From the front page of the February 23, 1882 issue of The Chatham Record.
Feel your pockets after even saying hello to a shrewd pedler [sic]. If you feel any coins at all, count them.
A Shrewd Pedler [sic].
Sharp dealing is confined to neither place nor people. In a small German town an inn-keeper, to get rid of a book-peddler’s importunities, bought an almanac from him and, putting it in his pocket, left the inn, his wife just then coming in to take his place, The woman was then persuaded to buy an almanac, not knowing that her husband had one already. The husband shortly returning and discovering the trick, sent his porter to the railway station after the peddler, with a message that he wished to see the latter on important business.”Oh, yes,” said the peddler, “I know, he wants one of my almanacs, but I really can’t miss my train for that. You can give me a quarter and take the almanac to him.” The porter paid the money and carried the third almanac to the inn-keeper. Imagine the sensations of the victim!
