Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1885-12-10

! L. '
, as wei! as though the handkerchief
were not before your eyes, and that
the threds that cross each other with
surprising regularity suggest the
| threads in q cobweb. This makes you
think the handkerchiefs are probably
very fine ones, and that $3.50. the
price YOU paid for your fine handker-
chiefs. would probably not buy You a
| dozen OF these. But nothing in the
plain piece of linen, with no ornament
| but q hemstitch border. prepares you
fer the staggering remark by the young
man. His face lights up with JOY at
| the bargain he is offering you, and he
saws: Those beautiful hand-woven
handkerchiefs are only sixty dollars a
dozen. Please look at them as the
light shines through them once more. y
You do 50 this time with much rev.
erence. and ask. in an Off-hand way.
what nose requires such pampering.
Many noses, the clerk will tell you;
among them that of Mr.. Whitney, the
| Secretary of the Navy. who knows a
| good thing when he sees it, bat who is
sometimes satisfied with goods cs low
as forty-eight or fifty dollars a dozen.
| Some of their best customers would not
| cOndescend to take up any such bar
| gain. and would fail to be suited in the
store, which just happens to be out of
the very finest grade of linen. This
grade, with a modest profit attached,
| costs one hundred dollars for dozen
handkerchiefs, or more if "a monogram
is desired. You sternly refuse TO invest
| in a dozen of the bargains, even to pre-
| sent to friend, and then the young
| man, rather more cheerfully than be-
| fore, leads you with delicacy and grace
| to the rear end OF the store, and arrays
himself in garment which he calls a
wrapper. and which seems to have
been made OF a slice OF rainbow. cut of
| when the rainbow was in a particularly
| high-colored state. The main color is
a delirious sky blue, with flowers of
| AL the colors YOU ever saw bios
| soming on it, and vines of an aesthetic
| Imagination. The young mali explains
that the gentleman who has just laid
it down is one of family of German
bankers. He wanted a present for a
| lady, and wanted something tritie
richer. The price of that work of art
| was only ninety dollars, and it would
soften the heart of any living female.
You explain that ninety dollars invested
in strawberry and vanilla mi', would
beat any wrapper in the opinion If your
| girl. and the young man, concluding
that you are sOrdid, turns YEARLY away
and pulls down a pair of cotton socks.
lnS Of of
cheap avenue of escape; you will buy
all the cotton socks in the store and
get away without wounding the young
man. But in the midst of your happy
thought your blood is chilled by the re-
quest to look at those socks as the light
shines through them. You know what
that means, and, sick at heart, YOU in
quire How much without caring
whether the light shines through
or not. Only thirty-two dollars
Dozen the young man says; ''abso-
lutely the finest thing made in the
world, and he calls your attention to
the fact that with a pair of the socks in
your right hand and piece Of tissue
paper in the left hand you caa not tell
the right hand from the left No silk
sock could be woven as fine as that,
and many gentlemen viii wear nothing
else. Their feet are so small that the
size of their shoes renders such socks
necessary.
Certainly, if you prefer silk sock,
you can have it," and the young man
hauls out endless pairs, each 4 dream
Of loneliness, from the rather inferior
article at three dollars pair. which he
could, OF course, not recommend, to an
article that you will find serviceable
and satisfactory at seyenty-two dollars
dozen.
If YOU escape the silk sock snarekyou
are daZzlcd with series of snowy
white shirt boSoms of wonderful pat
terms; some curiously embroidered.
which you are confidentially warned
against wearing; others with little lin
en- knobs sticking out all over them. to
initiate the fashion of rough goods for
ladies, and others in the good old
styles that you have been used to.
Then comes the ordeal of gazing on
what seems about one million cravatS.
every one different: as many scarf
pins, and twice as many collars and
cuffs. Everything is from London or
Paris, with all sorts of coats of arms
stamped over foreign names. Roaring
beasts prowl around, uttering the SEN
timent ''Honi soft qui NAL Y pense,"
which is a thrust at any one who may
not approve of their actions; and the
statement, "Ich dien," is always to be
found near theSlions. with three little
feathers backing it up, the young man
tells you that .'Honi soft gu;
NAL Y pense' is the ma of 'Ich diem"
and that both wear just such gloves as
he is offering you. Under these cir
cumstances YOU knuckle down, invest
a weeks fun in pair of gloves, with
three small mounds of black thread on
the back of each. and escape with a sigh
toward the door. But it is plain you do
not yet thoroughly know the young man
whom You despised. You fit nervous
ly past the eighty-dollar underwear
which first unsettled you. and glarcing
timidly around as you pass a ease filled
with canes you meet the smiling eye of
the young man and it pins you. He
hands You beautiful cane with .
Chinese head of oxidized silver and q
queue braided of silver threads Me-
chemically you raise it to the light and
beg to know how much a dozen. But