Morning journal and courier., 1891-04-29
BARGAINS ATTACKED.
Pay a Reasonable Price for the Best
 You Can Afford

You Can Afford.
 From Kate Fields washington1 Men have their bad points, no doubt. We never studied them. But they cer- tainly have one characteristic trait worthy
 to be commended and copied. I refer to the way they make purchases.
 Every one knows how women buy, and that no women under the sun is ever satis- fled with anything less than @ bargain. '" really think this bargain hunting has produced a spirit of gambling, and that women are responsible for the disgusting variety and outrageous number of shoddy goods, glass diamonds, pinchbeck orna- ments and vulgar limitations and fiaring cheats of all sorts that are placed upon the market to-day. They have created & to conceive of the manufsctories turning out anything more absurd and unneeded than we already have.
 To woman, a bargain means the pur-
 chase of something for half its price, or
 less. What is this but gamblingi If the article is up to the standard it must be worth a certain price; and if less is paid for it, either the thing itself is 6 cheat, or
 some one has lost by the transaction. Bargains are deleterious in another way: they cause, by their delusive cheapness, a careless and reckless expenditure and en- gender spirit of dishonesty This is the tendency, with an ever-increasing greed for more and greater bargains.
 Nearly all women agree that men are extravagant. Men will pay seven dollars for shoes, when three dollars will buy pair which ''look just we'll" five for a hat, when a woman can "bunch up" her best Sunday hat for a dollar or two; and as for mans clothes-why, one suit costa as much as a woman's three best dresses, bonnets thrown in.
 This does sound extravagsnt when you | apply the deadly parallel" to it; but if l there is one thing admire about man it | is the decent and self-respecting price he | pays for things.
 A woman goes out to buy 8 pair of shoes; she fritters away a whole day buy | ing bargains which could not be resisted, | and comes home loaded with them. But | the shoesl Oh, yes, she has the shoes | bargains, also, of course. "Regular four | dollar boots," she will explain, with an | accent of proud certainty. Then she eI- ! goods bought in winter, and slows them away with a smile of satisfaction, just as
 though there would come ere long a bar | gain famine.
 | Again, she congratulates herself as she | thrusts her dainty foot into the bargain n
 boot. But see the result; the pretty look | ing shoes have lost their shape with a few
 wearings, and are beyond recognition in
 about half the time that the genuine four
 dollar boots would have lasted. Then, | when the young summer has come and ey- | cry breeze which stirs the small green | leaves suggests faces and dIaperies and al
 kinds of dainty, flmy, fiuttering things
 the other bargains are brought out. But
 they look so different now! They are out
 of style, or the windows are now full o
 newer, cheaper and prettier articles; and
 altogether she wishes she did not hay,
 them, and wonders why she ever bough
 them.
 have seen well-to-do families of whom
 not a member ever appeared well dresseC
 except the husband and father, and tn
 reason was obvious-he bought his owI
 clothes and eschewed bargains. I am gla'
 that men stand their ground in this matte
 and scorn & bargain counter. otherwis our homes might be hollow, rickety ant
 cracked, and unreal and cheap The fac
 is, men have become disgusted with s
 many bargains. from the half-price toile soap to the wife's tawdry jewelry; and s when they go by they simply ask for tn worth of their money, and are willing | ] | take somebody's word for it besides , When will women learn that it is alwsy f economy to buy the best. It lasts longer is in better taste, and is in every wa , more satisfactory. It is childish to bu | things just because they look well; chi : dren prefer tinsel to gold if it glitter 2 | more, but women are supposed to hay , put away such infantile ideas
 trust that the day is not far distar , when our women will realize that it le' sens their dignity and self-respect to wes limitations, just because they happen to ] | freak of a fashion and cheap Th , craze for bargains, moreover, is dishone, l in principle, and children brought up a such an atmosphere cannot have true COT I captions of taste or appreciation for u f best things. "Tis true, 'tis pity. and pit
 'tis 'tis true"-that they will be compelle . to learn better of their fathers. ' This is the safest rule: Buy the be |, you can afford, paying Q good, decen ! reasonable price, and then take the be
 care of it. For this is the secret of ecoi z omy, after sll-not what you make or pa, . but what you save and take care of.