[Illustration: VISION SUFFICIENTLY PENETRATING TO DETECT THE NIGGER IN THE WOODPILE.]
The inventor will find ample opportunity to display his forebearance at this stage of the game, as he will find at the beginning, "no one poor enough to do his invention reverence." And it is one of the strange things that one observes in life, that many people who have not sufficient energy and intelligence to raise themselves beyond the very humblest and meanest occupations in life, consider themselves amply qualified to criticise, and even make suggestions on inventions that some of the best brains have spent their best on.
But this is a condition that must be reckoned with and overcome in introducing a new machine on the market, and the inventor will find it to his advantage to use every possible means to persuade and win over those who will have to operate his machine, as well as to demonstrate to the proprietor himself the usefulness of the invention; and sometimes even he may find it to his advantage to furnish an educated operator for the machine.
If his means are limited, which is often the case, he will have to act as his own salesman, advertisement-writer, and press-agent until the invention becomes firmly established in the market. To go out in the cold, wide world and solicit orders even on approval for a new invention requires considerable adaptability, pluck, patience, and hard work. Very often success or failure depends upon the initial exertions in that direction.
No fixed rules can be laid down for that kind of work. To be successful, it must be varied with the nature and the disposition of every individual who does the selling and buying. But generally speaking, it is a safe rule for a salesman to observe, "Brevity, Directness, Simplicity, and Politeness," as the average business man is, by force of circumstances, homeopathic. They like "Talks" in small quantities, concentrated form, and sugar-coated.
[Illustration: NO ONE POOR ENOUGH TO DO HIS INVENTION REVERENCE.]
Sometimes silence, the ability to keep one's mouth closed, and to respectfully listen to a loquacious prospective buyer, will secure an order for a machine, where a disposition to do all the talking, however "silvery" will not accomplish the same "golden" results.