The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1884-02-01
~ABOUTsHOP GIRLS.
An English wnm.a,== ms

fN
An English Wnman,s Observable ms
New York Sun.
As6mpact and enc rgetic little woman
with neatly baushed hair, high color
and an exceedingly h~nsiness-iike man.
uer, was busting down the floor of a
great uptown dry-gcads store recently,
when the pectacle Of a solitary man
among several hundred Indifferent
women attracted her attention. The
man couldn't endure the situation much
longer. He had been stared at, iostled,
Ieered, and snubbed until he felt round
~shouldered and h~ollow-eyed.
"What can 1 do for Won, STRIP asked
the compact little woman in an agreea-
bic voice.
'tOn, / came 10 search ofinformation.n
Have you found it?'
INC, I can't say that / have. / want
ed to make some inquiries about the
merits Of foreign and domestic shop
girls. / asked two of the many young
women here. One told me that the in
~telligence Office was in the basement,
behind the elevator siiaft, anu the osher
HAT the best time for a casual CONVEX
sation was on Monday after 6p. M"
"You made the mistake of approach
ing pretty girls. Men always do that,
and they usually do it with a smile that
gives the pretty girl an opportunity.
Plain girls are alwass civil with men.
1t is d habit they acquire early.
II know all absut shop girls" contin-
1ed the little woman, resting a plump
hand on one hip, while she tapped her
teeth thoughtfuIly with a long pencil
which she snatched from her back hair,
where it had stuck out like the fish bone
in the head-dress of Fiji Islander. 81
have been with them ali my life. / am
one now, only Pm no longer a
girl, but | have three of my own. I'm
superintendent Of them here, and /
End them easy to manage One must
not be the least bit familiar with the
girls, or they will become unmanage-
able.'
"A great many of them have been in
much better circumstances, have they
not2"
That is a very common impression,
but one that hasn't the smallest founda.
ton in my opinion. The girls are fond of
giving people that idea. In point of
fact, however, they are almost all of
them the most pretentious and am
bilious members of their families, and
miles above their parents In the social
scale. When a woman OF posltion meets
with a misfortune she resolutely avoids
the shop. She will do anything rather
than come to an establishment like this.
She takes in sewing, gives painting
Eor music lessons, OF goes out as q gov
srness for half the money the money
that she could earn here"
How do American shop girls COM.
pare with those in England?"
There is no comparison whatever" "
said the little English woman, with a de-
,isive shake of her head. SeThe Amer
lean girls are superior in every respect
Intelligence, taste neatness, quickness.
md courtesy. 1t may strike you that
there is doubt about the last, but I ana
right. The London shop girls are inso.
lent, while here they are only saucy or
impairment. if they offend at all. There
% a vast difference. London girls are SO
| stupid, you know"
There are many complaints about the
g~irls?'n
"Oh, yes, quite a number. We OBJ.
serve, however, that the complaints al.
ways come from shoppers who are not
aides. A weil-bred woman will not find
l di~sagreeable shop girl in q long pill
grimage in New York. Ii the girls are
bothered by questions which no one has
! right to ask, they are very apt to be
pert"
With this the lit g nodded
brightly, thrust the pencil into her
back hair again, and hustled cheerily
away.
Ma