ENTHUSIASM 485"No," said I, "if I had been fortunate enough to get on the dollar-
a-year payroll I might now have enough money to pay for these suits:'
The tailor looked at me with surprise. I don't think he got the joke.
One of the suits was a beautiful dark gray; one was a dark blue;
the other was a light blue with a pin stripe.
Fortunately I was in good standing with my tailor, therefore he did
not ask when I was going to pay for those expensive suits. I knew that I
could and would pay for them in due time, but could I have convinced
him of that? This was the thought that was running through my mind,
with hope against hope that the question would not be brought up.
I then visited my haberdasher, from whom I purchased three less
expensive suits and a complete supply of the best shirts, collars, ties,
hosiery, and underwear that he carried.
With an air of prosperity I nonchalantly signed the charge ticket.
A feeling of renewed self-reliance and success began to come over me,
even before I had attired myself in my newly purchased clothing.
I was out of the war and $675 in debt, all in less than twenty-four
hours.
The following day the first of the three suits I ordered from the
haberdasher was delivered. I put it on at once, stuffed a new silk hand-
kerchief in the outside pocket of my coat, shoved the fifty dollars I had
borrowed on my ring down into my pants pocket, and walked down
Michigan Avenue in Chicago, feeling as rich as Rockefeller.
Every morning I dressed in an entirely new outfit, and walked down
that same street at precisely the same hour. That hour "happened" to
be the time when a certain wealthy publisher usually walked down the
same street on his way to lunch.
I made it my business to speak to him each day, and occasionally
we would stop for a minute's chat.
After this daily meeting had been going on for about a week, one
day when I saw this publisher I decided to see if he would let me get by
him without our speaking to each other.