"When the boss turned up, he looked at me in amazement.
"'I didn't hire you regularly,' he said.
"'But I need the job,' I told him.
"He looked at me hard for a minute, then he said: 'See here, Selwyn, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll give you five per cent on all the goods you sell to-day.'
An Energetic Salesman.
"Well, I didn't need any more than that. I started in to work, and any man who came in that store to buy a collar was lucky if he escaped from my clutches without leaving a dollar or two behind him for several other articles—shirts, neckties, any old thing. Whether he needed them or not was all one to me, so long as I got my five per cent. When the day was over, the proprietor found he owed me three dollars and eighty-five cents.
"Accordingly, he proceeded to make a new deal.
"'I engage you,' he said, 'at eight dollars a week.'
"He raised me later to ten dollars, and then to twelve. At length the firm failed; but meantime I was getting into the theatrical atmosphere. That came about in this way:
"Among the chaps I met where I boarded was one who knew somebody who knew somebody else who was connected with the Herald Square Theater, which was about to be opened. I needed the money, so I decided to put in a plea for the job of usher in the new house. I got it, and used to linger after the show to watch any rehearsals that might be put on.