The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1886-07-02
PUSHING TRADE.
How It Is Done by Dealers In Ladies' Foot
Gear.

How It Is Done by Dealers In Ladies' Foot
Gear.
A tall man, with Ratchet face and a
nose SO thin that it barely separated his
keen, gray eyes, entered Grand street
store, drew package from Il capacious
pocket of his ovcrcoat, and said to a
polite clerk: Somebody must have
marked these shoes wrong They are a
half size too large" The clerk opened
the package, looked at the inclosed pair
of kid CATERS, and remarked: .Ah.
these are twos-and-a-half. You want
twos." mo. DON'T" said the custom
er, with sharp ring in his voice; Il
want number twos-and-a-half, but the
shoes must be half size smaller than
these"
Clerk-Why. sir, these are twos-and-
a-half. Yon can see for yourself. The
mark is plain enough.
Customer-But I have already told
you that the mark is wrong. NV wife
has been wearing number twos-and-a-
half shoes for years. l ought to know.
for have had to buy SO many of them.
l took these shoes home the other day,
expecting that they would fit. of course.
and / have had to come back to ex-
change them because rascally shoe
maker put wrong mark on them.
Clerk-You must be mistaken, sir;
this house takes the greatest care that
every thing sold is exactly what it is
represented to be. Our reputation
Customer-Never mind your reputa-
ton. tell you these shoes are No. 8.
Get me another pair half size smaller.
The polite salesman went in search of
shoes of the same trademark and soon
returned with two pairs which were
marked ss2n and 80 1-2.n He smiled
serenely on the customer as the latter
compared the shoes which he had taken
back to the store with each of the other
pairs. There could be no mistake. The
pairs numbered s.2 1-2" were of exactly
the same size. while the pair marked
SO" were half size smaller.
Customer-Well, these No. 2 shoes
will fit my wife. but wish you would
explain something. There came near
being a row in the family when my wife
said would have to take that pair of
shoes back, and to be very sure that I
had not forgotten the size of her foot I
looked at her old shoes and saw the No.
2 1z2 mark on them. Yet her old shoes
measured a quarter of an inch less in
length than the new ones.
Clerk-Were the other shoes bought
here?
Customer-No. have been buying
shoes for some years at Blanks, in the
Bowery.
Clerk-Ah, that may explain. the diff
ference. l think they have different
standard for working at Blanks. You
see some women insist on buying shoes
half size too small for them, and when
they 60 to store to buy for themselves.
they can't be satisfied until the salesman
crowds their four and half foot into
q four shoe. A woman who has worn
a four shoe will not have it said that she
has to wear a four and a half. Now, if
she has been buying her shoes at Blanks.
and she happens to come here for pairs
she either gets fours that are COM
Portable on her feet, or she finds that
she can pinch her feet into threes-and-a-
half. She will be satisfied, anyhow, and
Blank won't sell her any more shoes.
It helps trade, don't you see?
The sharp features of the customer
relaxed in smile which did not vanish
until he had departed from the store.-
NJ =. Tribune.