-OO- 
     
    
   
   
    
     KOAD WAYHFARERS 
     
    

    
     In the years before the winding country roads had given place to today's 
     
     superhighways, not a week passed without some transient knocking at the ~ 
     
     kitchen door. Itinerant salesmen were numerous -- some hawking medicines 
     
     guaranteed to cure the entire spectrum of human and animal ills; others 
     
     peddled household.appliances, farm tools, books, and cloth to be made into 
     
     Sunday finery. I remember one hopeful member of the nostrum fraternity who 
     
     was introducing what he claimed to be a newly-discovered cure for various 
     
     disorders, with especial emphasis on all types of rheumatism -= an ailment: 
     
     that troubled many of the older folk. The going was rough; money was scarce; 
     
     people were skeptical. Sales were few and small in amount. This man, 
     
     however, was thoroughly sold on the merit of his product -- sold to the 
     
     extent that he offered to leave a bottle of the magic elixir on a month's 
     
     free trial. A pencil mark on the wrapper, an inch or more below the bottle 
     
     top, indicated the limit of the free trial offer. When he returned, he 
     
     found that, although most of his prospective customers had used the entire 
     
     sample portion, few nore willing to put down the cash-for the remainder. 
     
     Wrathfully, he collected his bottles and departed in search of more fertile 
     
     pastures, after denouncing the community folk as an unappreciative 
     
     collection of penny-pinchers. 
     
    

    
     Pack pedlers, all of southern European origin, were regular callers. On 
     
     his back each carried a huge bundle containing an unbelievable. assortment 
     
     of small articles: towels, combs, brushes, mirrors, dolls, cheap costume _ 
     
     jewelry, soap, perfume, small toys, jew's harps, harmonicas, and more. To 
     
     us youngsters, the appearance Of a pack pedler was a veritable delight, 
     
     though we were quite aware that our chances of obtaining any of the booty 
     
     were something near zero. Merely to feast our eyes on the display was a 
     
    
   
   
    
     supreme thrill. Housewives used to purchase small items of which they 
     
    
   
   
    
     happened to be in need at the moment, but sales were never of any great