Yeatman High School - Yeatman Life Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

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,.'r-Sri:-::-r.':.r........... 'M'-2':::r:::':1' ' e 'I .- - college and dad laughed at me when I asked him for the salesmanship, and told me I couldn't even sell baby buggies from door to door. Now, won't you help me out ? A sly twinkle in the manager's eyes told Jim of his success. Yes, son, I'll help you. At one time I worked for your father, but I never could show him anything. If you think you can, I'd like to be on hand to see you do it, he chuckled, I'1l have one of my office girls Hx you up with samples, and here's my hand for your success ? Mr. Johnson called to one of the many girls in the establishment and, to his surprise Jim saw Mabel's best friend coming toward him. She recognized him immediately and after a short talk with the manager led jim into the stockroom of the establishment. VVhat can I do for you ? she said. Mr. Johnson told me that what you wanted was to be done and that I was to 'fix' you up. So Jirn explained again what he wanted to do and how he intended to do and how he intended to do it, while she listened with a. generous smile on her face. How perfectly lovely ! she said when he had sketched his plan. Now, you choose two samples while I get some other things. Jim had been uneasy before, but now he was petrified, and well might he be, for picking out two samples from a two hundred thousand dollar stock of baby carriages was not an easy task. There were piles upon piles before him. It was indeed a mighty spectacle, and a famine of baby carriages looked improbable in the face of such a col- lection. It was many times more than the astonished james had ever imagined could exist, let alone exist in a city where the mar- riage license clerk made only about twenty dollars a week, and fourteen dollars of that came from direct taxes. Jim scratched his head in perplexity as he tried to select two stylish buggies as would satisfy any prospective buyer. Now, every- one will have to admit that that wasn't an easy or pleasant task for a young man fresh from college, with no knowledge whatever of the taste of youthful parents. Trigonom- etry or history wouldn't help out here. He knew that just plain common sense was all that was necessaryg so he tried to summon to remembrance what sort of a wheeled vehicle he had ridden in so many years be- fore, but twenty years was a long time to think back to. Then he tried reasoning what kind of babies there were. There are twins and triplets and, of course, single bab-ies! Most common of these three classes are the twins and single ba-bies, and this made his selection as easy as choosing his own wear- ing apparel. Now, young men of this world are not supposed to be up to the ideal in taste as to baby vehicles, but picked judges would have certainly agreed that james Richard did his sex justice in his selection of two polished carriages. Jim himself was very well satisfied. But Fate balances every joy with an equal sorrow. If the Bircher boy could only re- peat, at will, the yell of horror that came to his lips upon beholding Mabel's returning friend, he would make a fortune in the theatrical world. She had three babies on her arms! Besides these, she clapsed a great bundle of infant paraphernalia. Well, here you are, Mr. Bircher, thanks to the manager and myself for details. I don't want any praise, but I do think I did my duty toward my best friend's husband- to-be, she said as she tucked the babies in their beds of downy white. When your customers see how darling they look, they can't help ibut buy. Oh, but they do look so awfully cute l jib was dazed. He touched one of the kids to make sure he wasn't seeing things, but- great thundering Jehoshaphat! They were bisque babies! A remonstrance was not then long coming, I really can't go on the street with those things ! 'ljust like a man, she said at once. Don't you realize the value of those babies? They make the buggies look real with those life- like faces of theirs. It's a novelty and is bound to take with your customers. You can't succeed without them! Aw, no one's going to pay any attention to those things, said Jim. Eighty-nine

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