News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-07-19
HOW WOMEN ACT AT AUCTIONS.
Their Great Desire to Buy an :irticIe
Worth Il Dollar for Ten Cents.
From the ATLANTIC Journal.l


From the Atlantic Journal.
GLOW much am [ offered for thi
linen handkerchief? How much vii
you give me for one, with the privilege
of dozen? Start em for something
How much?"
''I'll give you ten cents, sir"
'Ten I'm offered, who'll say the fif
teen?"
81 reckon I'll give you that much"
Fifteen, who'll say the twentyl'
''Will yon let me look at them, please
sir? I'll bid twenty cents"
"Twenty, dia [ hear the five? Twen-
ty, twenty, twenty, twenty, twenty
once, twice; are you all done? The
third and last time, and-gone Toto
| to"
''NIrs. John Smith.
GLOW many will you take, Mrs.
| Smith?"
"Why, I'll take the dozen for twenty
cents, of course"
! 'fNadar2, you were bidding for one
with the option Of taking a dozen.
Twelve of them will cost you $2. 40"
"Well, you can just keep your old
handkerchiefs.
L had q back seat in a store on
Whitehall street, which was being sold
out by the sheriff, and the sale had been
announced as "ladies' auction"
This introduction was what I heard
when I first entered the store, and it
was the auctioneer wrestling with some
lady bidders.
The handkerchiefs were sold again
and bought by another lady for forty
cents apiece.
watched the sale for about an hour,
and from what / witnessed [ am fully
prepared to say that women can clean
up house and milk a COW, but they are
dead failure at an auction.
While the auctiOneer was screaming
himself hOar5e to get up some enthusi-
asm over a tablecloth, half dozen
or more ladies crowded around the
counter and asked the clerks to show
them various and sundry articles; and
finally the auctiOneer paused and re-
marked that it was absolutely necessary
for him to have the attention of the en-
tire audience. This made the ladies
mad, and they began to make so many
uncomplimentary remarks about the
tableclOth that it was thrown down and
oOillCGllllSS5 C1oC pun W lOI Siles
They had to inspect critically every
thing that was offered, and it required
half the auctioneer's time to keep in
sight what he was telling. When a bolt
of ribbon was ''looked at" it was un-
wound AMI the end passed around, while
the holder of the bolt run the ribbon
out as the end got further and further
away. When finally returned to the
auctioneer he had some ten or fifteen
yards to straighten out.
The auctioneer standing upon a coun-
ter would throw out goods into the au-
dience for ladies to inspect, and when he
accidentally knocked off an elderly
lady's bonnet with pair Of stockings
there came near being serious trouble.
Once a corset was thrown into a young
lady's lap, and with cheeks like poppies
she drew her hat over her eyes, picked
up the article gingerly and dropped it
into the lap Of an old married lady, who
exclaimed:
"Thems good stays. Ill give you
quarter for them
She got them and they were three
sizes too small.
Up went piece of fine lace worth Al
a yard, and it was bought by gentle
a bid. This struck me rs ESIna5 ''-rtlrS Ntr9
strange, and while mentioning it after
ward to the auctiOneer he said:
"You see, a woman thinks q thing
sold at auction must be almost literally
given away. They want to pay ten
cents for something worth $40. That's
their idea of the business, and the only
time we catch them is when we fool them
on the goods or put up something they
don't know anything about. [ have seen
them give dollar for thing that wasn't
worth ten cents dozen"
I noticed one lady who had bid on
nearly everything which had been Of
fered for sale and had not bought a
thing. Finally, when box of handker-
chiefs had been knocked down for a dol
lar and half and her last bid had been
thirty cents, she said in an audible
voice:
"That man is just as mean as he can
be. He won't let me have thing, but |
just keeps on until somebody bids over
me-"
A nicely dressed lady had two dozen
ten cent stockings of rainbow hues |
knocked down to her for 81, and when |
the bundle was handed to her she looked |
around in confused manner and said. |
lpologetically:
81 bought these for my cook"
There was lady sitting quite near
The auctioneer who bought great many |
5hings, and had come to the conclusion
hat she had dry goods store some
where in the suburbs. Presently she |
eft the store, and ten minutes later l
saw a gentleman enter excitedly, closely
Ollowed by my supposed store keeper.
It was her husband, and he rushed up |
% clerk and asked the amount of Mrs.
rs bill. 1t was 1928 and something,
md he came back to his wife, who was
standing at the door, and said:
"Great goodness, Nellie, you have
bought nearly $50 wOrth!"
"What! Why, I didn't have any idea
spent over So"
When some ladies' underwear was held
Up by the auctioneer saw three young
aides get up and go out hurriedly.
There was a gentleman standing near
ne who whispered in my ear:
''Ive caught on to a scheme. [ came
lere to buy my wife some trimmings
nd laces, and I was afraid to bid be-
3tuse knew nothing about such articles,
'ut now whenever see the ladies bid
ling lively then I'm going to buy"
The first article he bought on this
,lan was ten yards of lace at thirty cents
yard, and it was cotton, and could be
'ought anywhere for ten cents.
He left the store few minutes later,
nd suppose he. went home to get his
yifa