288 SELLINGLUMBER 



All seeds of the vegetable kingdom require from a few days 

 to a year's time to burst forth into life. The same is true of 

 the animal kingdom, and I have heard it said that it requires al- 

 most a year for an ordinary man to be born. 



Man is the slowest being in the world to develop into full 

 maturity. You can tell something about your dog within a few 

 months after it is born. You may accurately judge the point of 

 merit of your horse in a couple of years, but it requires at least 

 twenty-five years or more to determine with any degree of ac- 

 curacy what kind of a man a man is, and you've got to be an ex- 

 pert in judging human character to do that. But, regardless of 

 these facts I have actually known traveling salesmen to be "born 

 over night." I have known men to lose their jobs on a farm, or 

 railroad, or some other place one day, and for the idea that they 

 would like a traveling job to take root in their fertile brains the 

 next day, and on the third day they would burst forth as a full 

 fledged "Knight of the Grip," equipped with hand satchel, order 

 book, cigars, brass and everything except experience and knowl- 

 edge of the business. These fellows who are "born one night" 

 seldom succeed in anything except in causing grief to the firm 

 they represent; but they are fast passing away, and the time has 

 now come when prudent business concerns will require "natural 

 born salesmen" to prove their "birthrights" and show up their 

 "pedigrees." 



The genealogy of a well born traveling salesman should dis- 

 close a long list of noble ancestors. He should be born of Labor 

 and Health, and should be lineally descended from Intelligence, 

 Knowledge, Honesty, Courtesy, Neatness, Confidence, Loyalty, En- 

 thusiasm, Self-Control, Economy, Industry, Co-Operation, Tact, 

 Judgment and many other time-honored sires, and should possess by 

 inheritance all the virtues of his forefathers ; therefore, if you can 

 conscientiously claim relationship with each of these, you are 

 "born to the purple," and you may be justly proud of the honor 

 of being a traveling lumber salesman. If you cannot claim kin 

 with these honored sires you had best be "born again" into some 

 other vocation, so you can start life anew in some more fruitful 

 field. 



So much for being well born, and I assume that all of you 

 are well born. Such being the case, your schooling and training 

 should next be considered. I am informed that you are assem- 

 bled for that purpose. 



