O'er rail and cross-ties with gripsack. A compilation on the commercial traveler

Preface

Some thirty years ago, I contracted what grew to be an unfortunate fondness for a Knapsack. It furnished me solace on many weary tramps, until, without my volition, I laid it aside. The road of life stretched away before me. I had heart and hope, I was willing to work. The transition from knapsack to gripsack was natural, and in the transfer there were thoughts made sweet sometimes by reason of their very bitterness.

For twenty-three long years I have tugged my grip over long routes of travel, to almost every busy mart in the Union, carrying glad tidings of trade as I journeyed.

In these years, much that makes life miserable, and a great deal that gladdens it, transpired within my observation. I have seen the ranks of Commercial Travelers swell to hundreds of thousands. I have seen from small beginnings swift fortunes made ; and I have seen millions made miserable by sudden failures of fortune.

It is to acquaint the reader with some of the actual ups and downs of that hardy representative of Ameri¬ can “ push,” the drummer, that this compilation has been made. No literary claim is urged. The tales are told, as I heard them, and in every case, when possible, due credit has been given the authors. It has cost time

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Preface.

and money, both of which have been gladly given, in order to group, in a more lasting shape, the ideas of others ; showing what a drummer is, how he lives and works, and makes his way in spite of obstacles, that, to a man less brave and hopeful, would appear insurmount¬ able. The effort has been made to instruct as well as please, and acquaint the reader with some of the shrewd, sharp sayings made by the drummers, as well as about them.

Should my friends of the fraternity see fit to forward me accounts of personal incidents of travel, adventures on the road, observations of character, and matters of such import, I will undertake to embody them in a future volume.

Geo. L. Marshall.

Contents

Page

Frontispiece, Geo. L. Marshall.

The Drummer’s Latest Yarn, ( with illustration ).12-13