My Trump Card.

Otago Witness, Issue 2686, 6 September 1905, Page 88

My Trump Card.

I am "a traveller, and on my first journey, I had an experience which I shall never forget. On my round was a certain shopw keeper whose manners were remarkable for? an entire lack of courtesy to those who called upon him, and, quite unconscious o5 this, I one morning walked into his shopi and presented: my card. He took it with'-* out even glancing 1 at it, tore it into shreds?, and threw the remnants away. "Now, young fellow,'' he said, "clear out!" Well, I smarted for days over the insultl, and I made up nry mind to get even with! the brute, and this is how I accomplished! it. I had a card naado exactly similar tothe one I previously presented, only tho material was tin. Two months after my debut I called again, when the sho]> wag well filled with customers, and tendered i£ to the cross-grained proprietor. He took it, the same as before, glared *S

me, and gave the card a twist. But th:s time there were no bits scattered on th© floor, only a wrench in the proprietor's wrist, which caused a titter amongst the on- ' lookers. I was nearly out of the door by this, for I" did not feel particularly safe, and when the "boss" called to me, "Come into my office^' I went in, never expecting to emerge therefrom. " What is it you want to sell me?" he asked as soon as I entered his private sanctum, and, to my utter astonishment, tho old curmudgeon, after seeing my samples, ordered £200 worth straight off the reel, and for years he was one of my best clients.