The following text is from Herman Melville’s 1854 short story “The Lightning-Rod Man.”
The narrator has just been visited by a salesperson trying to sell lightning rods.
“Good day, sir,” said I, recovering my self-possession. “Have you any preliminary credentials? For you are a stranger to me.” “I have the best of credentials,” romantically dropping his chained rod, and finding his wallet with a business-like air. “My card.”
The stranger still stood in the exact middle of the cottage, where he had first planted himself. He stood there in dripping trousers, holding his still dripping hat in his hand, and holding up that soaked card with a drenched look. There was nothing this man would not do to sell his lightning-rods. He’d make a sale and not get drenched, if he could, but he’d get drenched and make a sale, if he had to. He’d be as polite as you please, so long as it helped him make a sale, but if it helped him make a sale to be rude, he would be rude. He would tell the truth, if the truth would sell lightning-rods, but if a lie would sell more, he
The narrator has just been visited by a salesperson trying to sell lightning rods.
“Good day, sir,” said I, recovering my self-possession. “Have you any preliminary credentials? For you are a stranger to me.” “I have the best of credentials,” romantically dropping his chained rod, and finding his wallet with a business-like air. “My card.”
The stranger still stood in the exact middle of the cottage, where he had first planted himself. He stood there in dripping trousers, holding his still dripping hat in his hand, and holding up that soaked card with a drenched look. There was nothing this man would not do to sell his lightning-rods. He’d make a sale and not get drenched, if he could, but he’d get drenched and make a sale, if he had to. He’d be as polite as you please, so long as it helped him make a sale, but if it helped him make a sale to be rude, he would be rude. He would tell the truth, if the truth would sell lightning-rods, but if a lie would sell more, he