The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1885-10-30
0Manamaher's.

price Of furniture is generally
made from study of human
nature. Everybody knows il
and guards against it by going
about from store to store, com
pairing and haggling. And ye,
nine-tenths Of the stores-per
haps ninety-nine in a hundred
stick to their crooked ways. A
common trick is to sell some ar
tlcle very low indeed, so low as
to fasten the buyer. He pay:
enough before he gets through
1t is well enough known thai
nothing of that sort happen:
here. But haggling has a Ger
tain fascination when the money
amounts to much. Wholesale
trade consists almost entirely o
haggling. Houses, horses, car
riages, pianos are sold by hag
gling-why not furniture? Bank
ing, dealing in masses of money
itself consists Of haggling. The
Stock Exchange is the biggest
haggling-machine in the world
To the poor the little sums they
pay for daily use are big. The
business Of almost all the little
local stores is done by haggling
The world is not so full o.
haggling without some reason
f1aggling has its advantages
Here we are, our prices just sc
no more, no less. A dealer
outside can ask more for his
things and then, if his customer
happens to know our prices, he
can drop--he would rath el
make a very little profit thar
nothing. Hence elastic price:
and haggling. We have only
one defence. We have got tc
have better things and deal witt
generosity. That is our only
way to beat. a townful of hag
glers.
Excuse the depression. i
was needful to state with some
fulness what you know in {
shadowy way and act as if yol
didn't know at all.
The part of our furniture
stock you haven't had the chance
to know the state of so well i.
upholstered work, mantels, ia
bles, chairs, cabinets, easels
! bookcases, desks for house ano
office-all those difficult ware.
to manage well because of the
number of forms they come in
the room they require, the skill
in choosing, the knowing where
to 60 on and where to stop.
Upholstered work is mostl,
out of sight. Vast sums o
money in it. Somebody has 60
to be trusted. There must be ;
way to be sure of the maker
I 1t belongs to us to be sure.
belongs to you to trust. An
other day, perhaps, we'll tell yo,
how we know the inside of thes,
things. You see here a Ions
array of sofas and chairs no
only upholstered, but actual,
covered with costly stuhs. Z
roomful besides of the stuffs
1t isn't common to buy thes
things with any sense of sure
ness. The softness and spring
may come of something els
than steel and curled hail
They may hatten out in a twelve
month. In the higher range c
upholstery your are scarcel
willing to buy by what you ca
see and feel.
The more difficult part is tn
getting together of shape e
enough and styles enough; 70
all this getting has got to b
paid for. The things of last yea
must be gone. A swift currer
of trade makes everything cas-!
How many shapes of table
and chairs, do you think ? w
could fill this building no tw
alike. OF all the crooked way
Of putting pieces of wood tc
gether the table-maker seems t
have discovered most; the chair
maker next the cabinet-make
not far behind.
In short we have a ready-mad
stock of furniture, much of
such as people pay twice-ove
for having it made to order; an
we make to order besides.
Some may get the impressio
that we deal in nothing bl
costly wares. BY no mean
u The humber wares are not S
various. A little space is enoug
for them. This acre or more
mostly filed with costly worl
but the plainest of things a
here.
/ We should be ashamed
| have this store a less good pla,
for the things Of the poor tn;
for those of the rich. Was
made by the rich? Could
live by the rich Are there
: : many rich in this comfortah