GETTING BROKEN IN
This, the most momentous move of my life, as I think, was made on a
Monday in the autumn of about 1890. The year doesn't matter anyhow. I
know that it was about sixteen or seventeen years ago, or when I was
thirty-three or thirty-four years of age. That Monday I had taken leave
from the Office, the day being deducted from my allowed twenty-eight
days of summer vacation, as was customary with us. By favour of the
authorities we were even allowed to take half days of leave, which
prevented us from doing what we believed our happier brethren in the
_pukka_ Civil Service could always do, ask to step out after lunch and
not come back that day. It also I suppose preserved as much of our
self-respect as was possible, for we were thus able to say that we at
anyrate did not rob our masters the public of any of our valuable time.
This reserve of time, however, was far too valuable commercially to me
to be lightly drawn upon, and so, rising at five the next day, I did as
much as possible towards getting straight before eight, when I started
to walk to the Office, a little over four miles, but with the prospect
of a long day's rest, as far as my body was concerned, in front of
me. That week was one of the busiest in my whole life. My office work
had to suffer, doubtless, for amid the dancing columns of figures or
snaky automatic curves I could always discern the counters, shelves,
showcases, etc., of this new daemon, the shop. Moreover, I had to
interview wholesale people, dealers in art embroidery, crewels, etc.,
dealers in fancy goods, dealers in mouldings, etc., and open accounts
upon the strength of that little capital, now fast dwindling away.
My education was rapid that week. I heard hundreds of new trade terms,
of the existence of articles for sale of which I never before dreamed,
of possibilities of profit making that were dazzling, and I remembered
them all. But I kept no account of my growing liabilities, loading my
memory with everything, and whenever an uneasy feeling persisted in
making itself noticed that I was plunging far beyond my resources, I
fell back upon the consoling hope that I should soon square everything
when the shop was opened. And I had determined to open that shop on
the following Saturday. I ordered a couple of thousand hand-bills
advising the resident gentry of Slopers Island, as East Dulwich was
then sarcastically called, that F. T. Bullen proposed opening the
premises at 135 Lordship Lane, S.E., on Saturday next as a high class
Emporium for the sale of fancy goods, and all the necessaries for the
production of art needlework.
There was also a notice to the effect that Carving, Gilding, and
Picture Frame Making, would be executed on the premises with promptness
and dispatch, Artists Materials would be kept in stock, Oil Paintings
restored, and their Frames Re-gilded, while expert opinion would be
given free to would-be Picture Buyers, Amateur Framemakers would be
supplied with materials at City Prices, and the Best Window Glass would
be cut and sold. Builders supplied at Trade Prices. I need hardly say
that I had advice in drawing up this precious circular or I should
never have dared aspire to such sublime heights of mendacity--even
now--though it is not easy--I blush to think on what a slender
possibility of performance I based all those grandiloquent promises.
After all they did little harm. For I hired boys to distribute my
bills in the best districts, paying them liberally upon their solemn
promises to knock at each door, where there was no letter box, so as
to make sure of my bills entering the houses. Next morning walking
over Denmark Hill--it had rained somewhat heavily during the night--I
saw my bills almost carpeting the sidewalk and roadway, and after my
first bitterness of soul at the sad waste had passed off, I accepted
the situation as a judgment on me from above for my shameless
exaggerations. I never consoled myself by thinking of the specious and
spacious lies of the Company promoter, the sufferers from which all
contributed to his wealth, out of which he often gave liberally to
religious institutions and felt a perfect glow of satisfaction thereat.
But for all my experience I was both ignorant and simple, which may
serve as a reason for my penitence, but no excuse.
The opening day arrived--I had been up nearly all the previous night
putting the finishing touches to the appearance of the shop and the
arrangement of the stock, and flattered myself that it looked pretty
well. My wife, who had an innate genius for art needlework, was in
charge of that department, and we had arranged that in the event of
orders for picture framing coming in with an overwhelming rush, she was
to promise, in case the customers would not accept her assurance that I
would do the work as cheaply as possible from the patterns they might
select, that I would wait upon them at their residences later on.
So I left that morning for the Office, standing for a moment on the
opposite side of the Lane, to gaze with pardonable pride upon the
bright shop with its blue and gold Fascia of
"ART NEEDLEWORK BULLEN AND PICTURE FRAMING."
It _did_ look pretty, and although anything but an optimist I confess I
did hope that its attractions would be irresistible to the passers-by;
he or she, especially she, would feel compelled to come in and buy
something. Of course, being an eminently genteel concern I could not
have, in the usual suburban fashion, a band of music performing in
the first floor front with the windows open, nor two or three raucous
voiced men exchanging witticisms with the passers-by upon their
stupidity in missing an opportunity like this of parting with their
brass with a thousand to one chance of getting the best value for it in
the 'ole world, and if I could have there was no money to pay for it.
But I confess that as I stood and looked at the pretty little show, I
had a vision of past experiences in raging seas among savage men amid
primitive conditions where life depended upon muscle and sinew and
grit, and I felt indeed as if I had sold my birthright for a mess of
pottage, or rather the promise of it, since it certainly was not yet
delivered.
It was my long Saturday at the Office--for in these days we only had
alternate Saturday afternoons off--and how I got through it I do not
know. I expect I sorely vexed those above me by the frequency of my
errors. But I pictured my wife with the shop full of eager buyers
utterly unable to cope with the rush of trade. I built castle after
castle in Spain, I was retiring from the office to take charge of an
ever increasing business demanding all my energies, and building up a
competency for my old age.
At last five o'clock came and I hurried homewards full of conflicting
emotions. But never in my deepest pessimism had I allowed myself to
contemplate the reality as it confronted me upon arrival at the shop.
At that time on Saturday afternoon there was not a single person
in front of the shop, nor when I entered was there anyone inside!
I passed through into the parlour and enquired in a subdued manner
what the day's fortune had been. I learned at once that not a single
person had entered the premises that day with the idea of buying
anything. There had been several beggars and people asking for change
(they could hardly have come to a more hopeless place on such a quest
since our total stock of currency was less than five shillings) but
customers--none.
I was staggered, for I was unprepared. Nevertheless I put as good a
face upon it as I could and solaced myself with some tea. But it was
rather a mournful meal for the thought would continually obtrude itself
"if this is the beginning what will the end be like"? However, there
was still plenty to do in the "getting straight" process, and being
busy at that I had no time to brood over this inexplicable repugnance
of the public to patronise me. Not that it was a busy thoroughfare--far
from it. Lower down some trade was being done, but up where I was it
looked like a new neighbourhood, I could not realise that it was a
London suburb with a great population. I did not then know that for
some mysterious reason Lordship Lane, except in one very small section
of it, had always been shunned by shoppers, who went much farther
afield to do their purchasing, down to Rye Lane, Peckham, or even as
far as Brixton.
So that sad day closed with never a potential buyer, and that delicate
perishable stock staring at me like the fruit of a crime, while the gas
from the six burners flared away as if rejoicing in the expense it was
causing me. So at eleven o'clock, I closed the emporium, and basket in
hand sallied forth to buy our frugal Sunday's dinner, thinking somewhat
bitterly that people must have food and clothing, but art needlework
and picture frames, being unnecessary luxuries, they had evidently
decided to do without.
I went to bed that night with a heavy heart, because now the fact that
I was in debt without hope of repayment stared me in the face, nagged
at me, would not let me shut it out, and for once my hitherto unfailing
solace, reading, was of no avail. At last I summoned up my mental
resources, and determined that since I had done all I could, it was
worse than useless to worry about the unfortunate result. Doubtless I
had done wrong, but with the most innocent and praiseworthy intentions,
and so I would sleep--and I did.
The next day, Sunday, was a gloomy one for me, for I knew no one in the
vicinity, and missed sorely my usual happy association with some body
of open-air preachers, and I felt almost outcast from human sympathy,
which, though it may be a confession of weakness, I always had a
craving for. But I got through the day somehow, my children wondering
what made their father so dull, such bad company, and was heartily glad
when bedtime came, and I could again seek the beautiful solace of sleep.
When I awoke again on Monday morning at five o'clock, and commenced
to busy myself about the house, it was with a feeling that was new
to me then, but which never left me during all the time that shop,
like some infernal incubus, clung to my neck. It was a sense of utter
hopelessness of ever doing any good in this business, coupled with the
absolute necessity of going on with it. I know I may be thought a poor
minded craven for being daunted in this wise thus early, but I must
plead that I had a prophetic instinct, besides my tangible experience,
and the grim fact of all these bills presently falling due. But I can
honestly say that this sense of hopelessness did not, as far as I am
aware, ever prevent me from doing my best and working my hardest to
make the best of what I felt to be a very bad job.
When I got to the office I realised that the shop must be dismissed
from my mind altogether while at my desk if I was to retain my post.
For I could take no half measures; I must either not think about it at
all or think of nothing else. So I took hold of myself resolutely, and
fixed my mind on my work, compelling an interest in it that I had never
been able to feel before. And it did me good in two ways. It relieved
me of the hateful round of useless thought about the shop, and it
salved my conscience, which was worrying me very much about the way in
which I was certainly neglecting my most important duties. But I found
it pretty hard to answer the inquiries of one or two friends to whom I
had confided my plans for going into business. I had to be frank with
them as to what had happened, and also to feign a hope, which I did not
feel, that things would soon improve.
However, taking things on the whole I felt much better in spirit when
I returned home on Monday evening. I felt, that, knowing the worst,
I could hardly help expecting a little improvement, and as to the
future--well, that was hardly my concern now. So that I was almost
cheerful when I entered the shop door, and not too much startled when
my wife rushed to meet me beaming, and crying, "I've sold something!"
I was sorely tempted to be sarcastic but forebore, and merely said
quietly, "I _am_ glad to hear that, what have you sold?" "One of those
pretty photo-frames out of my window, and here's the money," producing
a shilling, and pointing to the two frames which remained of the same
kind. Then I laughed long and loud, for the irony of the situation went
clean through me. She stared at me in bewildered fashion, saying, "What
on earth is the matter with you?" She evidently thought I was mad.
I answered, "Nothing, _I'm_ sane enough, but seeing that our first
business transaction in the shop is to sell an article for a shilling
which cost us eighteenpence, I do not know what I might have been if
I hadn't laughed." And I have to laugh now when I think of it. That
was our first customer, and she had a bargain. Somehow I persisted
in looking at the transaction in a humorous light, and so it didn't
hurt us, and presently fate made us amends by bringing a friend in
who was to me for all those grievous four years a veritable godsend.
He was, like myself, a stranger in the neighbourhood, indeed he was a
stranger to London, having come up to take charge of a branch library.
He "happened in" as the Americans say, just to ask if I had some kind
of nails or screws or something like that, for he was an ingenious
chap, and always doing something or other to make the temporary library
over which he presided more fit for its purpose without too much extra
expense.
We got into conversation quite easily, and he was speedily in
possession of my story. For, I was literally aching to tell it to
someone, and I could not have found a more sympathetic listener. He
was, I think, one of those people who are often cruelly described as
"nobody's enemy" but his own, but who should be better described as
everybody's friend but his own, for a more unselfish chap never lived,
and that character is, whatever its other faults may be, possessed of
the golden virtue of helpfulness in an eminent degree.
Well, before we had been talking an hour he was installed as the
friend of the family, in which unenviable position, as far as he was
concerned, he reigned without a rival all the time we had the business.
It was a bright and cheery episode, and did me more good than a hundred
customers would have done, so that I went to bed that night feeling
quite contented, and happy. I had found a friend who would be a friend
indeed.
The first proof I had of the value commercially of my new friend's
help was that coming in contact with so many people at the library, he
recommended me as a picture-framer in season and out. Anyhow he got me
work, which, whether it paid or not, was what I ardently desired. For
while I was _doing_ something I was, as Kipling says, swallowed up in
the clean joy of creation, and nothing else then mattered very much to
me. So gradually customers began to flow in, very gradually it is true,
but they _did_ come, and although my gains were small I made many good
friends who did their best to recommend me to others. I had a workshop
on the first floor which was a chosen haunt of my intimates, who, their
work being done, used to come and perch amidst the unpicturesque litter
and watch me at work, preferring apparently to be there in thirsty
discomfort to being in the local saloon bar. But how they did smoke!
We had a varied compound of odours up there, boiling glue, sour paste
and general dustiness, but the whole rank compound was leavened, and I
think purified, by tobacco smoke, diligently emitted by my friends as
they watched me at work.
The curious part of these gatherings was that I had nothing to offer
these guests, no refreshment, either wet or dry. I was far too poor
for that. Not that any of them ever seemed to expect anything but a
precarious seat on the edge of a box, or even standing room. They
brought their own tobacco and talked and smoked while I worked, and
when at last the job was finished and I had to say, "Now, you fellows
must clear out, I've got to take this job home," they would go
reluctantly--except occasionally that some of them would insist upon
lending me a hand with my load to the door of the house that I was
bound to. Ah, it was a strenuous time and full of worries, but I know
now that it had its own peculiar charm and value, also a certain zest
which I shall never know again.
Noble sportsmen spend huge sums and risk life and limb hunting game,
I was gambling with my health and strength for an elusive stake, and,
generally speaking, the odds were against me. And what made the venture
of more intense interest was of course the helpless dependents. These
made it impossible for me to halt even if, as often happened, I lost
heart. It must be a good thing to be compelled to go on, it often
makes a hero out of quite an ordinary person, raising him to heights of
effort of which he never dreamed himself capable. All the more honour
therefore to those, who, without these incentives, press forward to
their goal in defiance of every hindrance.
I now began to realise in full measure the minor trials of the
shop-keeper. The mere buying and selling, the commercial side of the
business had in it a good deal of pleasure, but there was little in
the more sordid details of keeping the stock dusted, the shop clean,
the windows bright. Oh, those windows! they had a fascination for
the children of the neighbourhood, whose chief delight appeared to
be to get a lump of horse-dung or mud or filth of any sort and smear
on them immediately after I had spent an hour's hard work in getting
them clean. And I did begrudge the time for doing this, yet I couldn't
afford to pay for having it done, that would indeed have been taking
the exiguous gilt off the all too scanty gingerbread. And there was
yet another prime difficulty. I dared not let a customer go who wanted
anything that I had not in stock at the time, but would promise to get
it whatever it was. And so I had to make continual rushes to the city
after office hours, the travelling expenses almost invariably eating up
double the profits, rather than have a customer go elsewhere and say
that he or she could not get what they wanted from me.
This is the main difficulty of a suburban shop like mine was, started
with insufficient capital, for it is impossible to keep a stock on hand
sufficient to meet the needs of all customers, so vastly varied are the
details of nearly every business now. But in this matter the wholesale
dealers are kindness and courtesy itself. They might very well neglect
the small, hardly beset trader, or refuse to supply him unless he gave
a substantial order, but in my experience they are just as courteous
and ready to meet the wants of the smallest of their customers as they
are of the huge retailers who spend scores of thousands of pounds per
annum with them. I always think of this when I read diatribes in the
press about the laxity of British trade methods abroad, and wonder how
much truth there can be in them.
This, however, is trenching upon the ground of high commercial
politics, very far removed indeed from my feeble shopkeeping, and so
I must needs return humbly to the principal difficulty encountered on
the left hand side of my shop, or let us say grandiloquently, "The
Fancy and Art Needlework Department." When customers began to come in
we soon found that they almost invariably wanted something we had not
got in stock, often something which we had never heard of, and when
we hinted that the demand was infrequent or unusual, lifted shoulders
and half-closed eyes proclaimed most eloquently profound disbelief in
our statements, or an equally profound belief in our unfitness for
the particular business in which we were engaged. I was often tempted
to believe that ladies upon whose hands time hung heavy did of malice
aforethought study our poor windows, and finding that something in the
art needlework line which they knew of was not there (alas _that_ was
not difficult), would enter boldly and ask for it. If by some happy but
unusual chance we had it, and displayed it triumphantly, nothing was
easier than to decry its quality or tint or something, and retiring say
that they would think about it. Doubtless in this employment there was
great sport to be found, seeing the number of women who practised it,
but it needed the exercise of much patience and amiability to take it
politely when once we had begun to realise that it was a game to these
folks, and nothing more.
Still I make no doubt but that this trial did us good, in that no one
can exercise patience and politeness without becoming more patient
and polite. Only when the making of a sale was almost imperative by
reason of present need for money there was often a sick feeling at the
heart upon realising that the comfortably dressed, bejewelled woman
upon whom we were attending so assiduously had not the remotest idea
of making a purchase, but was only passing the time away in what was
to her a pleasant fashion. Such behaviour, so common among women of
leisure, is hard enough upon paid employees of a shop, but it is very
much harder upon such people as depend upon the scanty earnings of the
shop itself. Ah well, it was only another of the lessons I was learning
that, as a sardonic shopkeeper friend of mine said one day, a small
trader in London must be a transgressor, in that his way was certainly
hard.