I found, too, that what won one week was a failure the next, and with even what seemed a success the bank account which every fakir yearns to have was slow to grow. For that reason, when I seemed to have skimmed the cream off one thing, I tried something else, falling back on old schemes when it was necessary or profitable.
Several times I organized medicine companies and gave entertainments in the opera houses, carrying along a physician with whom the public could have free consultation. Several times I got out of such schemes by selling good will and fixtures, thus quitting them anything but a gainer.
Nevertheless, there were other lines to work, and I tried them all, with the idea that one thing was as good as another, and perhaps I might find something a little better. When I discovered that street selling seemed to be telling on my throat I got back to canvassing again.
CHAPTER XV.
Selling Musical Instruments—Trickery and Deception—Looking for Something New—Selling the Roaster—The Canvass.
I got to selling pianos and organs by the merest chance.
I was canvassing with a furniture polish, which was really a very good thing, and one day went into a store where musical instruments were sold, hoping to do a stroke of business. I did, and a very good stroke of business I made of it.
The dealer had some talk with me, apparently liked my style, and finally offered me very good terms to work for him a scheme he had in view. He thought I knew enough about the instrument to handle pianos successfully in the way he proposed.