~H jn 
     
     amount. l'requently, they were refused admittance to the house; indeed, ome 
     
     wonders how they managed to eke out a living. Yet, day after day except: in, 
     
     the winter season, they trudged the country roads, their shoulders bent int: 
     
     a permanent stoop under the cumbersome pack. 
     
    

    
     Only one of them did not travel afoot -- Old Tom who drove a bony, wall- 
     
     eyed, always hungry roan gelding, and a rickety old express wagon. He 
     
     carried a much more extensive: stock than did his brethren of the rowed, and 
     
     his territory which he covered on a fairly regular schedule included the 
     
     greater part of Queen's County. He "put up" at regular overnight stops, and 
     
     ate at wherever he happened to stap at noon. No one charged him for food 
     
     or room, but he always gave some suitable article from his pack in payment. 
     
     When itinerant pedlers were banned by law, Tom was permitted to continue 
     
     umhindered, so highly was he regarded throughout the county. After many 
     
     years on the road, he opened a small variety store on Water Street in 
     
     Charlottetown. He was always known as "Tom the Italian," but he was 
     
     probably a Syrian. 
     
    

    
     -Now and then a salesman mede the rounds, soliciting customers for eye- 
     
     glasses, of which he carried an impressive variety. Selecting glasses was & 
     
     matter of trying one pair agter another until the clearest image was 
     
     obtained. By today's standards of optical care, an incredible amount of eye 
     
     damage should have resulted from this unscientific procedure; actually, 
     
     blindness among the aged was infrequent. 
     
    

    
     Once each year, a stout, ruddy-faced purveyor of cloth designed for 
     
     men's suiting made his appearance. He wore a striking/of gold rings, and 
     
     delivered a sales pitch in which he described his product as "the very best 
     
     Irish tweed, unequaled in quality at double the price." A farmer who had 
     
     been considering the purchase of a "good suit" carefully studied the sample: 
     
    
   
   
    
     and took his selection to "Little Mack" MacKinnon at Churchill, the 
     
    
   
   
    
     community tailor.