The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1885-10-09
00lanamaker's. =.

baby-a sensible baby would
rather have the $I.ao blanket,
or a larger one, or two of them
if his sleeping-room is going to
be cold for it's light and open
the wind will whistle through
it and reach its inmost fbres
and freshen them when you
hang it out to air. But if the
baby is somebody else's baby
somebody else may think a gift
should be pretty and rich-then
of course it's none of the baby
business.
Among all these are extrav-
agant blankets, mostly Ameri-
can, fifteen styles or SO from
abroad. we don't go abroad
for good blankets-we go for
variety. Certain styles you
wouldn't like to miss can only
be got abroad
Car-drivers use a lap-blanket
rs cents a pair-they throw it
over their horses sometimes and
save them shiver. Good,
proper stable blankets some
folks buy them for horses who
haven't any horses good
enough for servants, they think.
I'VE have a whole stock of
horse-blankets not touched on
here.
Good gray blankets, good for
whatever use permits no thought
of waste, for $I.5o to $2.25.
We have sold three tons of them
within a week. Poor people buy
them-pertectly proper blank
cts. Rich people buy them
and give them away. Asylumns,
hospitals, prisons-the govern
ment buys them for all sorts OF
uses.
We have kept for the last a
bit of bed-blanket wisdom worth
more than color or figure, or
hneness of wool, or finish, or
any non-essential-Size is all
important. A stingy blanket is
any blanket too small to cover
the bed and tuck in at the sides
no matter how rich or beau
tiful. The part that keeps you
safe and warm while you sleep
is the middle but generous
sides have got to be there
wide enough to tuck in and leave
you room to turn and roll about
in your sleep. You know the
size Of your beds. Sheets are
generally wide enough. Blank
cts are almost always stingy.
There wouldn't be business
for half the doctors, if blankets
were wide enough. Undertake
ing itself would have to wait for
people to catch up with its over
stock, if blankets were wide
enough. You know the truth
of what we are saying as well as
we do. But perhaps we're ex
ceeding our province. What
business is it of ours, if you
choose to put your money If
beauty of color and hneness o
wool on the top of the bed tc
find it on the floor in the morn
ing-and then call the doctor?
One thing more-Blanket:
are bought by the pound b,
merchants. First comes qual
ity of wool next the making
These two fix the price by th'
pound. The size and thickness
fix the number of pounds, anC
the price Of the blanket. Wher
you compare two blankets
weigh them-look at them fee
of the wool-but weigh them
Not one merchant in ten know
enough Of blankets to know
what make he is selling. Whole
sale dealers disguise them un
der misleading names.
Our blankets are lower il
price than last year all throug
the stock. Every blanket i
lower-lower by five to twent
per cent. We have nearly tw'
hundred different sorts of blank
cts. Many of them are exactl
the same from year to yeal
We know them as we'll as yo
know your children's faces. Th
blanket we sold last year for $
| ($I a pound) we are selling TIL
year for $7.2o eighty cents
pound). Another was last yea
$6 (eighty-hve cents a pound
is now 5$ Qess than seventy-tw
cents a pound). And so a
through.
1t is yours to look out for siz
/ and style. 1t is ours to see TIL
the price is right. We hav
done our part. There may be
rise in the market. 1t isn't u
likely. But there's no occasic
to think about that at present.
JoHN WANAMAKER.
| Chestnut Thirteenth and Market streets