Yet, it would not answer for an Inspector to call on him on
any pretense whatever. What should be done?

The postmaster was a druggist, and sold cigars; so we decided to fit
out Bedell as a cigar agent and let him call in the regular course of
business and do a little drumming and pumping. A fancy case was
borrowed of a regular Chicago dealer, into which was neatly packed a
sample box each of McConnel's Perfectos, Con. Mehoney's Shamrocks, Mrs.
Kelly's Pappooses, Carter Harrison's Best, Fred Hill's Favorites, and
Tol. Lawrence's Prides. A team was procured two stations north of
Alvin, and down into the sleepy hamlet Mr. Brooks, the agent of
Chesterfield, Schoolcraft & Browning, quietly wended his way and
presented his card at the Alvin drug store and post-office.

It was harvest time and mid-day trade was quiet, so of course Mr.
Brooks found abundant opportunity to do business without being jostled
about by applicants for tobacco and tanglefoot for medical purposes.
His prices were the most reasonable of any agent who had called since
the war; but that was explained by the fact that this house always
surprised its customers with good goods and low prices, and this was
Mr. Brook's first trip through that section, and his first visit to
Alvin. As a result he remained three hours, sold two dozen boxes of
Perfectos, four dozen Pappooses, a whole case of Lawrence's Prides, and
went to dinner with the postmaster.

When he reached Danville about four o'clock that afternoon, where he
was to report to Henshaw and myself, he was radiant with the enthusiasm
of well earned success. He had studied the Alvin postmaster as
thoroughly as he did the ten commandments when a child; was present
when the Wabash mail arrived and saw the postmaster distribute it alone
for the Eastern Illinois going north; sold him a fine bill of goods,
which was not to be delivered on account of the pressing business of
the house for two weeks; saw the postmaster lock up the office and went
to dinner with him, after which he returned to the office and saw the
postmaster endorse the registers and lock out the mail for the Eastern
Illinois, north; and everything had been done by the postmaster exactly
as a thoroughly honest, upright, conscientious postmaster would do it.

There had not been the first false motion, word or suspicious
circumstance, and he would wager his entire lot of samples that the
postmaster was one of God's noblest works--an honest m