Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1874-11-19
Going 10 MArket-AOw the WOmeu

Going 10 MArket-RaOW the Women
DO L.
You will notice they are guided by rules and
fixed laws. First and foremost, they attend the
meat market. There is not woman in all the
assemblage who would hear to the sugees-
ton that she purchase her vegetables first. 1t
may be that on her way to tile meat-stalls the
attractions OF pou ltry-stand will catch her eve
and obllterste from her mind all precOnceved
notions Of roast. But il she succeed in pass
ing the poultry, you will find her prodding her
myers into the various Grounds" upon the
block, and until she has driven that particular
proprietor half wild nothing can seduce her At
tention from him and his wares.
Loudly and long does al comment upon the
class OF matter he presents for her contemplA-
ton. Over and again she turns to her compan-
ion, and points out some defect in the breyet
steak or the embryo chop, convincing herself
and every other woman around her, that cent
pound less is really all the thing IN worth
under the sun. 1t matters nothing how
many varieties are shown her, nor what their
intrinsic value may be, the value Of their defects
u always cent pound, and modern HsgAr
in wilderness Of beef, she refuses comfort on
any other basis: II, persdvent,ire, she convinc-
eth the dealer by lamentation and inducemept
that she hath offered all its worth, and If, per-
chance, he DO willing to conade unto her the
scrip ~ she may offer, then We discover she has
secured An elegant bargain, and so cheap, too,
you know
The question Of potatoes next thrills her soul,
There breathes not under the broad canopy of
high heaven woman who will sandwich any pur-
chase between her meat and her potatoes. Nv
every instinct Of her nature and every element
OF her education, potatoes follow meat, ~ nat
turally ss one goose follows another, when they
seek their homes in the heightened shadows Of
the twilight But to her mind there is q vast
difference between the meat msn and the potato
mail She would no more attempt upon the lat
ter the wiles she practices upon the former, than
she would OF stutiing her potatoes and mashlng
her meat
Unto him Of the murphies she comes like thu
ghost OF the Dane, whose ear proved his death,
and hints ~ dArkly. It avRls him nothing that
he ssseyerates that "rhem 10 the cheapest psrta-
ters in the MARKET" she knows man, an indea-
mite man, who keeps around the corner, ~ such
men always do, and who sells much better arti
Gle Of potatoes at much cheaper rates. He ia
skeptical ~ to the existence OF any such man.
but she solsmnly avers she .'seen him . mint
ngone' and on goes nickel from the price for.
Of the melsnge Of = well-ordered dinner,
One after smother they come, each with the
same views that harassed her predecessor, and
MI with the same ide. Of cheapening down aud
laugh At them To these people > cent pound
on meat or butter. nickel on q few potatoes.
amounts to something. To them every nickel
has its meaning and its value, every cent It's
QOWS4tlG 4CQN-
omy and well will they fight and work to save
even fraction here and there, lest by paying
more they suffer in the want Of something they
really need.
And now they come down one aide and up the
other. At each stall they stop to inspect, and at
every one they inquire the price Of something
You zee them purchasing odds and ends that
you, dear friend, would never dream Of, but
these people have some good use for them or
they would never carry them away. You fnd
them thick about fruit stands, but they seldom
purchase. You find them thick before stalls
whose articles are clear beyond their pecuni-
ary reach, but it seems some satisfaction to
them to look around aud inquire the values
they do nothing that repays the huckster fol
his time IN answering their questions.
But here comes . representative of another
class. Fresh. young, lately married, and with
one Of those nice little girls, who alwsys buy
pocket-book with the first money they get and
then make up their minds to be economical
Evidently she intends to live cheAply, for she
has passed the poultry stand with firmly CON-
pressed lips and eyes askance, and she marches
measure taken and most numerically Ia she
heeced by the bowling butcher, who charges her
all he has lost BY previous sales, and sells her
somsthing he could sell no one else ct price no
one else would pay for the best he can exhibit
And from one stall to another che goes,
swindled At all, buying forty cent butter and
paying fifty cents. and everything else on the
same principle, comforting herself, poor little
innocent soul, with the reflection that she has
done remarkably well, and hasn't spent one un-
necessary nickel. Never mind, it Is better to
be pretty and inexperienced than old and hard
ened, and who wouldn't pay more for the privi- |
lege Of being young married woman who isn't |
up to the villanes Of the world, than Al ancient
and mildly beautiful dame who knows it Al-!8. |
Louis Globe.