The Bobbin Boy | Page 8

as raising the squashes.
There is real satisfaction in seeing them grow."
"If you can peddle as well as you can garden it, you will make a real
good hand at it; and such handsome squashes as those ought to go off
like hot cakes."
Saturday afternoon came, and Nat started with his little cart full of
squashes. He was obliged to be his own horse, driver, and salesman, in

which threefold capacity he served with considerable ability.
"Can I sell you some squashes to-day?" said Nat to the first neighbor on
whom he called.
"Squashes! where did you find such fine squashes as those?" asked the
neighbor, coming up to the cart, and viewing the contents.
"I raised them," said Nat; "and I have a good many more at home."
"What! did you plant and hoe them, and take the whole care of them?"
"Yes, sir; no one else struck a hoe into them, and I am to have all the
money they bring."
"You deserve it, Nat, every cent of it. I declare, you beat me completely;
for the bugs eat mine all up, so that I did not raise a decent squash.
How did you keep the bugs off?"
"I killed thousands of them," said Nat. "In the morning before I went to
school I looked over the vines; when I came home at noon I spent a few
moments in killing them, and again at night I did the same. They
troubled me only about two weeks."
"Well, they troubled me only two weeks," replied the neighbor, "and by
that time there was nothing left for them to trouble. But very few boys
like to work well enough to do what you have done, and very few have
the patience to do it either. With most of the boys it is all play and no
work. But what do you ask for your squashes?"
Nat proceeded to answer: "That one is worth six cents; such a one as
that eight; that is ten; and a big one like that (holding up the largest) is
fifteen."
The neighbor expressed his approval of the prices, and bought a
number of them, for which he paid him the money. Nat went on with
his peddling tour, calling at every house in his way; and he met with
very good success. Just as he turned the corner of a street on the north

side of the common, Ben Drake discovered him, and shouted, "Hurrah
for the squash-peddler! That is tall business, Nat; don't you feel grand?
What will you take for your horse?"
[Illustration]
Nat made no reply, but hastened on to the next house where he
disposed of all the squashes that he carried but two. He soon sold them,
and returned home to tell the story of his first peddling trip. Once or
twice afterwards he went on the same errand, and succeeded very well.
But he became weary of the business, for some reason, before he sold
all the squashes, and he hit upon this expedient to finish the work.
"Sis," said he to a sister younger than himself, "I will give you one of
my pictures for every squash you will sell. You can carry three or four
at a time easy enough."
Sis accepted the proposition with a good deal of pleasure; for she was
fond of drawings, and Nat had some very pretty ones. He possessed a
natural taste for drawing, and he had quite a collection of birds, beasts,
houses, trees, and other objects, drawn and laid away carefully in a box.
For a boy of his age, he was really quite an artist. His squashes were
not better than his drawings. His patience, perseverance, industry, and
self-reliance, made him successful both as a gardener and artist.
In a few days, "Sis" had sold the last squash, and received her pay,
according to the agreement. The sequel will show that peddling
squashes was the only enterprise which Nat undertook and failed to
carry through. His failure there is quite unaccountable, when you
connect it with every other part of his life.
We are reminded that many men of mark commenced their career by
peddling. The great English merchant, Samuel Budgett, when he was
about ten years old, went out into the streets to sell a bird, in order that
he might get some funds to aid his poor mother. The first money that
Dr. Kitto obtained was the proceeds of the sale of labels, which he
made and peddled from shop to shop. One of the wealthiest men we
know, a Christian man distinguished for his large benevolence,

commenced his mercantile career by peddling goods that he carried in a
band-box from one milliner's shop to another. "You must creep before
you can walk," is an