The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-11-06
MASCULINE SHOPPING.
The Head Of the House uas Some Fun
As I;uycr.

where, as gathersl from their advertise
ments, they were more tlen satisfied II they
made anywhere near a living profit I'm
scruplousso called competitors. t.ioy claimed,
were trying 20 underse.l them, but 50 far,
these one horse concerns had received only
the vel faerited scorn Of a discriminating
and long headed public ! felt greatly
pleased at getting on the track Of place the
first thing whore they were conte,at) lose q
fair percentage. couldn't help GEN sorry
fer the small concerns TINT werA struggling
along and trying TO keep up appearance, Lut
then they should have known better tnan 10
have started in
There was a " ide stone sidewalk around
the store, and besides the other people there
were several coachmcu standing along the
outer edge wearing long gloomy expressions
on their fares Personally, arrived on 'he
elevated road which passes a,ons hut a few
blocks away on somewhat short stills, II
seems TO nc. than 10 does farther uptown
went in and lcgan 20 looi. cr0nud. ! wanted
70 get a number Of things, but all | could
think Of was two yards Of felt, so / went over
u a man who looked like Hamlet when Polo
MUS is talking 20 him and asked where they
kept their felt lie told me. but looked as If
things were getting worse and worse ia the
state OF Denmark
went 10 the place 70 which Hamlet di-
rected me and found fishing tackle and rub
ter dolls Hamlcts advice 20 the purchaser
10 not satisfactory. However, ! found the
felt department at last and sat down on one
q the cloth covered door knobs which stood
along in front Of the counter mounted Oh
sticks. The young lady who bad the man
ageneut Of the fcits was very busy matching
piece Of green felt 70 "a blue sample for
customer, 50 had time 20 rest didn't see
anything more Of Hamlet but C0rioianus
went past once looking for Nolsciaus. Down
the Lid glove alley noticed King Richard
II mcltatng on the melancholy fate OF SOW
ereigns aud the probable relative demand
that there would be next week for four and
SIX button gloves respectively. Everything
seemed % be intended for rest. They APP
peared TO want % encourage people % stay
aud grow old with them. ] saw that the idea
so many folks labor under that life IS short
IS q delus0n ] sent word % the manager S
desk 10y one Of the cash boys that If there was
any charge for sitting on that button after
the first hour that / would make % all right.
The Young lady got around 70 ne at last,
however and asked me what color ! wanted.
l didn't know that ] had lost the sample
while was paving around IN the grass VI
the front yard before left home looking FOR
my street car tickets told her thought !
wanted a sort Of dark green, though She
said She didn't sec what / could want OF dark
green felt / Acknowledged that / didn't
know what wanted it for, but | was pretty
sure that that was the color She said that
if had lost my sample Sine didn't sec what
could know about what wanted, and had
10 admit that 10 was some so. Then shc
showed me some red felt and yellow felt,
and purple felt, and various other colored
felts NV mind kept wandering back
foohshly TO the dark green, but if
tried 10 say ANYTHING about 10 she soon
put me ON the right track again, and spread
ont some Ugh. rose colorcd felt before me-
She was lust ready 90 cut me of piece oil
this when the crazy notion that l wanted
dark green got the better of nae again and
told her that I must have it. apolosized
for nay freak, but / explained TO her that
would never be happy till got and neaked
home with 10 under my oyerc0at end hli II
SO that mo- one would ever know that had
bought dark green felt just because | wanted
10 when could have got hgut rose colored.
She scattered slabs of felt right and left for "a
minute on SO and dug roliol thepoor, craos
Drained dark green out of the bottom ot ihe
nile and Clt ci two yards She said itcame to
1881. reduced from e3.13i and gave lel "a
s. baI SLo gavo the felt 10 % girl n q
D. D q d.. ...lf mae cod
a CHEEKY little note 20 the cashier, saving that
She lad made q sale and hoped he was enjoy
iur the same blessing, in o Little round tin
pepper box vitl % fur collar on each cll oi
ii. aud dropped it down the end of small
brass caves spout which came zap by the side
az the pas.0nico box the Girl was in She
pulled a sort of a thing around over The t9p
Of the brass tube and it began 20 bum bind
of a sad. sabdued tune, and judged that al
was over.
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 1t was
too late | had often been warned from
youth up against putting my money in where
j would never get it back, and tlis must be
MINl lutN lNtAlt ANh 'tt'A ff'tiNtN tN''
when my financially sharp friends hal told
me that must never put my money into
anything where ] was not certain of speedy
returns, what they were referring 60; this
was evidently It, Time Wore on and the
brass pipe hummed the same sad refrain
down in It's throat and refused to give up my
s.. ] wouldn't have cared SO much If
hadn't been told so many times not 10 put my
money into anything didn't know any thing
about. Time went on and hung TO the one
legged stool, though had long ago given up
hope | noticed that Cardinal Wolsey was
preparing to 90 home while Macbeth was
having a boy take down the sample lace ia
his department All at once tine organ pipe
CLICKED and began 90 breathe hard. The
girl pulled something and took out the pep
per box with the whiskers When the young
lady opened it and gave mo my change, con-
sis;ing Of nine pennies and some other coins,
/ walked back from the brini; Of financial
ruin as one IN n dream Fired II. Carruth IN
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