A Sharp Young Woman.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 81, 20 December 1884, Page 4

A Sharp Young Woman.

Pedlars, like horse-jockeys, have a reputation for being trioky and for not remembering the golden rule. At least, they are frequently accused of this, but as a tin pedlar of fifty-nine years' standing, I deny the charge as applying to pedlars more than to any other class of traders. Not only do I deny it for myself, but for the majority of the men who are engaged in the business — not including, of course, the many self-styled "agents," those hawkers of patented articles who are found in every State of the Union. But in defenoe of the old-fashioned tin pedlar, with horse and cart, I pick up the cudgels. We were as honest as other men, and I wish I could say as much for all the women we have to deal with. Not that I intend to be disrespectful to the ladies, for I al- \ ways enjcy trading with them. But during the last sixty years I have obtained some very queer glimpses of the workings of the feminine mind when it is intent upon making a bargain. During the whole of my long career, I can truly say that I was never guilty of but one trick of which I am really ashamed, and in that I was outwitted by a young lady. She came within a hand's turn of sending me to gaol. If I had been a handsome young fellow the case might have been different, or it might not, I cannot say ; but she was a young woman of good character, and was acting in defence of a cause which she believed to be a just one. The story is against me, but I am going to tell it. To begin with, I was not in my younger days a temperance man. I was born in the old Bay State before the temperance movemeat began. My folks, in common with all other families, always had liquor in the house j and when any one of us were not feeling well, or were out in the cold and came home chilled, mother would prepare a little cup of "toddy " to warm us up and prevent our taking cold. So I grew up in the belief that it was right to drink liquors now and then. None of our family were drunkards, though I must say that one of the boys came very near to being one. He saw the awful precipice just as he came to it, and stopping short, turned and escaped it. It isn't everyone can do that, so don't go too near. When I began peddling, I carried a bottle of "West India" tucked away in my cart. I did not drink, as I have said, to excess, but used perhaps a quart in a month. That was about the kind of person I was then as regards temperance. From 1850 to 1858 my " round "—and by round I mean the route over which I sold my goods — lay through a portion or Southern New Hampshire and two of tho western i counties of Maine. I had not been trading in this section very long when the Neal Dow temperance crusade began, and the "Maine law," wholly prohibiting the sale of all intoxicating liquors, was enacted. That was a law, too, as many persons well remember, which was supported by a strong and enthusiastic temperance party, a law that had general vigour to enforce it. Then came dry times. Not a drop ot liquor could be had legally for love or money; and diligent search and chase was made for ail illicit sellers, and for drinkers, too. You may be sure there was moaning among the steady old topers, and not a little discontent among the moderate drinkers. I had a great many of both topers and moderate drinkers among the people on my route. Often, with a wistful look, a man would beckon me aside. I knew what to expect. " Haven't got a drop of anything in yer cart, have yer, Mr K. V When I would reply " No," he would turn away in grea,t sadness, or perhaps vigorously berate Neal Dow, or urge me to bring him a " quart " the next time I came from " over Hampshire way." I sympathised with these thirsty ones. I did not favour the "law," or any sort of prohibitory law then. I looked upon prohibition as a fanatical raid on every man's rights ; and hence I had no compunction in seeing the law evaded or broken. But the man who broke that law did it at no small peril. The temperance people were alert and merciless. Everywhere the State swarmed with "Watchmen Clubs," "Temperance Bands," and vigilance com.mittees. Not only gentlemen, but often ladies, were on these committees. Some of the women, indeed, were among the most successful of the temperance police. I have said I did not sympathise at all with this anti-rum crusade ; and after a year or two I hit on the following ntse for outwitting the "Ramrods"— as the reformers were called by the topers— and* of supplying some of my thirsty friends with an occasional dram. I bought a lot of hard -shelled "cushaws," or crooked-necked gourds, as some call them. These I carefully prepared by removing the inside of the gourds through a small hole in the stem end— not neglecting to preserve the stem to be used as a stopper, or rather to be placed over the stopper. I had a dozen of these hard-shelled gourds. They held from a quart to two quarts each, and the shells, when carefully dried and shellacked, made very good flasks for water, or any other common liquid that might be put in them. When these were full, sealed up, and ornamented with the stems, held in the proper places by glue, they so closely resembled the green gourds that it would have taken a vigilant eye to detect the difference. These gourds I placed in the bottom of my cart among paper-rags and tag-locks. If anyone saw and spoke of them, I replied that it was a lot that I hud bought to satisfy j a whim. ! So it came to pass that a select circle of my customers in the Pine-Tree State received from time to time a gourdful of something, which I always noticed they were very anxious about. On roturning the gourds to me, they filled them with water or grain of some kind, and carefully restored the stem to its place. This kind of smuggling went on for a long time without interruption. My customers were not informers, as you may suppose. I felt in no danger of being betrayed by them. Nevertheless, I did not make much money out of the business. It was not done by me for money, nor had I any idea of turning my cart into a travelling rum-shop. I never carried more than a dozen gourds at once, and these more to gratify a little circle of genial old fellows whom I knew than for any motive of gain. One day I stopped to trade at a house near the "Corners," in the town of F., where there had of late been several " rumcases" tried. There were three or four women at this house, and, as usual, they came out to look over my tinware and prints in the cart. Women always will do that, whether they want to buy or not j we expect it. It is one of the things a pedlar must accept good-naturedly. , . When I first began peddling, this habit of the women made me angry; for I thought they did it to make me work in folding things up and putting them away again. But that is not the reason. Thoy cannot help it ; it is natural to them. And

'they like to see a pedlar fold" and his goods carefully, even if it takes him half an hour. ' 1 Kou would think; perhaps, that they did hot care, or realise how much work they make the trader ; but they do, and that is the funniest part of it; and thiuk very much 'more of you if you have unbounded patience with them. A bright woman always knows that she has several weaknesses, and she is apt to confide in a man who she sees knows it, and has a heart full of patience for her whims. It took me thirty or forty years to learn even so much of woman nature. I don't pretend to know much about women yet ; and, in fact, I never saw the man who did. As I have said, there were three or four women at the house, one of them a very pretty, blue-eyed young lady about twenty years old, who seemed to be a caller or visitor. She came to the back of the cart with the others, and' while peering in, her sharp eyes spied one of the gourds. "Oh," cried she, "do let me look at that droll, crook-necked squash j" and at once she pulled one of then from under the paper rags. It chanced to be one that I had received back from an old customer only the day before, full of barleycorns. He had neglected to glue on the stem as carefully as he should have done. While the young lady was holding it, the stem came off and some of the barley ran out. That circumstance I might perhaps have explained satisfactorily to her, if nothing else except the barley had run out. But something else, not perceptible to the eye, but appreciable by the nose also came out of the gourd. She first sniffed, and then put it to her pretty little nose and sniffed again. Then she gave me a quick little look out of the corners of her blue eyes. I knew in an instant that I was caught, though she did not say a word for a moment or two, and then only asked me, innocently enough, to be so kind as to sell her one of those droll little gourds. I tried to plead off. I wanted to carry them all home, I said, which was very true. But she pouted and seized another one — one of the full ones, too, as it happened— and said that I must and that I should sell her that one 1 was now in trouble. As coolly as I could I replied, "No, no; I cannot do it." But she had the gourd in her hand, and I could not very well get it without taking it from her by force, and that I wouldn't do. She offered me a shilling, and hold on to the gourd. I would not take the money —I knew better than that— but I assured her, since she would have it, that I would make her a present of it. Finding that she could not get. me to take pay for it, she ran into the house, got her hat, and started off with the gourd as fast as she could walk. I also started from that locality at once, and drove as fast as I dared. Still, I hoped that perhaps the girl only wanted the liquor for her folks, or to gratify some whim, though I might have known better. I had not gone more than three miles from the "Corners" when a waggon, in which were three men, oame driving up behind my cart at a great pace. A constable jumped from the waggon, and arrested me for violating the law. Well, they soon had me under lock and key, and a search of my cart revealed anything save a good condition of things for me. They captured every gourd— five full ones. What they did with them I never knew. I know I never paw them again. At my trial they failed to prove— though my charming young lady acquaintance tried very hard to do so, she being a member of a " Band of Temperance " — that I had actually sold liquor. There was a great deal of fun and laughter about the gourds ; and I barely escaped sentence to gaol, but had a fine to pay, and lost about a week's time besido. And as the years passed I changed my views not a little upon the temperance question. Intoxicating liquors are working the world vast evil. Almost any effort for the suppression of their use— where the promoters of it are earnest and sincere— is to be commended and encouraged.— Prize Tit-Bit.