St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-09-09

toners dispute the ownership of various
things by pulling them out OF each
others hands; toes trOdden on; in
spectors eye impertinently young and
old to discover thieves; then the elbow
digs, and flushed faces, the torn CLOTH
ing! Finally comes the push of
the people up to the pay desk, in a-line,
like pigs TO the slaughter house Your
purchases have been taken from you TO
be tied up. Mistakes must be frequent
in this department. A list of articles is
read out by perspiring clerk and
total is given. You lay down your
money and it is Immediately
snatched up. No receipt is given.
funds conquered from you; now you
may go or stay; no one needs you fur
Their. Perhaps you Will feel disposed
to rest awhile in the luXnriOusly fur
nished salon de lecture of the estab-
lishment, and read the morning papers.
Unfortunately it is crowded, like
every other place on the premises.
The reading rooms of the great French
shops are beginning to figure in the
works of the contempOraneous Frencn
noveliStS as convenient place OF Illicit
rendezvous. A glance around one OF
them often shows couples of fact, not
fiction, whose demeanOr favOrS the sup
position that they have met by appoint
ment. and not ''by chance"
Shopping is great enjoyment TO
some women, a great bore to others;
both classes prefer the shop to which
they are accustomed. There are num-
dreds of women in New York who live
who spend the whole day and
every day in what they call
shopping, that is to say, they go into
stores and look at goods!for hours just as
an amusement. They don't buy what
they see; they only see what they would
like to buy. The passion has other vari-
cites. L know a man who used to go
and look at every house he could hear
of that was TO let or for sale, trying to
see now near he could find house that
was like the house he would
live in if he was rich. He
found a good many houses; the only
trouble was to find the money for them.
So it is with many New York women
who go shopping. Fortunately for
them the clerks in New York are pa
tent, ana will take the leisurely MUIR
INJURED excuse, ''Well, I'll think it
over" as a sufficient Offset for getting
down and doing up again whole cargo
Vi uIy SOOuS.
London shopkeepers expect their Gus
toners to know what they want and
take it if they find it; French shop
keepers display more wares on their
counters than they have got on
their shelves, i'll the hope OF
tempting weak human nature
the weak feminine nature-tO
buy what is shown, whether needed or
not. In London shop customer will
always be treated with great civility; in
French shop Gust }mer will not be treat
ed at all; she will simply be endured.
Something of this passive disrespect OF
the customer is to be encountered
in those great private shipping institu-
lions of England, the cooperative
stores. A set-off for its unpleasantness
in this case, however, is the undoubted
cheapneSs of the articles, which are
actually sold at wholesale rates.
BY the way of concluding what | have
written on shopping in London and
Paris, / may quote the excellent Span
ish proverb, nowhere more appropriate
than in this connection: THE way to
be poor is to buy what you don't want"