"I had just sat down in my office when Bill Pettigrew came in—Sam's great rival in the grocery an' aspiration business. He'd bought a new automobile, an' wanted me to draw a mortgage on his house an' lot for two thousand dollars.
"'You'd better go slow,' I says. 'It looks like bad business to mortgage your home for an automobile.'
"'It's for the benefit o' my customers,' says he.
"'Something purty for 'em to look at?' I asked.
"'It will quicken deliveries,' says he.
"'You can't afford it,' I says.
"'Yes, I can,' says he. 'I've put up prices twenty per cent., an' it ain't agoin' to bother me to pay for it.'
"'Oh, then your customers are goin' to pay for it!' I says, 'an' you're only a guarantor.'
"'I wouldn't put it that way,' says he. 'It costs more to live these days. Everything is goin' up.'
"'Includin' taxes,' I says to Bill, an' went to work an' drew his mortgage for him, an' he got his automobile.