The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-10-02
STEWARDS LOVE OF III Se,K
A Few Anecdotes Of the Millioii..ise 81.
Goods Merchant.

] Goods Merchant.
1t is not generally known that tn .at
"A. I. Stewart was the first mercha,
the metropolis, If not the United Sta,
20 send women on the road as drummer,
me millionaire had great faith in thu
ability OF the gentler sex, as applied to
business OF all kinds. and he rarely gave
man an opportunity where he thought
woman could do as we'll. Aside from
the difference in salaries. which was con-
SIDERABLE to the mind Of the then prince
OF merchants, it was sort of hobby
with MIN to give the young ladies a
chance, as he frequently expressed it. All
the other houses of those days shook
their heads obviously when it was an
nounced that Stewart intended to put
women drummers on the road. stIt will
never do" they said. at is not the
proper calling for a woman" They were
right, and at the same time wrong.
Stewards speciality all his life was silk.
The best part of his fortune was realized
through silk. So the "lady drummer
as the trade called her, went on the road
to talk silk. She turned out to be a tip
top failure. Stewart then gave up the at
tempt to make anything out of women
drummers.
One Of the most successful modistes up
town was among the first women to be
him until his death. She has wealth
OF information concerning the old firm,
and yesterday, in talking over the matter
with q Mail and Express reporter, she
said
Stewart was crafty and automatically
So de was perfect treasure at getting
up novelties Not only was he the first
TO send women on the road, but he was
also the first to introduce dressmaking
mr. -0n dxrr, u 81
business, and his rivals threw up their
hands in horror when he did it. Miss
Hudnutt was his first modiste. She is
now know as Mime. Connolly. Twice
every year Mr.. Stewart sent Mis- Hudnutt
to London and Paris to study and get the
fastest fashions
Stewart always had peculiar ideas as to
how his saleswomen should act and dress.
He hated colors. He believed that his
| employees, and particularly his women
employees, should dress according to their
varous ages. recall one instance where
lie openly objected to one of his sales
women wearing costume which he
thought did not become her This WOMAN
was what we girls then called an old hen.
and on certain hot day she came into
tile store all decked out in pink. The old
gentleman eyed her closely as she came
In, and after she had taken her place be-
hind the counter, at which 1, too, served.
he came forward and said loud enough for
her to hear: Il cannot understand whv
some women do not use little Judgment
In the matter OF dress. Pink Pink
means youth. Pink shames the complex
Ion. Nobody over 10 years old should
wear pink. Pink! Bahp Then he walked
away. ellis favorite costume for women
was black. His experience abroad had
taught him that the English saleswomen
were obliged to wear tight fitting black
suits without the least display of jewelry.
and 1T was his desire to emulate the Eng
lish idea. With the exception of the time
spoken of never knew him to be rude in
speaking of girls costume. AS a mat
ter of fact, he was quite adroit in giving
his hints. When girl wore light col,
oreo dress, as some of the new ones fire.
quently did, he would pretend not to see
1T, but would wait patiently and calmly
until the young miss appeared In dark
dress. Then he would walk up to her
and CALAMITY say: Miss Josie, you look
charming to-day. How well black be-
comes you. I consider your wearing IL
quite compliment to me, for black Is nv
favorite color, and above all for bust
ness women. You can rest assured that
the girl thus spoken to never appeared In
light color again. at least not during bus.
mess hours. His idea of jewelry was that
its appearance on a young lady spoiled
her good looks, if she possessed any, in
addition to giving her matronly appear
ance. he was certainly a great general
in letting his employees know that he had
his own ideas about the proper dress for
saleswoman and that he wished, ave,
| required, that their ideas on the same
subject be identical with his. Still he
was seldom rude in the enforcement of
his DESIRES"
RANSOMS DEMANDED