But Samuel was not
to be held within the shop-walls: he had his plans for erecting a
great business, and no power could restrain him. He soon set forth to
the villages of Doynton and Pucklechurch, and arranged to meet the
good folks at fixed times, in one house or another convenient for
them, and there to receive their orders. He made himself their friend:
he was hearty, familiar, and in earnest; he noticed their children; he
knew their ways; and he rapidly gained their favour, and effected
considerable sales.'
'This point gained, he began to talk of supplying the smaller shops.
"Why should not we supply them as well as other people?" His brother
shrank from anything that seemed to approach the wholesale. He feared
that they would get beyond their means, and wished to pursue only the
old course. Samuel could wait, but he could not surrender. Supply the
smaller shops he would, and by degrees he managed to accomplish it.
Very gradually, the range of this quasi-wholesale trade extended.
Firmly keeping to his purpose of working all he had got, and going on
little by little, he made no abrupt enterprise--no great dash; but on,
on he plodded in the humblest way, caring nothing for show, but
careful that every foot of ground under him was solid.
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