''ON TOUR" 



its narrow prejudices and for having on occasions to 

 kowtow to those we despise. 



We had a palace of a factory, and there were rich 

 things stored in it : plenty of scope for the artistic 

 taste. There were some nice boys in the place too, 

 several young fellows who had put money into the 

 show. It was a big task for me to take on the 

 biggest cities of the kingdom and keep the trade, but 

 I knew the business by heart, and perhaps there may 

 be others who can testify that the trade done was the 

 best ever. I travelled a ton and a packer- valet — an 

 old soldier who soon got into my ways and I into 

 his " old soldier " habits. It was comfortable, however, 

 although not luxurious. He would " open up " for me 

 in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Manchester or else- 

 where, and I would arrive and steer the best men to see 

 the stuff. The results were sometimes delightful, and 

 as I had a good commission, expenses, etc., there was 

 always a good weekly cheque. I am only telling this 

 as an episode of a career, and more to mention certain 

 incidents of travelling days, which were interesting. 



I was not bound down with restrictions, but had a 

 free hand — which was the only way to send a man as 

 what we will call, in a hackneyed way, "an ambas- 

 sador." Several times I had a go to break away 

 from it — back to journalism — but somehow the old 

 idea would become uppermost that it was " easier to 

 make a living in the thing you are in than what you are 

 not in," and I would put out of my mind any change, 

 for the moment. 



Well, on we go ! The chief delights were an 

 occasional day's racing, the daily wire to back some- 

 thing, and the card-party in the evening. Several 

 times recently, when racing, I have run across a few 

 of the same old crowd I used to play bluff with years 



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