The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1894-07-09
FIXIN'S FOR STOVES.
A DEALER IN HEATERS TELLS HON
THEY CAUSE TRoUBLE.

A DEALER lN HEATERS TELLS HON
THEY CAUSE TRoUBLE.
~1ribulations Of People who Thlnk they
KNOW About Their Stoves. bat TInd
when They Desire 10 Repair xlAsm That
Their -Ignoranee = AppallinRs
The life or d dealer lin stove repairs
In not one or unalloyed bliss. He has
all classes Of people 20 deal with, and
the greater portion OF them seldom.
know what they want They think they
do. but they don't This viii be readily
understood when It Is known that there
are manufactured today between 20, 900
and 80, 900 different stoves. As each va
riety has from 8 60 10 component parts
this will make . total Of between &c.,
600 and 640,O 900 different pieces. Il
viii be seen that unless minute details
are given there are possibilities Of hav-
ing q mixed stove On your hands. A
visit to one Of the largest repair shops
in the country was productive Of some
interesting information q well % soano
amusing incidents.
1T 10 singular said the manager,
how little the general public knows
about stoves. People will handle D stove
for years and still be d stranger to its
Then, when something happens 10 it
they come TO ms and expect M TO know
what part IL wanted by . general de-
scription. We carry supplies of about
80, 600 different stoves. There are about
800 stove manufacturers In this country,
and they turn ont On an average 1000
new designs every year. AS we r
called upon 20 supply the different parts
Of all of them, vi have to keep . pretty
large stock ON hand.
I'VE have four stories full OF sup
plies. which weigh 2. 800 tons. Besides
these we have 500 tons of patterns and
pay 80, 600 yearly for new designs
Our stock Is an accumulation Of over 20
years Some Of our supplies are for
stoves that haven't bean manufactured
for years. One would think that people
would want the latest pattern Ina stoves
but they don't They win hang onto n
stove as long n there Ii anything TO
patch up. Why, only the other day we
were asked TO supply . CRATE for q stove
that was made in 1880. You see, there
are lots Of people, especially in the
country, who use the old fashioned wood
stoves, and although one Of the new
stoves would save them enough in one
season to pay for itself they stick TO the
old ones.
1--WE have any number Of amusing
experiences, although some Of them
would try the patience Of q saint Peo-
pie will come to rs who think they have
enough information il they give MS the
name Of their stove. An Irishman
walked into our place the other day.
He was one Of those positive Irishmen
who think il impossible to make . mis-
take.
Good mornin, he began. tOi was
laid of yesterday. an Oh just came
down to git some fxin's for the stove.
The Guild woman's been lackin for u
new back this long tonne
What kind Of O stove Id it?'
"'Oh, just . common livery day
stove.
Does it burn coal or wood?'
It's o coal stove an burns a divil
Of a lot of coal. Sure, it takes the best
part Of me wages buyin coal.
What is the name and number of
itr
"sNo. 8 Star.
Are you sure?'
Am Oh spre? OF course Dim sure.
Dye suppose Olive sat in front Of it for
the last eight years an not know what
kind of q stove IL is? Phat do you think
Oh ann, O choomp?'
But there IL no such stove made.
lis that 90? Maybe you t'ink you
know more about IL than Oh do, an ye
niver sane the stove at al, at ALL
'Bnt there are several kinds of
Stars. Who Ia the maker, what liz the
date of the patent and what I'D the size
Of the ovenr
An do yon have to know all thats
Sure, the next tonne Oh come down for
q job loike this OH sind some one
else.
s'Then there is the handy man, who
comes In with q piece Of string or q
stick. There are knots in the string and
hicks on the stick to show that the stove
is $50 long and so deep, When we tell
him what is necessary before he can be
accommodated, he beats a hasty retreat.
And there is the lady who thinks we are
Just horrid, when we tell her that we
don't know what kind Of q stove she
has, that there are between 20, 900 and
80, 900 for which we have repairs, and
that hers might be any one of them.
'eThe other day q German who keeps
o secondhand store was in here for some
parts to two stoves that he had bought.
He could not speak English very well,
and as near % the clerk conld make out
the names OF his stoves were the San.
sage and the Maggots.' Az no such
stoves were made 90 our knowledge, we
were somewhat puzzled. Finally the
catalogue was resorted to and the Ger
man triumphantly pointed ont the
names Of his stoves They were the Sue
cess and the Magnetic.
EFIEA -