Topical Guide 255
Mark Dorset
Real Places: Boston, Late Nineteenth Century
MY GRANDFATHER, Herb Piper, was born in Boston . . .
Herb ’n’ Lorna, Chapter 3
Salesmanship; Traits, Generational Persistence of
For generations, the Pipers had exhibited two outstanding characteristics: a cool-headed talent for selling and a gullible ineptitude for investing. It was quite possible for a Piper to accumulate a tidy nest egg over the course of a week of selling and lose it in an hour by buying into a scheme that he thought would double his money overnight — a land deal, say, that he had overheard two fellows talking about downtown while he was having lunch, a deal that, he allowed himself to be convinced, involved virtually no risk whatsoever, a deal that was as sure as sure can be. Like a dog biting its own tail, a Piper at his worst turned his talent against himself, selling himself on the wisdom of his folly. This type of self-deception, self-injury, has been known in my family for generations as “doing a foolish Piper thing.” When imprudent Pipers found that they had done a foolish Piper thing, when the land, the development company, and the two fellows vanished, some Pipers would brood and curse themselves and the foolish Piper giant who seemed to dog their steps, but others would shrug and chuckle at themselves and their inherited folly. Herb’s grandfather was of the chuckling type. “Well,” he had said when he broke the news about the land, the development company, and the two vanishing fellows to Herb’s grandmother, “I’ve gone and done a foolish Piper thing, haven’t I?”
Herb ’n’ Lorna, Chapter 3
Real People and Historical Figures
Once, however, there had been a substantial Piper fortune, thanks to Herb’s great-grandfather, Thomas Piper, and his association with Frederick Lewis Tudor, the finest flower ever to blossom on the vine of American marketing genius.
Herb ’n’ Lorna, Chapter 3
See also: Salesmanship TG 75; Salesmanship; Persuasion, The Art of: Appeal to Ego or Pride TG 77
Traits, Generational Persistence of TG 37; Traits, of Character, of Personality TG 37
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