The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-10-06
rhe woman Who Has Been shopping.


Here she comes, with her arms full
and her lace flushed with heat and ex-
citenl.n p She rushes through the gate
and alon4 The platform with the energy
and frl9nk Of one chased by an infuri-
ated batlN She Chambers into the car;
all of breeze, awaking the echoes. as
soon as Fle puts her head inside, with
the exclz4aation: 80 dear! how warm it
isl addressed to her companion in nerv-
business pr as a matter of course there
is sboIsi1r mate with her.
TheseAs are perhaps half of them oc-
cupied, put it is not in the nature of the
shopping Woman to stop in the first car.
Away sE goes to the next and the next,
until She finds one which is quite full,
and the1 She turns about like It hunted
beast At baE. and frantically retraces her
steps. BY<his time the other ears have
pretty VsiEhlled up, and it is not until
She ha9syR way back TO the rear car
tfiat slres@fi 5 ty,so whole seats. one for
herselfan6nate and one for her parcels
and packages
She SIS NV all a-glow. Frantically
she TUGS atthe window, but the window
does not bdge an inch. Your car win
dow holdsHoman in utter contempt 1t
will weld oily to the persuasive force of
manly mucles. 1t is to be hoped that
when womn gets her rights, ear win
dows shallAt last acknowledge her en-
franchisemnt, and cease to constantly
and perpetallY remind her. as they now
do; that shes the weaker vessel. 1t would
90 hard win the woman folk if co-trav-
elino of the sexes were not the vogue.
If it were oherwise, the dear creatures
might suffcate before relief came to
them.
The winDw having relented before
the power O man, the shopping woman,
what with lrr fan and the fresh breeze
from the outside, finally gets sufficiently
cooled TO looS at her watch. But that is
rather from iustom than from any idea
of obtaining accurate intelligence rela-
tive to the hi,ht of time, for woman s
watch is almet as tickle as woman 5
viii. Having gone through this form,
and remarked again and again upon the
fervent temperature, the shopping
woman suddenly exclaims: "Why, we
had lots eftime, badn' wep" This dis
covery furnishes fruitful theme for
conversatAn for many minutes. Then
follows thu opening OF packages, and
the historgof each purchase is told with
a minuteness quite wonderful to one who
does not happen to be a woman. The
air is full Of says Is" and ''says he's, ="
and of ..lowly'' and beautiful and
similar adtctiyes emphatically ex-
pressed
A man urder similar circumstances
may say tha ne has so-and-so in this
bundle, such thing IN that, and some
other thing in a third, 1t is different
with a woman When she has bought
an article, she loves TO exhibit it, and she
counts it no hardship if she has to open
and close aparcel dozen times in half as
many minues. So the shopping woman
opens eachDarcel, and with il her mouth,
out of With flows. besides the history
of the payteular purchase, d three-vpl-
ume st9yk Il matter relevant and irrele-
want, IIailsg anticipatory of how this
Will zas=S ~s.ss.stsssor how both will look
with hisJl purchase of silk, satin or
worsted beads, buttons or bonnet.
The hopping woman, engrossed in
the enhancing details of her three-vol-
ume story. minds not that the car has
entirely filled up. She sees not the
weary male bipeds, whose eyes look so
wistfulB at that seat filed with her myr-
lad purchases 1t is only when the con-
ductor cgmes that she is aroused to things
prosaic md to the necessity of giving up
that extn seat And even then. it must
be said, she does not remove her par
cells with pleasure or with alacrity, not
withstanding the tired look of the woman
with babe who stands patiently waiting
for the seat to be emptied.
Each parcel is lifted as tenderly as if
it were an egg, and it is after much time
and many 20, dears." and not few
corrugations of brow. that the precious
invoiceis transferred to the lap of the
shopping woman. For the remainder of
the journey she is unhappy. Some per-
sons, it is said, want all before them.
The shopping woman wants ali before
her when in the car-all before her in
the nextseat
When the conductor comes for her
ticket, it is a work of time for her to get
at it Her purse is somewhere hidden
below the superincumbent mass of par
GELS. parcels of 'smussablen nature.
and they must be handled gingerly and
slowly. Conductors are patient animals
but close Observance of the shopping
woman will discover the secret of their
careworn faces and premature grey
hair.
When the train arrives at the shopping
woman's station, she waits until it has
come to a full stop, and then begins
leisurely to load up, and it is not until
everybody else has got out and the i'm
patient engineer is ringing his bell, that
she and her parcels get into the aisle,
and it is only when the last atom of the
cOndnctor's natience has flown that she
steps at last on to the station platform.
The shopping woman has so many
cares of her own that it is not to be ex-
pected of her to care for anybody or
anything else.-BoSton Transcript.