The Grange advance., 1877-01-03

a soft custard and the other things
e1~(eb.itas II dn4hes
cupful Of cold milk. and bake il an
earthen pot two and one:half hours. i
Why Certain Yonng Dry Goods Clerk is
9e ,.as LOOKING, X for Situation; !. .s!
From the San Francisco Post. 4a MS d .gy,Et
One OF, the fascinating young men in
up town dry. goods stores is inftronble.
It is the custom in Che ablishment,
from which he has just been dismissed
to discharge man who fails to sell to
one Of three successive customers.
..Swapping'' is the expressive techni-
cal term by which this failure is known
in the dry goods business. The rule is
not universal, but it is by no means
exceptional in dry goods stores. How
ever unjust it may be, it has q wonder
fully stimulating effect on the elegant
young men amendable to it. and when
they cannot sell goods it is a safe in
ference that the customer is either
supernaturally obdurate, impecunious,
or miserly. The young man referred
to had t'first call'' last Friday morning;
that is! the first customer who entered
the store was by the rules Of rotation
his exclusive victim. Next morning
this privilege would fall to the lot
of some other clerk; and so on TO the
end Of the ist.a The first customer
sMapped him, and left without invest
ing cent. The next was in an equally
unpropitious state of mind, and retired
without effecting a purchase. On the
decision of the third hung his fate.
His ample cheek, blanched as she dark
ened the doorway, for a more unlikely
purchaser could with difficulty have
been found. An old striped shawl was
thrown carelessly over her shoulders
and partially concealed a roll of calico
which the palpitatory heart of the
clerk instinctively felt that she came
to have matched. Now if there is
anything in the dry goods business
more soul-harrowing than another it
is to match goods. The exact shade
and texture have to be found, and last
but not least, the price must cores
pond. A feeling of sickening despair
permeated the heaving breast of the
unfortunate clerk as he asked, ''We]l,
mum?' e.. 5a,..~.s.3 ;5a- 1-' ..''
She laid down five yards and half
of calico Of an eccentric pattern, and
intimated that the success of great
dressmaking enterprise hinged on her
fortune in finding another yard and a
half Of the same material. n5rs4@2A@
The eyes of six expectant clerks
were upon the doomed man. He felt
that the crisis of his peril had come.
With an appearance of calmness that
belied the turmoil of his feelings, he
dived under the counter, and handed
out endless rolls of calico, varying
from the radiant straw berry and moss
rose marked, to the soberest gray.
But he came net within thirteen sup.
Elementary colors of the required pat.
tern. He burrowed in the cavernous
depths Of lower shelves, and ransacked
upper ones from the top round of a
giddy step-ladder, but he found it not.
An hour and a half had gone by, and
his stock was nearly exhausted. The
proprietor Of the store and the book.
keeper and porter had come out to
witness his d. ath struggle. r Six times
the wearied lady started for the door
and six times he called her back and
resumed his frenzied search. 4 The last
calico was unroned, and he was about
to drop his hat and gracefully step
down and out, when a happy thought
struck him. a. : ...,-f s7ssa%ss~ -
"Excuse me, madame, . said he
1 'sthere's one piece l overlooked. Let
me see that goods - and he took her
bundle and, diving under the counter,
hacked off a yard and half with the
energy and promptness of rekindled
hope E%',.s~l9 "'' tofG' '1'%'4 H2~t'S
2'sHere It's, madam; exactly what
you required, = said he, confidently
spreading out the pnrloined goods. -
She looked at it attentively for five
minutes. ''It does look like the pat.
term said she, /" but still think it's
not what want. It's a good deal
c0arser than mine. If can't get any.
thing nearer to the pattern I'll come
back and take it. Good morning."
She did com back in an hour, but
not to buy the goods. He tried to
dodge behind the counter, but with the
keen sightedness of womanly revenge
she spotted him ,and he was ignomini.
ously hauled out and sarraigned before
his employer. The worst of it was
that the latter, in view of the unproti.
table energy shown in his attempt to
effect a sale, had coacluaed not to dis.
charge him. With the evidence of
his guilt 50 unmistakable, however. it
would be fatal TO the discipline of the