A Young Woman Detective

Peddlers, like horse-jockeys, have a reputation for being tricky and for not remembering the golden rule. At least they are frequently accused of this, but as a tin-peddler of fifty-nine years’ standing I deny the charge as applying to peddlers more than any other class of traders.

Not only do I deny it for myself, but for the majority of the men who are engaged in the business – not including, of course, the many self-styled “agents,” those hawkers of patented articles who are found in every State of the Union. But in defense of the old-fashioned tin-peddler, with horse and cart, I pick up the cudgels.

We were as honest as other men! And I wish I could say as much for all the women we have to deal with. Not that I intend to be disrespectful to the ladies, for I always enjoy trading with them. But during the last sixty years I have obtained some very queer glimpses of the workings of the feminine mind when it is intent upon making a bargain.

During the whole of my long career, I can truly say that I was never guilty of but one trick of which I am really ashamed; and in that I was outwitted by a young lady. She came within a hand’s turn of sending me to jail. If I had been a handsome young fellow, the case might have been different, or it might not, I cannot say; but she was a young woman of good character, and she was acting in defense of a cause which she believed to be a just one. The story is against me, but I am going to tell it.

To begin with, I was not in my younger days a temperance man. I was born in the old Bay State before the temperance movement began. My folks, in common with all other families, always had liquor in the house; and when any of us were not feeling well, or were out in the cold and came home chilled, mother would prepare a little cup of “toddy” to warm us up and prevent our taking cold.

So I grew… Read More