The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1884-05-07
handsome r6htsnf Sidewalk Lemonnas
Vendors.


$780,. Vendors.
Z Rhatffss become of all the lemonade
yendsrsP You could find twenty of them
En4hesreets eight weeks ago for every
one that can be seen now. In the per-
epiring days-they used to give the down
town Ktreatsa country fair complexion,
Uish GhEir little impromptu counters,
tanks Of water. bowls of sugar, baskets
oflemons and rows of shining glasses.
Where have they gone 10 IN these cool
er days, when the stomach abhorreth
lemonade?
Some have gone into the peanut bust
ness, some have resumed their original
profession of blacking boots or selling
papers, and some may very possibly
have gone to Europe. One day in the
early part of July the reporter observed
the opening of a new lemonade stand in
Nassau street. The owner had an apple
stand near by, and the addition OF the
lemonade department was an expert
ment. All the stock and fixtures he had
TO begin with were comprised in the fol-
lowing schedules:
One dry-goods box for counter.
one sheet brown paper for appearances
Thee and a half pounds white crushed
-Four dozen lemons in another bag.
Three small lthree-cent glasses.
One lemOn-squeezer.
One sugar-spOon-
One psi water with ice.
One shaker"
One chair.
one cigar-box for cash-drawer.
One big sun-umhrella.
A month went sizzling by, and the
reporter noted n gradual Improvement
in the fixtures and an increase in the
slN ha GFn
pail gave place 20 a water-cooler, the
crushed sugar took up its temporary
quarters in a commodious tin box, the
lemons and glasses multiplied rapidly.
At certain hours of the day the vender
employed a clerk to attend the apple
stand-a newsboy whose education and
trousers had been neglected, but whose
integrity was not to be questioned.
When the reporter stopped for his daily
Give cent? nip he felt latent satisfac-
ton in knowing that he had helped TO
build up this prosperous establishments.
He had done part of the plumbing work,
SO TO speak-that is, the draining. One
afternoon he asked the proprietor how
many glasses he had sold that day.
Three hundred" said he, ''up TO
now. Yesterday sold four hundred,
but then yesterday was a terribly hot
day"
"How many do you sell on the aver
age?''
81 guess about three hundred"
"How many large glasses in the three
hundred?"
About two-thirds."
The reporter strolled along thought
fully until he came 10 n quiet doorway,
when he took out pencil and paper and
began to compute.
80 glasses at cents. 90
loo glasses al cents 10
Gross receipts. .......................Sl3 90
10 lemons, ay.......-.....--..-..$l -
10 pounds ice--.................... 10 1S
Net receipts per dsy....................s1i o.
That is pretty stiff profit on bust
ness which can be carried on with less
than five dollars capital. 1t is larger
income in a day than the clerk who
sells the sugar or the lemons, or the
man who delivers the ice. or many of
those who drink the lemonade, receive
in a week. No wonder that the lemon
ade business has increased so rapidly in
the last few years, and no wonder that
there was one stand TO almost every
downtown block in the hot season Just
past Why should John, James or
Jerry sell papers or black boots or run
eTrands for living with such an OPP
portunity for Independence and profit
before him as this2
Lemonade is a good thing. In hot
weather il Is recommended by the ply
Stefan, and the teetotsler approves oft
at all seasons. The lemonade which
one buys at bar Is apt to be made with
bottled lemon juiee-a preparation
which thirsty. men suspect is not equal
TO the juice that they themselves see
squeezed out of a lemon. More
over. at the average bar he has To
pay ten cents for the beverage, which
he can buy on the sidewalk for five.
The spirit of mortal may be proud, but
If a man can quench his thirst for five
cents on the sidewalk with as palatable
a drink as he can get for double the
price in the gilded saloon his pride is a
long way ahead of his common sense if
he does not do it. Only one thing
threatens the future prosperity of the
lemonade business. and that is over
competition. 1t is not at all certain
after he has read these figures that
some Wall street Spectator who is not
above making money in small but safe
way may 90 into the business extensively
and 0verdo it. Should that ever hap
pen YOU NAV look for deterioration in
your lemonade, for such seller would
never be satisfied with a profit of five
hundred per cent. when he could make
six hundred Jehn and JRnaes and