St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1876-02-11
A Piece of Red Calico.

ME. EDITOR II the following true
experience shall prove of any advan-
tage t" amy of ynur readers, | shall he
glad
| WAS going into town the other
morning. vi hen my wife handed me Il
little piece of red calico, and asked me
if | would have time. during the day
to buy lcI two NaId> and Il half of cal
leo like that. assured her that it
would bc no trouble at all. and putting
the piece of calico i'll my pocket, | took
the train for the city
At lunch time stopped in at Il large
dry goods store To attend to my wife :
commission. | saw Il well-dressed man
walking the floor between the counters.
where long lines of girls were waiting
on much longer lines Of customers, and
asked him where | could see some red
calico.
This way, sir" and he led me up
| the store. Miss Stone" said he to a
Young lady. ''>how this gentleman some
red calico"
Nv hat shade do you want - asked
Miss Stone.
showed her the little piece of calico
that my wife had given me She lock
ed ut it and handed it back to me.
Then she took down Il great roll of red
calico and spread it out on the counter.
"NhH. thai isn't the shade - said |.
No. not exactly. said she. "hut it
Is prrttirr than y"ur sample"
"Ihat may he. said |: "but You
see. | want to match this piece. There
i> something already made of this kind
ot calico. which needs to he made, lar
ger. "r mcndrd, or something. | want
some calico of the same shade"
The girl made no answer. but took
down another roll.
That's the shade" said she
"leS." replied. ''hut its striped"
"StripcS are more worn than ANYTHING
els i'll calir"eS" said she.
"lc>: but this isn't to he worn. Its
tor furniture. think. At any rate.
want perfectly plain stuff. to match
something already in use"
"Well don't think vou can find it
perfectly plain. unless Nnu get Turkey
red"
Nv ha; is Turkey red ," asked
"Turkry red is perfect, plain in cal
icocS.' she answered..
"Wcll. let me see some
I'VE haven't any Turkey red calico
left. she said. 'but We have some very
nice plain calicoes III other colorS"
Il don't want any other color
want stuff to match this"
"lt'S hard to match cheap calico like
that" she said and so | left her.
| next went into Il store Il few doors
further up Broadway. When entered
| approached the ''tl0pr- walker" and
handing him my sample. said:
"Have You any calico like this ~
"Ies. sir said he. Third counter
to the right
went to the thiid counter to the
right, and showed my sample to the
salesman in attendance there. He
looked ut il on both sides. Then he
said:
I'VE haven't any of this
THAT gentleman said yen had, said |.
I'VE had it, but we're out of it now.
You'll get that goods at an upholStcr-
rr'S"
went across the street to AN uphol-
StcrcrS.
"Have You any stuff like this ?" |
asked.
"No." said the salesman, '.we have
MT. Is it for furniture ,"
"Yes," replied.
Then Turkey red is what you
want p
''Is Turkey red just like this ~
asked.
No" said he; ''but it's much bet
ter
THAT makes no difference to me-"
replied. IL want something Just like
this"
"But they don't use that for furni-
ture," he said.
Il should think people could use any
thing they wanted for furniture | re-
marked, somewhat sharply.
''They can, but they don't" He said
quite calmly. ''They don't use red
like that. They use Turkey red"
| said no more, but left. The next
place | visited was II very large dry
goods store. W the first salesman
saw inquired if they kept red calico
like my sample.
you'll find that on the second st"-
ry," said he.
| went upstairs. There asked ii
man: