The Dickinson press., 1889-11-16
"BENNlE" STANDS FOR 8.
hut an Inquirer Had to buy rair OF
Shoes to Find 1t Out.

Shoes to Find 1t Out.
II want a pair of girls Shoes" said q
man to tho floor walker of big Sixth
avenue shoe store day or two ago.
Last aisle OH the left, sir, if you
please"
The man stumbled over door mat,
struck his shin against tho sharp edge of
a settee in his effort to avoid running
over diminutive mother who was help
ing fit a large sized child with pair of
shoes, said something inexcusable not
far enough under his breath to escape the
ears of the diminutive mother; she said
"Oh, my!" to which the man responded
Don't mention it, pray" and tipped his
hat, hurried along, and finally got within
one of the last aislcs.
Tohim sub floor walker asked: "Becn
waited on;" "Neow, hain't," with Il
dash of sarcasm that passed undiscovered.
Miss Terwilligcr, wait OH this gentle
man."
Miss Tcrwilligcr was pretty little
blonde, and the sarcasm vanished from
the mans tones. She looked up long
way to the mans eyes and asked: "What
kind of shoes do you wish, sir:' She
looked as full of fun as last week was of
weather. He said: II want pair of
girls school Shoes"
"What size, please"
"Numbcr four and IL half Bcnnic."
That word "Bcnnie" acted like an in
PRODUCTION from their best friends on all
the salesgirls within earshot. Itwas fired
off with a good lung pressure, and half a
dozen who knew what it meant looked
up and laughed and cast pleasant glances
at the big man.
Little Miss Tcrwilliger laughed and
turned away quickly to dumb waiter
connecting with the stock room i'll the
basement. "Scnd me up pair of girls
school A Bennic," she called, and then
turned her head away to conceal her
mirth. Presently she returned with a
pair of shoes, size ~ B. The man said:
"Thcsc arc too narrow"
"But you called for Bennic, didn't
you:'
Eyes; but didn't know what itmeant.
l heard one of the salesgirls call for a
'Bennic,' and an ovcrpowcring curiosity
to find out who 'Bcnnic was or what
'Bennic' meant led mo to call for it.
saw by the commotion it made that you
have a shop meaning for it. suppose
'Bcnnio' is your love name for b, isn't
it,
''lt is the name we use in this store Cor
B widths"
"Wcll, then, what does G stand for!'
"Charlic.'
"And d."
"Davic."
"And E?"
Eddie"
"Bennic, Charlie, Davie, Eddie. And
A, does that stand for Andic:'
"No; y stands for itself You see, all
the other letters have the L sound, and
i'll calling for them through the speaking
tube we had the samo trouble in distin-
gushing between them that you have
over tho telephone. So VIC invented
names to distinguish tho widths of the
shoes that correspond in their first letters
with tho size letters"
But why did you give them boys
names? Why didn't you call them Bes
sic and Clara and Dolly and Emma?'
ooh, they como much quicker when
we call them by boys names" This was
delivered as u parting shot, but the mis-.
chievous little clerk remembered that
she hadn't sold her shoes yet, SO she
added, "WEat size do you want, sir!'
"Wcll, you sec, my daughter had tho
misfortune to bo born out wcst-in Chi
cago, you know"
"Thcn you want Al Eddie, suppose,
the salcsgirl interrupted.
"Thc same. New York Times.