The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1867-05-11
May 8, 1860
THE THEORY OF SHOPPING
QNTENDED FOR WOMEN TO READY
By Mrs. George Washington Wyzle8.

By Mrs. George Washington Wyzles.
The following, from the American Phre-
nological Journal, we recommend to our lady
readers as well worth their attentive pc
rusal:
Is there not some kindly mathematician
who would undertake to compute the number
of hours, days, we may even say months,
that the women Of America spend in stores,
looking at bright-cOlored fabrics, discussing
the comparative merits of silk and grena-
dine and trying to make their purses stretch
out to an indefinite extent2 OF course no.
body would believe his estimate until its
nOt-tO-be contradicted facts were placed In
solid columns Of figures before the very eyes
of the incredulous Nobody has any idea
how much time she spends in shopping
nobody has ever paused to think whether it
was n good Investment of the precious mo-
ments Our women don't sympathize much
Men have their brilliant saloons, their
reading rooms. their political meetings.
Women shop% Men throw out their wide
spreading nets Of trade, commerce, and
speculation to draw in the golden weight Of
dollars Women industriOusly 20 forth with
their appropriation Of the harvest to scatter
it abroad again as fast as possible. Money
l-shOuld be kept IN circulation, says the DO
litical economist, and no one is better calcu-
lated to carry out this theory than tole-
rably enterpTising woman.
We would not for an instant have it un-
derstOod that we depreciate the practice in
| itself BY no means Shopping is an insti-
tuition If it is a standing joke among man
kind, then so much less brains have man
kind. Do flannel drawers, hosiery, and new
shirts spring up like mushrooms by the do
mestic hearthstOne, we should respectfully
{ -, I.&
men, poor helpless beings that they are. If
the women left off shopping? Sometimes
we have known solitary and melancholy in
stances Of mems going shopping, but they
/ invariably returned depressed, vietimiZed,
and reduced to their own proper level Such
men usually regard their wives and sisters
with marvellous respect and appreciation for
a few days until the keen edge Of the thing
Is worn CtI2
/ Therefore don't let Us hear a word against
/ shopping, unless tie cavalier Is prepared to
take up the gauntlet in good earnest, and
/ fight the question through n taUtraRce!
Either it is right or it is wrong, and we say
/ it Is right
/ Right, we mean. to put money in our
/ purse and 90 out reully intended TO buy
something that we reaiLy need. This Is our
/ idea Of the correct theory Of shopping As
! the cast-olI-clOthes dealers say IN their ad-
/ yertisements. " All others are humbugs =
/ But, ladies', beware how sou allow Your
/ selves to be tempted into going shopping,
/ unless you are actually obliged. If the day
/ happens to be beguilingly fine, let it be-
( guile If you need exercise 20 out and
take q brisk walk around tie block. IF a
sister woman comes and invites you to 20
+ with her, answer her (ouly in a more cor
I teous form Of words) Get thee behind me,
Satan p Don't be over persuaded. A wo-
man who gets adrift 8B broadway without
a clear and definite idea Of what she wants
/ to buy, is like a ship without a compass. If