Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1884-04-23

i
and joint. After this standing is the
purest agony. And all day long the fem
mime division of humanity bears down
upon them en- masse. The proprietors,
welded to quick sales aud the largest
possible profit, are positively ubiqui-
tous in their efforts to enforce the strict
est attention to duty; obsequious sales
men, with an eye to premiums and per-
centage, step briskly about; cash boys
scurry hither and thither, and errand
boys find no rest for the so)es of their
feet. The silk man spreads his stocks
upon the counter and displays the pop
ular shades by daylight, by gaslight,
singly and in combinations. He gath
ers them up into soft, rich folds, spreads
them, gathers them up again, talking
glibly all the while. and is borne to the
limit of deferential patience before the
exact shade is found and the final decis-
ion made. The lace man, on the alert
for whom he may beguile, is bland and
courteous, while the girls at this glove
counter dive among the boxes and be-
come breathless in the attempt to con-
vince some dubious customer that q
pearl gray glove is an exact match for
the pale blue sample she has brought,
or vice versa, smiling, dropping words
of honey all the time, and wishing in
their lnmost consciousness that perdi-
ton may ultimately collect all woman
kind.
But it does end at last. The GUS
toners are gone; the curtains are up,
the counters are again shrouded in white
canvas, making the long aisles look like
so many wards in hospital, and these
! human swallows begin to pour out of
their great chimney.
The cashier on his way to the cloak
room sees No. AZ crouching on the ledge
behind her counter. She IS thinking of
the long, dark streets that lie before
her. and of the aching feet that protest
against further service.
When he comes back she is still there.
He stops, and says kindly: 'sf you
don't hurry out they will lock the doors.
Every else is gone now"
GLOW will ever get home," she
means, rising YEARLY, her eyes still red
from crying.
.'11l go With you if you are afraid. Is
it far?"
"0h, yes, it's far. and then I'm SO
tired"
He is the only person who has spoken
to her to-day, except the customers she
has waited upon. he has such grace
full, easy way that by the time he has
helped her to put on her cloak he seems
like an old acquaintance. They hurry
out together, and are just in time, for
the doors close behind them with
bang, and the bolts are drawn.
It happens that their ways lie in the
! same direction. that they are domiciled
in two dreary boarding houses not more
than half square apart, and after this
they 60 home together every evening,
and speedily come to be very good
friends indeed.
The season known to retail traffic as
''busy" wakes and waues. Summer
comes, and August, sweltering, intoler-
able, settles upon the deserted town.
The houses are like ovens, the streets
like blast furnaces, and everything that
remains behind the migratory popula-
ton is undergoing a lingering process
of cremation. The proprietors have
fed the heat, one salesman to depart
ment is found to be sufficient, and the
rest are away taking their summer vaca-
ton. Those who remain behind have
little to do, for there are hours togeth-
er when there is not penny's worth
sold.
Ithappens that ''47" is reigning alone
in the glove department, and she is a
refreshing object for contemplation this
sultry afternoon in her dress of blue Or
CANDY, with pale ribbons futtering at
throat and waist.
Above her head her wares are most
effectively displayed in complete cano-
! Ply of long-wristed gloves in every con-
ceivable color and shade of Color.
and, there being nothing else to do,
she sits upon the ledge below the shelv-
ing and Yields monstrOus palm leaf.
When nothing is selling there is no
change to be made, and the cashier steps
out of his narrow, sitting enclosure and
wanders in search of breeze. The long
lace mitts that fringe the canopy over
the glove. counter are stirred as if by q
zephyr, and the airy freshness of CAT"
is attractive. He goes behind the count
or and sits down behind the ledge.
tYou look awfully gloomy to-day.
What is the natter" she asks.
"Well, have reason to look gloomy.
have made an unpleasant discovery;
or, perhaps I should say, I've been I'M
pleasantly discovered. 4l,.- .:.r
'Tell me about it."
ooh, it is long story" he says, more
than half persuaded.
"This is very long afternoon"
"Well, have very rich and very
crochety old uncle, and about seven
months ago1 received letter from him
telling me that if I would come and take
charge of his business and marry girl
he had picked out for me he would leave
me his fortune. He said the girl was
} pretty, and knew his fortune was
ample, and as was not getting on any
too we'll where I was, you will infer that
did not hesitate long before acce oting
the proposition. It was all arranged
with the girl, who seemed to be quite
} fascinated with the romance of the affair.
and started for the town in which she
and my uncle lived. But on the way I
got thinking about it, and it struck me
that would like to see her at least once
before the die was iTrevocably cast, so
when 1 reached the town hunted up q
cousin of mine who knew her, and told
him that he must arrange for me to call
on her incogDito. He assented very
readily, and, as only reached there the
day before the wedding was to take
place, we called the night of my arrival.
She came in directly. and I was intro.
duced as Mr.. Falkner.
i ''And such girl! The moment I
laid eyes on her grew rigid with indig-
nation to think that my uncle dared i'm
pose on me in such way. He had led
me to believe she was everything man
could want in wife. I found her
painted like an Indian, dressed in horrid
taste, talking at the top of her voice,
and altogether the most l-bred creature
had ever seen. could not stand it,
80 I wrote note to my uncle, left the
town that night. and have never been
back since. ] learned to day for the
| first time that the girl saw was not the
one I was to have married, but . friend
! Of ray cousins, whom he had taken into
his confidence, and that her horriid curls
and her vulgarity were assumed for the
occasion all n mart If Dicks n little n1oar .