Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-08-09
SHOPPING.
Women and NOney-Americans Abroad
Asking for Things.
From the London Standard.

From the London Standard.
We are tired of hearing people quote the
Frenchman's notion Of what the average Eng
lshman says to his friend at breakfast: "A fine
day! Let us 20 and kill something" 1t might
DE said with equal truth that the first
instinct of every Idle female mind is:
LET US go shopping" Why it should
be that shopping is peculiarly a ladys affair is
not so easy a question to decide. 1t Is not our
wives or our sisters who make the money nee
essary for existence. 1t might therefore, be
supposed that they would not be possessed of
such knowledge of moneys value as the male
sex acquires by hard experience. The fact still
remains that in most cases of expenditure a
woman can make shilling or pound go fur
tller than man can. There is a curious touch
OF penuriOusness. in all a wOman's money deal
lngs. A woman loves to save penny for the
sake of principle in cases where her husband
would only consider the question one of
single beggarly copper. The cabmen
know 49,, that lady rarely gives tips;
of bargaining for drive beforehand. SO
that no more than the strictly legal fare can be
demanded. Hallway pOrters and all people of
the Kind are equally aware of the fact that for
tritiing service lady will generally select two
pence from her purse, where gentleman would
carciessly bestOw one of the smaller silver coins
The same tendency of the sex makes its appear
ance most strongly in the exercise of the various
facilities brought into play in shopping. Three
yards of stuff must not be bought if two yards
and three-quarterS will just suffice. The pur-
chase of two or three reels of cotton is quite suf
ticient excuse for entering a large emporium.
and the bill for The goods is duly folded in the
housewifey purse. In payment of the monthly
or quarterly tradesmens accounts it is the de-
light of materiamilias to haggle in an elegant
banter tor some discount, and the good lady gen.
orally comes off with an extra box of raisins at
the least. Qualities like these are econOm-
1cal instincts, invaluable and almost in
variable in the gentler sex. In short,
one of the most material comforts q
woman brings with her to the man whom
she espOuscs is the capacity for shopping on the
most approved principles. Needless to say there
are women who are incapable of doing their duty
in this particular with any discretion, and who
are as devoid OF Cue sense of fitness and value
III things as was poor Moses Primrose. But
these are the exceptions that prove the rule
The prime secret of ladies' love for shopping lies
in their propensity for bargaining. In Clare
market the poor widow moves from stall to stall
OF Saturday night or Sunday morning cheap
ening the articles of her simple diet. and inspect
ING pretty we'll the whole show, ere she satisfies
herself as to the best quarter in which to expcnd
her few pence. At any of the great Westend
establishments we shall find the same spirit pre-
vail among the weli-dressed customers.
Next to the love of bargaining of course the
feminine proclyty most involved in a love of
shopping is the perennial and always forgiven
vanity of the lovely sex. All women are con-
stantly hungering with Cornthian hunger for
some new thing with which to add to the charms
nature has bestowed upon them. The sOciolO-
glst might have fit subject for study were he
to inquire how much the passion for personal
adornnent has been fostered in the female
breast by the development of shops. century
ago. for instance. shops were comparatively few.
Their stocks were small, and special. and ILL
displayed Now. in every large town there are
large shops by twenties all competing with
each 81 her in the display OF every kind of goods
INEXPENSIVE CT slmptuOus. likely to attract the
eye A walk along a thOroughfare like Regent
street, with its gorgeOusly furnished windows
is a mile of temptation Any one who enters a
universal! depot in the search tor box of pins
has a thousand articles Ofhaberdashery, grocery
mantle-maknG. stationery. bOOt-making, qante-
RE, etc, taunted before her eyes i'm an array of
eloquent silence. each one a separate trial of
the virtue OF selfdenial. Yet the necessity for
self-denal. On the other hand, is certainly
powerful element in the enjoyment of shopping.
1t Is not the person who has money enough to
buy anything who most enjoys purchase. The
person who has saved up for a little or a great
luxury or the person who buys thing of beauty
with a sense that some future sacrifice must he
made in some other way to countcrba,ance the
cNpcndure-that is. the purchaser who gets
me fullest enjoyment out OF a bit of shopping.
DO we not all remember the first folio of Beau
mont and Fletcher. at which Charles Lamb had
cast Sleeps eyes for so long. and which at last
he acquired by sudden resolve late one Sun
day night, remarking to Mary that his coat Ono
Doubt OF it already very threadbare) would last
another summer after all? This is the kind of
shopping that brings to the business the same
relish that makes hunger the best sauce. As q
pursuit shopping is said to he carried further by
American ladies than by our own women 1t is
not easy to see how this can be in America itself
ct it is noticeable on the continent that Ameri-
cans go about this kind Of occupation at once more
determinedly and more pleasurably than do any
Others OF their sex. No doubt one of the reasons
OF thisls that things in Europe appear to them
so cheap. 1t is often remarked by our trans
atlantic cousins that they can come over to
Europe, travel, enjoy good things and buy
presents for the same money that it would cost
them to live quietly at home. Still, there is
knOwin@ness in the way Americans do their
shopping that certainly wins kind of admira-
ton They all set out with the axiom that in
4 visit to a good establishment they should |
make point of seeing everything good con-
tanned in it. Thus it becomes diversion some |
thing like visiting the picture galleries. But
also these Ladies have pretty clear notion in |
their own minds as to what they will and what
they will not buy, and they so far conceal |
the frailty for finery first developed by EYES |
adaptation of fg-leaves that they never allow
the most astute shO2keeper to feel that they
are other than entire mstresseS Ofthe situation |
This is an art in itself. AS for the trouble they
give, this is discounted in the trades
mans mind by the fact that they have usually |
good deal Of money to spend upon what they |
do want.
OF course diplomacy has it's mission. even
across the counter; an agreeable manner of
asking for things, or the witchery of confiden- |
tial smile on well-featured face, will greatly
smooth the way OF the shopper. The attendant |
will be DETER. more expeditions; he will be |
more Inclined to consult the customers real |
requirements; and he will be altogether more |
suave of tongue. There are twenty WAYS of
entering shop. and there are still more fash
ions of purchasing what you require You |
may If You like, adopt the grandiose style, like
Mrs. Siddons. when she staggered a youth with |
Twill it wash:" delivered in the stage tones of
Lady Macbeth. You may nag the shopman by |
asking for haltaiozen widely different things at
once. or by dipping your hands into his boxes. |
and mixing up his goods. You may say. Bring
me such and such an article" or you NAV saw |
Now. may trouble you to BRING &C. Even a
dog knows kind manners in a stranger and |
likes them. Undoubtedly we find on the CONT |
nent shops both far better and far worse than |
we do in London. In Paris to visit a great estab- |
lishment is like attending a reception in some |
Mr. Worth, for instance, acts toward |
his French customers, every afternoon, as a host
In England would receive his guests. In Rome |
you may go to at least palace inhabited by q |
refined family, and buy any article of furniture |
you may fancy in it. II you find the members |
Of the household at dinner, and, perchance |
fancy the chair on which one of them is seated. |
1t is still at your service. You bargain for II |