decoration, to her lovo of her children, otc. We wtoto out carefully our catnlogtio con tenia und then we worked It ovor a doxen tliiii-a to -el the beat tnlklng i points for tho women. Wo laughed ovor It. Wo shouted aloiil when some particularly apt phr.iee or suntoncc would bo evolved which sounded ns though It would hit the spot. Oh. yen. wo studied human nature. Wo laughed nt the pour country iner chants who found t!i. ir trmlo slipping uw.iy from theii stores and diverted j to us b the cb -r printed matter i which wo sent cm There would be I a big laugh whun-vir wo would get an order from a country niuicimnt himself, but thego were- few and far between, be-tween, because wi realized that the , loor country iner. b.mt had hut little (aah to apend We were gutting all of hln prnflta. aid v e km- it, long bo Toro ho began to r. -tie n Aa students of humin nattiro wi hecamo adepts M n ... ,, ojionud In a big eastern cin Then wo din I rove i. d c it p.-oi . i,lk irj,j0 in , reeelvliu; intern a.ni )M-uRVt from n b' iit Wo fi-imi out that people l" in our own city would answer f it' th-eimm,,. and ,l0 to the Uranth , !(.. imu ,,, of wrIUuK t0 i 'ur own houiH uttt.-o iikIu m th same ,1'f bm. i cddlVMs,. !,,, glven , the (di'ertUenientH '- u- Piled up vuiUe dppalrod o ti tu- i .ire of the money thttt cflme It o Ni.'iitl'ullv We i- i. ,v , bl((fln M storage on our m.-ev ssi,, n, of toei on. .., n MV a i toon ,aw roi it. ..! 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