The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-02-20
The Art OF shopping Gommon-sense
!. Advice for Inexperienced House.
From Hearth and Home


The purchasing Of supplies for the family
table, and of materials for the family ward
robe, Is necessary part of the work of .
housekeeper. To do it well, easily. and eco.
nom1calty ia an art not to be learned in 2
day, but, like other arts, to be acquired aby
time and pains. There is nothing especially
pleasant in shopping, looked ut per Sc. II
one desires to buy dozen yards Of
muslin, or paper Of pins, the thing
is easy enough; but to match delicate
shades of trimmings, to go from cotln-
ter to counter in search Of fabric Of
some particular fineDess or width, to en-
counter people Of all varieties of disposition
fur from agreeable. Why the gentlemen
who sell gloves, for instance, should FIRE.
guently regard the buyers with lofty con-
tempt, fiinging down their packages Of skies
and sevens as il they were veritable cages oil
defiance, and affecting supreme indifference
as to whether or not the required tints are al
hand, Is problem difficult of solution.
Why the demon of ill-temper hides so often
among cuffs and collars and small wares gen.
orally, while your salesman, who has to pull
down and put up immensely heavy rolls OF
goods ali day long, is bland and smiling, and
awaits your orders with charming patience,
is another of the parudoxes of life, Posi-
bly,, though, il we were able to put our
selves in the place of those whose business il
is to sell goods, we might see that, like R.
Wilter's wife, the work is sometimes apt to
be ga little wearing" For there are ladies
who find much delight in shopping. There
are girls who deliberately dress and sail,
forth to look at things they have no inten.
| ton OF purchasing, and who, as innocent.
| looking as if they were not really doing 3
mean and vulgar, not to say dishonest
thing, use time and give trouble, and leave
their victims without an apology. The pen.
| atty of their sins falls not on their pretty
heads, but on yours and mine, dear matroD,
when we 60 to buy our flannels and oul
shceting, and come upon the wearied young
men who have spent their amiabiiity and
wasted their strength for naught upon oul
| predecessors.
When shopping to any extent is to be done
| it is great help to have plan Of operations
| made out beforehand. II your memory is q
Well-trained and obliging servant, az memory
ought to be, you may find it sufficient to mr.
| range mentally your needs in several groups.
| If you prefer it, a memorandum thus divided
| will prove an assistance. So you will save
yourself from asking for stockings before
you have gotten through in the lace depart
| ment, and from remembering about Fanny's
| feather when you are looking at brown
| towels. Have all the stockings, their differ
cnt sizes, qualities, and probable cost, ar
ranged under one head all the underclotil-
\ ing, linen, and muslin under another; the
calicocs, merinos, or silks under third
aud the etceterGs, that are always wanted
| and always overlooked, in place by them
selves, and you will be saved world OF
troubeand vexation.
| The one objectionable sin in connection
with shopping is one of which no lady would
ever be guilty, if it were not true that " evil
is wrought by want Of thought, as we'll US
want of heart" All honorable dealers ask
for their goods the price which they are
honestly worth, the value of the fabrics, the
costs of importation, taxation, and various
| other things, being duly considered. To
| cheaper, or bargain, or "beat down"a price
| is yUlgarity. 1t is quite the reverse to say
| simply, "thc price is larger than wish to
givc.' and then leave the thing In question
| and look at something else. These obServa.
! tiouS refer, Of course, to operations in Ameri.
| can stores. If one were shopping for silks OF
shawls in the bazars of Cairo or Damascus,
where for centuries Oriental merchants have
asked four times the price they expect to re-
ccivc, there might be room for an exception
to the rule. s-..
Iii the department of marketing many
women make mistakes for want Of thought
funess and trained ability. To know the
moment you look at it whether beefsteak is
what if assumes TO be-Whether the cut the
butcher smilingly recommends will prove a
help toward indigestion or nutritiyc and
inviting dish when it appears roasted Oh the
table-to divine whether chickens are tough
or tender, and to be sure of fruits and yege-
!ables--iS an accomplishment which isworth
acquiring. The pretty ignorance Of some
young ladies' on these points exposes them to
trouble and loss when it becomes part OF
their duty to provide for house.
How many people have laughed over poor
little Dora Copperfield and her absurd ut
tempt at keeping house The extraordinary
joints of meat, the oysters that had never
been opened, the immense quantities Of fish
bought for two, the general uncomfortable
ness Of the MENACE, have amused hundreds
of readers But there are homes by the
score in which such contretemps often occur,
and in which Dora's troubles ind Dayid's
vcXations are not few and far between.
Wouldn't it he WGrth~ Wl4e. fer fer girls girls who
den,-teafe especially for, say, the piano, and
who have an uDdeyeloped talent for keeping
house, to cultivate the latter, and SO escape
the troubles that usually encompass people
T." have to learn anything by experience?