was dealing, did not concern me.

Here was a field I had not counted on and I determined to explore
it before going to the general public.

I had one hundred letters mailed in plain envelopes to individual
members of the larger firms which we were regularly selling. The
result astonished me. This was in December, 1881, and before the
following February sixty-seven of the men written to had accounts
on our books.

Some of the novel experiences in this branch of the business will
be related in a later chapter.

As I had anticipated, 1881 was a banner year. My profits were
nearly twenty-eight thousand dollars.




CHAPTER XVI

"REDSTONE"



"Sunnyside" had become too small for us.

Our life had been so happy there we could not bear to think
of leaving it. I had an architect look the house over and prepare