HINDRANCES AND HELPS 



And yet all this is to be met (and con- 

 quered, I suppose) by whoever has butter, or 

 eggs, or hay, or fat cattle to sell. I ventured 

 once to express my surprise to a shrewd fore- 

 man who had charge of this business — for I 

 manage it by proxy as much as I can — that a 

 staid gentleman with his ten thousand a year 

 income, should have insisted upon a deduction 

 of two cents a bushel in the price of his pota- 

 toes, in view of a quart of small ones, that had 

 insinuated themselves in the interstices: I 

 think I hear his horse-laugh now, as he re- 

 plied — "Why, sir, it 's the way he grew rich." 



The idea struck me as novel; but upon re- 

 flection I am inclined to think it was well 

 based. As I said, — often as possible, I accom- 

 plish this business by proxy; and, in conse- 

 quence, have made some bad debts by proxy. 

 But proxy is not always available. There are 

 customers who insist upon chaffering with the 

 "boss." Such an one has dropped in, on a 

 morning in which you happen to be deeply 

 engaged. He wishes to "take a look" at a 

 horse, which he has seen advertised for sale. 

 The stable is free to his observation, and the 

 attentive Pat is at hand; but the customer 

 wants a talk with the "Squire." 



It is a stanch Canadian horse, for which you 



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