Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1889-07-25
mes, 1 thought the chncs would never


magnifying glassl" jeersd Fanny. ''Not
she. I tell you kept the spotted dress
pattern pretty well in the background !
when she was housing through the
goods. She did ask to look at that piece, |
but told her it was short length. And |
of course 1 couldn't sell it to any one
who would be likely to bring it back on
our hands the next day. But, you see,
this old fossil lives way out in the back
woods. Didn'tyou see his mud-splashed
wagon>at the doorl And if he should
make fuss, nothing can be easier than
to make him believe that it was some
how done through his own carelessness
afterward."
"Well," cried George Miller, eff Fan
Pole amt the smartest girl in the store!"
81 should have lost my place if 1
hadn't cleared it off the shelves some
how" complacently observed Fanny.
tYes, I think myself it was pretty neatly
done"
"Only," said Lizzie Lomax, ''the poor
old woman that the silk dress was for"
"That's none of my lookout" said Fan
ny Pole.
And she began to talk about the ball
which she expected to attend in night
or two, in company with certain young
foreman in printing Office, who had
been especially attentive to her of late.
81 shall get ahead of you all! Fanny
said, triumphantly, to the other shop
girls. "I'd marry a chimpanzee to get
out of this place. But Harry is no Chin
panzee. He's the handsomest young fel-
low you ever saw, and he's earning good
round wages, too"
And the other maidens sighed, with one
envious accord.
''Fan gets all the luck"
Old Peter Gale logged home with his
purchase in the twilight, and the next
day he laid the neat paper package on
the sitting-room table.
"You amt sixty years old every day
in the year." said he; ''and here's your
present, mother"
The spectacles dropped off Mrs. Gales
nose.
sA-silk-dress !" cried she. "Well,
do declare! How ever came you to think
of that, father9 Well, I'm so pleasedm
Five minutes later she called to him as
he stood in the sink-room, sorting over
garden seeds.
"Spotted with grease!" he repeated.
ooh, get out! Guess you've got some
thing on the glasses of your specks, old
lady. Thought it spick and span new at
snipwell s. Birch's.
"Where?" said Henry, the tall son,
who had come from the city to help keep
his mothers birthday, and brought her a
big-print Bible, so large and substantial
that it needed a whole table to itself
"Snipwell & Birch's," reiterated the
old farmer. ''That big, marble-fronted
store on Ontario street, ye know, Hal.
1 wasn't goin' to buy your mothers silk
dress at no cheap place, where I'd likely
to be swindled."
''But you have been swindled, father"
said Henry, gravely examining the black
silk folds. ''dother is right. Some
sort of grease has been spilled on this,
and some one has attempted to clean it
off, apparently with very indifferent sue
cess"
''It haint been took outen the parcel
sence l bought it" said Mr.. Gale, smit-
ting his hand on the table. "And look
the papers as clean and neat as Sunday
Observation-Disclosures"
"Yes; and the CREASED spot is folded
clear on the inside" said Mrs. Gale.
"Who sold you this piece of silk,
father9" said Henry, intently surveying
it. ''I know one of the girls at Snip
we'll & Birch's, and I shall certainly in
vestigate the matter"
s'A gal with real yellow hair, and eyes
as blue as larkspurs bloom" said Mr..
Gale. "The prettiest spoken little cree
tur you ever seen. She wouldn't a.
cheated me, I know"
Henry Gale bit his lip.
"How foolishI ami" he thought. 'sIs
there only one fair-haired, blue-eyed girl
behind all Snipwell 6 Blrch's counters2''
And the mud-splashed old wagon
rumbled into town again that day and
took up its station among the elegant
carriages that were there; for the sun
come out at last, the sky was radiantly
blue, and spring shopping was in its full
tide of success.
s'Pn go in with you, father" said
Henry Gale. ''I know some one there,
and / am certain that they will do theil
best to see you righted in this unaccount
able business"
But Miss Pole happened to be absent
at that minute. She was down in tht
stock-room helping new hand to be
come initiated in the mysteries of he
business, and Miss Lomax was in tempo
rary charge of the silk counter.
She turned red and white as Farme
Gale flung down the roll of black silk OF
the oiled walnut expanse, with the alb
: rupt words:
"Young woman, I've been cheated il
this ERE dress pattern. It's damage'
goods, and I mean to be at the bottom o
the business, or I'll know the reaso
why"
/ In an instant the floor-walker, one G
the members of the firm, half doze
girls, and sprinkling of cash-boys, ha
: collected around the counter.
q "What is it2" said Mr.. Birch. either
r is no dishonorable dealing here. If 20,
n silk is damaged, sir, it must have haI
o pened since you left the store" T.
4 elbow ia this. Miss Lomax2n said MI