Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1895-07-24
EYEGLASSES FOR NEW WORKERS.
she Costly Ccuiist, Cheaper Optician and
Cheapest syorner Stand.

Cheapest s,orner Stand.
Opticians crowd this town almost as
they crowd Boston fJu may count six
Or eight in two blocks Of East Twenty
third street, and there are scores up and
down Broadway, while dry goods shops
and corner stands sell eyeglasses to those
that will buy. 1t costs from rs cents to
nearly as many dollars to be fitted with
a first pair Of eyeglasses. Those that go
to the oculist for a prescription as pre-
iminary to putting on glasses must pay
him from $40 to $25, or if the eyes need
treatment from $25 to 500, according
to the nature and length of the treat
ment and the accustomed charges of the
Oculist.
When the patient is ready to buy his
glasses, he takes the prescription of the
oculist to an optician and orders them.
Being made to order especially for the
patient, they may cost anywhere from
$3.50 to $15. Persons with complicated
disorders of the eye really wear from
two to five pairs of glasses in one Some
prescriptions call for two separate pairs,
and no prudent man is content to have
only one pair of glasses by him, since
the loss of his single pair may mean the
loss of a days work or considerable in
jury to the eyes,
The most careful opticians refuse to
examine the eyes of persons that come
after eyeglasses, perhaps because the ocu-
lists do not send patients with prescrip-
tions to opticians that undertake to per-
form the work of the oculist The most
expensive way to purchase glasses is
through the OculiSt and the optician.
Some very careful persons always visit
an oculist before making change in the
power of their glasses. Others simply go
on increasing the strength as need seems
to direct. 1t is good deal cheaper to
buy of the oculist-optician, and some
persons believe it to be quite as safe as
the more expensive method 1t is entire
ly probable that for ordinary conditions
of the eye the oculist-optician serves
we'll enough. Most persons that do not
guess at their own needs in the matter
of glasses either go to an oculist-optician
and have him fit them out at from So. so
to $15 or consult friend. This last is
the cheapest method, and it is favorite
one with thousands The friend, who
wears glasses, learns that the other is
having some difficulty of sight and offers
his own glasses on trial If they seem to
serve the need, the borrower goes to an
Optician OF some other dealer in eye
glasses and gets like pair He thus
saves the fee OF the oculist Or that of tho
oculist- t-optician
Many persons buy eyeglasses of the
dry goods shops. They sell them at from
so cents to 81, and they look just like
those that the opticians sell for So SO.
They are perhaps as safe for these whose
affections OF the eyes are not eomplicat-
ed, but they do not last so long as those
of the opticians. They break at the del
icate joints. The frames, if they have
any, are brittle, and tho tiny screws arc
weak OR are put i'll so badly that they
crack the lenses. The dry goods shops,
however, cannot compete with the cor
ner stands for the trade of d great many
persons. There are plenty Of old fellows
that have been buying their glasses for
almost nothing at corner stands any
time these 40 years They never spent
penny on oculists, and they despise
opticians. The fact is that science of
the eye has grown up since they began
to use glasses, and having started with
out its aid they keep on in like fashion
1t is only because they are not troubled
with complicated affections of the eyes
that they are able to preserve their
sight in defiance of the modern special
ist.-New York Sun.