I would like to be able to say that there were big sales on the first day of the automatic sale. All the goods on those four sales' counters had been reduced one cent in ten—ten-cent articles to nine cents, and so on—but, on the first day, we took in only $36.00 from those counters!

I found that the invoice cost of all the goods which I had put on in the sale was $1,364.00. If I could only get that amount in cash out of them, I would be more than satisfied, for I would have turned into money a lot of stock which was old, damaged or such slow sellers as not to be worth keeping. With the money I could buy goods that would sell quickly and thus increase my rate of turn-over.

But only $36.00 worth sold the first day! And the sale of other goods had been unusually slow, also. In fact, it was the worst day I had had since I bought the store.

Not very promising for the beginning of a sale, was it? But Betty, bless her heart, said, "Wait until Monday or Tuesday and you'll find things will go along all right. The prices are not yet reduced enough to make people eager to buy."

Although the goods on the bargain counters had been reduced 20 per cent., only $47.00 worth went the next day!Larsen shook his head and said, "It may come out all right." He was a regular Job's comforter!

That night, I said to Betty, "Perhaps it would be wise to call the sale off, and put some of the goods back into stock again."

She replied: "Whatever you do, don't call the sale off! If there are any lines that are really good, you might quietly put some of them back, but don't call the sale off! It would hurt you too much. By the way," she added, "I wonder what Stigler's window is covered up for to-day?"

I had noticed that as I came home. He had pulled the shades down in his window, and, although it was 8:30 when I passed the store, the lights were still burning inside. I had an uncomfortable feeling that he was going to do something to me.

I wondered if he was going after me on prices even worse than before! I did not sleep very well that night. It's easy to say "what's the use of losing sleep over a thing," but, when a man finds the bottom knocked out of his business because of competition, plans a big sale and it starts off as a hopeless fizzle, after an outlay of over a hundred dollars for advertising, he can't help but worry! The man isn't born that can find things slipping away as I had and not worry over it!Betty was a real comfort. She said:—"Don't you see, boy dear, that's just what you need, a lot of trouble?"

"Huh," I replied, "I'm certainly getting what I need, good and plenty!"

She smiled, and replied, "That's right, keep your sense of humor. One of my teachers once said that a sense of humor is a safety valve which prevents us blowing up from the pressure of too much trouble. You're going to pull through this all right, and you'll be a better and a bigger man for the experience!"

What would I have done without her! I wonder, if the big business men of the country were to tell the truth, how much of their success they would owe to some quiet little woman who gave them the right kind of encouragement and admonition? Whatever success I may have had I'll be frank enough to admit that I would not have succeeded if it hadn't been for Betty.

On the third day of the Sale, we kept the store open till 11 o'clock, and it was midnight before I left.

When I had passed Stigler's that morning I had found his windows piled high with kitchen goods, on which were labels with the regular retail price. I had stood at the window and looked at the different prices to be sure that they were genuine, and, surely enough, the prices were regular. But then I noticed a big sign, hung from above, which read:

I was doing some pretty quick thinking while I was standing there, for, while only about half the goods in my sale were kitchen utensils, I certainly had made a big push on those goods.At that moment Stigler came along from behind me, walked right up to me, and said:

"Howdy?"

"How are you, Stigler?" I returned.

"Fine!" he said. "Enjoying the weather! How do you like my little window, eh? I'm glad to see yer take an interest in what we are doing! Of course, if you ain't satisfied with what you see there, come right along inside and I'll show yer me books!"

"I was just passing your store, Stigler, and, naturally, I looked in your window."

"Sure—sure," he said, nodding his head sarcastically, "you fellers have a habit of passing the store pretty often, don't yer? Quite a clever stunt you are putting up there, with that automatic give-away-nothin' idea. Kinder thought I'd start in the cutting line myself a bit. How d'ye like it?"

"I don't know what I have ever done to you that you should make such a dead set on me."

"N-no?" he returned with a drawl. "Well, I'll just tell yer, young feller. I've just kinder got a fancy to get some more business, and as some of the trade seems to be floatin' around kind o' easy like, I thought I'd just nail it down. And if by any chance some dear competitor"—and his lips curled in derision as he said this—"happens to get in the way, well!—I can kinder be sorry for him like, and perhaps give him a job sometime if he wants one."

Then I had lost my temper.

"You're a four-flushing cur, and just as sure as my name is Black, I'll give you a run for your money! If you think you can scare me, you're mistaken! And if you want a fight, by George, I'll give it to you!"Stigler leaned against the corner of his window and said:

"My, somebody's been feedin' yer meat, ain't they?" and then he turned and walked into his store.

The first thing I did when I got to the store was to tell Larsen I wanted to put a dollar in the "swear box," and then I told him the incident. He shook his head thoughtfully, and said:

"Too bad, Boss, too bad."

I wished that I had kept control over my tongue! I felt that Stigler had had the best of the scrap that morning. I felt that he had put it all over me. I had felt like a scolded boy, and I had probably looked like one as I marched away from his store with my ears and face burning, a-tremble in my limbs.

Larsen had quickly written a sign which said, "30 per cent. reduction to-day on all goods offered in our automatic sale!" Then he asked me if I could manage to spare him for a couple of hours.

"What for?" I asked.

"I tell you, Boss," he said. "We got a lot of good carpenter tools in the sale. I want to go to every carpenter in town and tell 'em what we got. Stigler tries to get sales in carpenters' tools. He got a mad at you because you put in more stock. I'll tell 'em they can buy carpenters' tools for 30 per cent. less regular price. That'll hit Stigler where he lives!"

I caught a bit of Larsen's enthusiasm. Isn't it remarkable how a man over fifty like Larsen could have the energy and enthusiasm he showed? I really thought he was getting younger every day, while I was getting older!When he came back to the store, about 11:30 he was smiling.

"How did you make out?" I asked.

"Fine! I got over $60.00 of orders. I promise to put the tools one side. The folks'll call later in day. Some that didn't order said they goin' to come in."

"That's great!" I exclaimed, and my spirits immediately rose.

"Any business this morning?" Larsen asked.

"Yes," I replied, "four lines sold out."

"Kitchen goods?"

"Yes, all of them. You know that cheap line of enameled frying pans?"

"Yep."

"Well, a woman came in and bought twelve of them!"

"Twelve?"

"Yep. And then another one came in and bought six! They've been selling in bunches," and I chuckled. "What are you looking so glum at?" I asked him suddenly.

"We got a hole in our plan," he returned. "We oughta say no person buy more than one of anything. I bet them frying pans in Stigler's now. They was good at the price. He couldn't buy 'em wholesale to-day for it. I bet he sell 'em off to-day, and we got none. He got one of our big cards and plays it himself."

"I've got the list of goods sold out ready to put in the window," I said, and passed him over a card on which I had listed the goods which were all gone.

"I think," he said, "we better put some more frying pans in the sale and not say we sold out.""That's a good idea," I returned; and we put a half dozen more of our regular stock on the 50-cent counter. Then we agreed to be cautious about selling any more articles in "bunches."

To my surprise, our sales for that third day on the "automatic" goods were $421.00, so the first three days of our sale netted $504.00. That sounded encouraging.

If I could get another $860.00 for the balance of the sale, I would not have done so badly. I decided that I had planned right in having the third day sale come on Saturday, for that was always a big day with us. The reduction had been a substantial one, and yet everything that was sold had been sold for more than the invoice price.

Our tool sale had been unusually large; Larsen's trip to the carpenters had helped that out a lot.

After the store was closed we made a list of the articles which were sold out and posted them in the window so that they would be seen the next day. Over sixty different lines were sold out, and the list was quite a formidable one.

Then we drew another big sign, which we placed in the window, saying:

Stigler springing that 25 per cent. reduction sale on kitchen goods had unfortunately spoilt a lot of business which I felt sure we would have had otherwise. We had overcome some of the loss, however, by the extra push we had made on carpenters' tools.

When I told Betty about it after getting home, she said:

"Well, Stigler didn't waste any time getting after you, did he?"

"No," I said with a grin.

"And do you know that he says now that your sale has proved a fizzle and that practically all your goods have been put back in stock again? ... Quiet," she said, putting her hand on my shoulder, for I was about to explode with temper. "I suppose no man can be successful without having a lot of people throw mud at him."

That evening I was so tired that I fell asleep in my chair. Betty woke me up by putting her arm around my neck, and saying:

"You had better go along to bed now, boy dear. Here, drink this—it will make you rest better"—and I drank a glass of hot milk she had prepared for me, and went to bed.

On Monday we had a wonderful clearance. Most of the goods were sold, and our total for the four days' sale was $1,090.00!

The boys were all dead tired. I had sent Wilkes about 7 o'clock to get some hot coffee and sandwiches for us, for we had a continuous crowd of customers in the store and not one of the store crowd would think of leaving. We took drinks of coffee and bites of sandwiches in between serving customers, and the coffee was all cold before we got through with it!You will remember my telling that I had discharged Myricks and that he had gone to work for Stigler. Well, Stigler had fired him after a couple of weeks, saying that he had found out all he knew and had no further use for him. Myricks had been looking for a job ever since, and, as I knew I would have to have some extra help for the sale, I put him on again. In fact, I had told him that, if he behaved himself I might be able to use him for the winter, for it had been tremendously hard work for our little force to take care of the business, and I had felt that if we had another clerk it would relieve me to do some more planning, and might also allow Jones or Larsen to do some soliciting for business; for I hadn't forgotten what that pencil sharpener man had told me, and had decided that, after the sale I would go.

Well, Myricks had started on Thursday morning, and had seemed to be working well. I had noticed, however, on the following Monday, that he didn't ring up one of his sales. He had sold over $6.00 worth of goods and I had seen him put the money in his pocket and go after another customer.

I called him to one side, later in the day, and said:

"Myricks, why didn't you ring up that sale?"

He went red, and then white, and said:

"Er—er—you see—I'll tell you—that other customer was impatient and I wanted to get to him quickly and I thought it would save time and I could ring it up later."

"Don't do it!" I replied sharply. "Ring up every sale as you make it!"

We were too busy to dispense with him then, but I wondered—I wondered—

When we closed the store Tuesday no more goods were left! The sales that day had been $427.00.

Of course when I say there were no more goods left, I mean there were perhaps thirty or forty odd items left, but I was certain that they would be all sold out the next day.

The total for the sale had been $1,517.00. My advertising had cost me $127.00, so that my net cash from the sale was $1,390.00. That showed me a cash profit of $24.00. But, gee whiz!—didn't that bank account look good!

I planned to take up that note of $1,000.00 at the bank, right away. It would seem good to get rid of that. And I was going to Barrington and pay $250.00 on that $1,250.00 loan for which he had taken a mortgage on my farm.

Gosh, it did seem good to have some money, although after I had taken $1,250.00 from $1,390.00, there wouldn't be much real cash left. Still, I hadn't been buying much, and my bills were unusually small that month.

When I got home I rushed into the house, took hold of Betty and swung her around several times, and sang my little song—"Half-price day is over and no more goods are left!" We behaved like a couple of kids.

She thought I would be making a mistake to pay off that thousand dollars at the bank. She thought I ought to leave $500.00 of it, for she said I wouldn't have enough money to pay my month's bills and would have to borrow again.

"Well, they'll let me do it, if necessary," I said; "and besides, I'm not paying interest on what I am not borrowing.""Perhaps you're right," she said with a laugh, "and now come and get your dinner."

Dinner, at 10:30 at night! However, what's meal time when you're busy? How I pitied those poor fellows who don't get heart and soul into their work. Time surely does fly when you do! What a shirker I had been when I had worked for Barlow! The days had seemed long then.

I gave all my fellows a special bonus that week for the work they had done. I gave Larsen $10.00, Jones $6.00 and Wilkes $3.00—that is, an extra half week's pay.

Myricks had gone. In spite of being busy I had gotten rid of him that Tuesday. I had caught him again putting money in his pocket, and Mr. Pinkham, who bought a saw, also told me that he had noticed Myricks didn't ring up the money.

I had kept my eye on Myricks, and then, when there was a little lull in trade, I had called him into my little office and ordered him to turn out his pockets.

"What's that for?" he asked impudently.

"I want to see how much money you have got there," I said.

"I don't see that it's anybody's business what money I have got in my pockets," he replied.

"Well, it has something to do with me," I returned sternly, "for you told me yesterday you were carrying my money in your pockets. Now, I insist on knowing what you have got in your pockets."

"All I've got is money of my own, and I don't see that it's any of your business!"

"You are going to turn out your pockets before you leave this office," I said angrily. My voice was raised and the others in the store were gazing in our direction. "If not, I'll call a policeman."

"Call him in and be damned," he said, and he struck at me.

I lost my temper, and for once I was glad of it, for I landed on him and hit him fair and square under the jaw. He fell against the desk, upsetting a vase full of flowers that Betty had put there. He got up, holding his head, and blood was trickling from a cut in his cheek where he had caught the edge of the desk.

I was so raging mad that I was prepared for almost anything.

"Now, damn you!" I said with a snarl, "turn out your pockets quick!"

He did so, and I found $37.00 there.

"It's my money," he said surlily. "It's my money! You touch that money and I'll have the law on you!"

I picked up the money, put it in my pocket, and said:

"Now, I'll give you just five minutes to get clear out of my sight! Before you go, let me tell you that customers have seen you putting money in your pocket, and I have seen you also. Just let me have one peep from you, now or any other time, and I'll have you in jail! Now, beat it!"

I opened the door and he slunk out.

"I'll get you yet," he growled as he left.

I had lost my temper, I knew I had; but I was mighty glad I had; for I felt if I hadn't I wouldn't have given him the lesson he deserved. And incidentally, I had learned another lesson, and that is, never rehire a discharged employee. Then and there I determined that, so long as I was in business, if an employee ever left me for any reason whatever, I would never reinstate him. He would be through forever.

"I WAS SO RAGING MAD THAT I WAS PREPARED FOR ALMOST ANYTHING"

When I got home that night, Betty remarked:

"Why, look at the knuckles on your hand! They have blood on them! What have you done?"

"Oh, I just knocked into the cash register $37.00 which was walking out of the door," I returned jauntily. And then I told her the whole story.

She came over and kissed me and said:

"Good boy!" and her eyes flashed as she said it. "I'm proud of you!"

Those four words meant more to me than the success of this sale.

Betty and I went to Boston the next day. I wanted to call at Bates & Hotchkin's to buy a few things I needed, and also I wanted to call on Mr. Barker, to whom Mr. Sirle had given me a card of introduction some time ago. I intended that we should have a nice little dinner, and take in a show and stay at a good hotel for the night and come back the next day. All by way of celebration.

"You are an extravagant man," said Betty severely when I told her this. "What train do we leave by? I'll be ready."