Yes, that is what they were called in the old days,although the dictionary does not contain such a word.

However, there is no question that I was such a person for about forty four wonderful years
My dear Father- in law was such a person even though, when I met him he was running a knitting machine-
but I forgot what he was knitting so long ago.
He evidently harbored a hidden desire for the shoe trade and had worked in a shoe store in his youth.
I was a traveling salesman for ladies' underwear at the time of my marriage and shoes were just something
I wore.
"Morris" and my wonderful mother-in law "Rose" were visiting their doctor son in Los Angeles. One day he
took them for a ride to Long Beach. I never found out why in particular, and they came to a beach area
called " Belmont Shore". Traveling the main street ,lined with stores, they came upon a shoe store which
had a sign " For Sale". It turns out the owner of this place had started this establishment just a year before
with the idea of making enough money to join his relatives in a fine furniture store.
Somehow, Morris was able to come to terms and purchased the place. After the accomplished fact
he called my wife and myself to propose that we join him in this venture. Lately I had been very angry at
my boss who had been a good friend of mine for many years. His uncle was the owner of the factory
I traveled for and " Mike" had inherited the business ( he came from the same town in Germany as I
and was about my age) when "Uncle Herman" passed away.All went well for awhile but then "Mike"
felt I was making too much money and cut my territory. This was the time when the call came from
California and it took my dear Belle and myself about 2 minutes to agree to this fine offer to go
from underwear to shoes. Right here let it be known that, before the call, I had spent two years
in the US Army in sunny Burbank,a suburb of Los Angeles and had fallen in love with the sunshine.
There were no openings after my return from Okinawa ,Japan, a year later and I had to return to
my old job reluctantly.
Thus this offer was a gift from heaven. We sold our house quickly and I packed up my car and
Belle and our one year old pride and joy,daughter Diane took the plane to Los Angeles,whereas
I drove a day and a half to Long Beach in my trusty Plymouth. We rented an apartment,after being
turned down by a lady who had such a place for rent-because we were Jewish ! That is the only
incident of this kind that I can remember during all my life in our town.

To be continued