Botts Begins

by William Hazlett Upson

Overview

Welcome to the world of Alexander Botts and Earthworm Tractors, a series of humorous short stories about a bumbling salesman’s trial and tribulations selling crawler tractors. His unusual sales tactics send the machines through impervious swamps, murky lakes, and high snowbanks. His schemes consistently backfire but, in the end, he never fails to close the deal! In this book, Botts talks his way into a job selling Earthworm Tractors for The Farmers’ Friend Tractor Company.

Alexander Botts was created in 1927 by author William Hazlett Upson, and these stories are based on Upson’s brief career as a mechanic for the Caterpillar Tractor Company. For almost half a century, Botts was beloved by Saturday Evening Post readers in more than 100 short stories. This book is the first in a series and will be the only publication to present the collection in its entirety, including five Botts stories that never appeared in the Saturday Evening Post.

Alexander Botts and his Earthworm Tractor will charm readers young and old and entertain with innocent mayhem, timeless humor, and twists of fate.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781642340259
Publisher:	Octane Press
Publication date:	09/15/2020
Series:	Alexander Botts and the Earthworm Tractor , #1
Pages:	262
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

William Hazlett Upson was born in Glen Ridge, NJ on September 26, 1891. His father was a Wall Street lawyer and his mother was a doctor of medicine. Upson became a farmer then enlisted in the field artillery in World War I. After the war he worked for several years as a service mechanic and troubleshooter for the Caterpillar Tractor Company. He learned the art of salesmanship which would inspire his later writing. In 1923, he began writing short stories and in 1927 created character Alexander Botts, who has appeared in over a hundred Saturday Evening Post stories.

Upson married Marjory Alexander Wright and made a home in Middlebury, Vt. He had a son, John Wright Upson and a daughter, Polly (Mrs. Claude A. Brown).

Table of Contents

Foreword Lee Klancher 1

I'm a Natural-Born Salesman April 16, 1927 4

The Indirect Method August 6, 1927 22

I'm a Hard-Boiled Bozo September 24, 1927 44

The Wonders of Science February 11, 1928 66

Trouble with the Expense Account February 25, 1928 86

The Big Sales Talk April 7, 1928 110

Secondhand Stuff September 8, 1928 130

The Big Endurance Test September 22, 1928 150

Big Business October 13, 1928 168

Sandy Inlet December 15, 1928 188

The Old Home Town March 9, 1929 212

Always Polite March 30, 1929 228

About William Hazlett Upson 252

About Alexander Botts 253