Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1884-09-11
STORES, OLD AND NEW.
Difficulties Attending the Present sys-
tem-The Beauty OF the Old STYLE.


The degeneracy CT the times is no
where more visible than In the stores
Of the present day. They have "de-
partmentsn and divisions that are
Egyptian puzzles 10 all except an
expert in the business. A GAZETTE
reporter wanted to buy a spool of
thread yesterday, a white spool, num-
Der fifty, and after being laughed at
by several hardware stores, shoe.
maker shops, feed stores and lot Of
others, finally dropped into Main
street establishment. He was met at
the door by lng-master-
looking fellow who bowed him In and
turned him over to another who In
the regular order turned him over 10
third. After wandering around through
oceans of goods and mazes of fancy
doings the scribe grew impatient and
Numbered out;
1T want a spool OF thread; white
spool number fifty"
can right, sir, (" said his pilot, "come
to this department.
Continuing on short distance an
other relay OF guides was had and an
other gentleman turned him over to
another who was instructed TO tell still
another that he wanted a spool Of
thread; white spool, number iifty.n
After walking another mile or 50
through the little alleys between piles
Of dry goods thescribe was turned over
to the spool .of-thread.man.- white
thread and black thread-and he pro.
ceeded to select the article desired with
alacrlty and superlative politeness.
Here's your money" said the re-
porter, throwing down a quarter.
"Cash0' shouted the spOol-of.thread |
man.
"Otcourse it's cashI' said the scribe:
you are not In the habit of being paid |
In beeswax or hoop-iron, are yOu"
The spOol-of-thread mau stared in |
astonlshment and muttered, the |
boy"
Just then young boy rushed up. |
snhtched the spool of thread and the
quarter and ran down the aisle.
Hold onn said the scribe, rushing |
after him; that's my spool of thread |
my white thread, number fifty, and
that's my quarter w 81
The spool-ofthread man came to the
rescue and explained that the boy was
going TO have 1t tied up and entered
on the sale book. The boy returned In
an Instant with fifteen cents in change
Rnd asked: .....
Where shall we send IL ~
"Send what ?"
1.-THE thread.n
"What thread ~
why, the spool you just now
boughtU
what do you mean Pr
I'VE have a delivery wagon and
send all goods homen
"0h, you have; then load this spool
of thread on float; put four horses TO
pull II and be sure you bring along
'kids on which to roll 10 into the
house Pm not millionaire and
san afford to have spool of white
thread dumped from wagon into my
front yard to lie there in this inclem.
emit weather. I'll go on ahead and
have another story put on the house
to accommodate II, Gimme my spool
and let me out Of this place ~
The scribe got out on the other side
the block and escaped.
This Is the experience of many who
go shopping, and It's enough TO make
ones carotid artery burst. There is
nothing of the old time "storen about
Il; there are no empty nail kegs to sit
IN; no cracker box TO play checkers on
and no keg of cider standing by the
show case in which the ribbons and
Artificial flowers are kept Time was
when store meant something. There
was nothing under the
sun but what was kept, and
while the umbrellas and axhandles
had to occupy the same corner, and
The butter aud eggs a shelf just under
The calico and muslin, there was no
trouble in getting what you wanted, If
you hat the money. IL Is not so now;
everything is kept in "departments.n
Is separate, and 1t requires
a dictionary TO find out what depart.
ment u desired article belongs to-
Give us back the store of long ago.