Page:The Tales of a Traveller.djvu/56

44 Carnation Boston Market

On one occasion I happened to be in Utica, N. Y., at a florists' meeting. A small Carnation show was in progress at the club room. Among the Carnations shown was the Boston Market, which Mr. Fisher at the request of the club had sent in. There were a number of the growers favorably impressed with the variety, and ready to place orders. A general order amounting to about twenty-five hundred was made up, and since I was there it was decided to let me have the order. As my acquaintance with Mr. Fisher was very slight at the time, I mailed him that order rather hesitatingly. (Boston Market antedates Beacon, which latter really commenced my business relations with Mr. Fisher.) I wrote him at the same time to be sure to send the goods, and that if he saw fit to allow me a commission on the sale, well and good, else to send it anyway, and I would forego my commission. Since I undertook to fill the order, I felt that I was bound to do so. In the course of a week or so, I received a curt letter from Mr. Fisher, to the effect that the order had been sent, and that he was quite surprised to receive it through me, since he never authorized me to take orders for him. Not a word was mentioned about the commission.

When I met him a few months later, I referred to the subject (not to the commission end of it, though.)

"You did not receive my first letter, did you?" he asked.

"I received your letter, yes," I answered.

"I know," he said, "but not the first one. Because the first one I tore up!"

I imagined at the time that the first letter, which he tore up, must have been, to put it mildly, rather pointed.

When Beacon came on the market I was sure there would be great demand for it, and I was determined to be on the ground floor with the variety. So one day I took a train from Boston for Ellis, Mass. Mr. Fisher already knew who I was, so any formal introductions were unnecessary. I stated the object of my call. Yes, he could see no reason why he couldn't sell me any Beacon if I paid him the scheduled prices, governed by quantity, of course. I knew I could use twenty thousand, and so without hesitation I gave him my order for that quantity.

I took my departure. On the following morning I received a letter at my Boston Hotel, which ran as follows:

"I have booked your order for twenty thousand Beacon, for January delivery, terms cash in advance."

Since my faith in Mr. Fisher himself, no less than his variety, was unshaken, the "cash in advance" terms proved no deterrent to the transaction. In due course of time Mr. Fisher had his checks in advance, and my customers had their excellent rooted cuttings.

I have dealt with Mr. Fisher time and again since, our business transactions amounting to thousands of dollars. But never has Mr. Fisher asked me for cash in advance since that time. My confidence in him became reciprocal; our business relations have been pleasant, and my visits to Ellis are always one of the agreeable features in my trips through New England, personally as well as from the business standpoint. Mr. Fisher is today one of my most esteemed friends among the trade.

More About Enchantress

But let us return to Enchantress. No sooner had Mr. Thompson announced the consummation of his deal with Mr. Fisher than orders began to come to him thick and fast from every section of the country. I undertook the task of helping disseminate it, as many other dealers did; and it was a profitable task indeed.