Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-11-06
MASCULINE SHOPPING.
Tho Head of tho House Has Some IT
 As Buyer,

As a Buyer.
 had occasion yesterday to get a few things" necessary in we'll regulated house hold. went into large store on the corner, where, as I gathered from their advertise ments, they were more than satisfied if they made anywhere near living profit. Un- scruplous so. called competitors, they claimed, were trying to undersell them, but, so far, these one horse concerns had received only the well merited scorn of a discriminating and long headed public I felt greatly pleased at getting on the track of place the first thing where they were content to lose a fair percentage. couldn't help feeling sorry Tor the small concerns that were struggling along and trying to keep up appearances, but then they should have known better than to have started in
 There was a wide stone sidewalk around the store, and besides the other people there were several coachmen standing along the outer edge wearing long, gloomy expressions on their faces. Personally, arrived on the elevated road, which passes along but a few blocks away on somewhat shorter stilts, 1t seems to me, than it does farther uptown. I went In and began to look around. wanted Co get a number of things, but all I could think of was two yards of felt, so I went over to man who looked like Hamlet when Polo- nlus is talking to him and asked where they kept their felt. He told me, but looked as if things were getting worse and worse in the state of Denmark.
 went to the place to which Hamlet di- rooted me and found fishing tackle and rub Der dolls. .Hamlet's advice to the purchaser is not satisfactory. However. found the felt department at last and sat down on one Of the cloth covered door knobs which stood along in front of the counter mounted on sticks. The young lady who had the man. agement of the felts was very busy matching apiece of green felt to blue sample for a customer, so had time to rest didn't see anything moro of Hamlet, but Coriolanus went past once looking for Volscians, Down the kid glove alley I noticed King Richard II meditating on the melancholy fate of sov- ereigns and the probable relative demand that there would be next week for four and six button gloves respectively. Everything seemed to be intended for rest. They ap- peared to want to encourage people to stay and grow old with them. I saw that the idea so many folks labor under that life is short is delusion- I sent word to the managers desk by one of the cash boys that if there was any charge for sitting on that button after the first hour that would make it all right.
 The young lady got around to me at last, however, and asked me what color wanted. l didn't know that I had lost the sample while was paving around in the grass in the front yard before left homo looking for my street car tickets. told her thought wanted sort of dark green, though. She said she didn't sec what could want of dark green felt. I acknowledged that I didn't know what wanted it for, but was pretty sure that that was the color. She said that if had lost my sample she didn't see what could know about what wanted, and had what Sh showed me some red felt, and yellow felt, and purple felt, and various other colored felts. My mind kept wandering back foohshly to the dark green, but if I tried to say anything about 1t she soon put mo on the right track again, and spread out some light rose colored felt before me- She was just ready to cut me off piece of this when tho crazy notion that I wanted dark green got the better of me again and told her that must have it. apologized for my freak, but l explained to her that l would never be happy till got it and sneaked home with it under my overcoat and hid it so that no one would ever know that I had bought dark green felt just because wanted 1t when I could have got light rose colored, She scattered slabs of felt right and left for 6 minute or so and dug 3 roll of the poor crack brained dark green out of the bottom of the pile and cut off two yards. She said 1t came to $3.51, reduced from $S. 731S5, and gave her a B bill. She gave the felt to girl in a pigeon hole to tie up and put the money and a cheery little note to the cashier saving that she had made sale and hoped he was enjoy- ing the same blessing, in Q little round tin pepper box with a fur collar on each end of 1t, and dropped it down the end of a small brass caves spout which came up by the side of the postotfice box the girl was in. She 1n1 o n,.& oP of the brass tube and 1t began to hum kind of sad, subdued tune, and judged that all was over.
 l rested my elbows on the counter and thought and watched the end of that brass money digesting apparatus for a very long time. saw my mistake, now that it was too late. 1 had often been warned from youth up against putting my money in where would never get 1t back, and this must be what they meant. I had often wondered when my financially sharp friends had told me that must never put my money into anything where I was not certain of speedy returns, what they were referring to; this was evidently it. Time wore on and the brass pipe hummed the same sad refrain down in its throat and refused to give up my $5. I wouldn't have cared so much if I hadn't been told so many times not to put my money into anything didn't know anything about. Time went on and hung to the one legged stool, though had long ago given up. hope. I noticed that Cardinal Wolsey was preparing to go home while Macbeth was having.a boy take down the sample lace in his department; All at once the organ pipe clucked and began to breathe hard The girl pulled something and took out the pep per box with the whiskers, When the young lady opened it and gave me my change, con- ciS nF ] walked back from the brink of financial ruin as one in a dream-Fred H. Carruth in