had settled up with Frank. It had been a busy, bustling week for the embryo young mail order merchant and his assistants.
Frank had got his employees to sort out the myriad of needles into lots of twenty-four. He bought some little pay envelopes, and had printed on these: "Frank's Mail Order House. Two Dozen Assorted Needles."
As said before, this was vacation time. There was scarcely a boy in Greenville who did not take a turn at selling the needle packages, which Frank wholesaled at six cents each.
Most of the boys sold a few packages at home and to immediate neighbors, and then quit work. Others, however, made a regular business of it. Nelson Cady took in two partners, borrowed a light gig, and to date had met with signal success in covering other towns in the county.
"Why," he had declared enthusiastically to Frank only that evening, when he handed over the cash for two hundred new packages of the needles, which Mrs. Ismond was kept busy putting up, "if the needles hold out, I could extend and extend my travelling trips and work my way clear to Idaho."
"You are certainly making more than expenses," said Frank encouragingly.