The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-06-02
WomEN AND CROWDS.

(FrOm the New York JournaL)
One hears much complaining these
days about the crowds that visit the
big stores. The men and women who
are prepared to give positive judgments
upon all questions that vex mortal souls
have detained and written volumin-
ously upon the subject. Listen to them
and you Will imagine that all the wOm
en- of New York are rushing to early
graves through the crowded aisles of
the dry goods stores.
They will tell you that smiles have
been baniShed from the faces Of shop
perS, to be replaced as one enthusiastic
female censor puts it, by ''rasping, con-
tOrted expressions" and "frOWns of
discomfort and dispIeasure."
But how different is the story told by
the shoppers themselves See them in
the heat of the chase, observe the en-
thusiasm which lights their faces, mark
the smiles of triumph which indicate
their success in acquiring the coveted
bargains, and then listen to the ami
mated stories of their experiences. No
fox hunter ever waXed more eloquent
in describing his conquest of the brush
than does the shopper in telling how
she secured the eagerly sought bar
gain, and the blood of the one is as
thoroughly stirred by the chase as is
that of the other.
It is absurd to suggest that the wo-
men of New York are given to pursuits
that destroy either health or beauty
Shopping AFFORDS them delightful ex-
hilaratiOn and excellent exercise, and
the veteran shoppers are alert, vigorous
and level headed
The wide awake merchant knows that
the average woman loves a crowd, and
he aims to give his store the appear
ance of being crowded, even when trade
is dull. An empty store is avoided by
women as if it were a plague spot, while
a crowd attracts her just as it does the
busy brokers of Wall street, who are
to ctr En iGlGf of
Weighty business to peer over the
shoulders of office boys gathered around
a fallen horse.
It is because the merchant under
stands human nature that he knows
how to arouse the curiosity that is one
of its characteristics. When shoppers
are few he places his most attractive
wares at the main entrances, where the
knowing shoppers will pounce upon
them. These attract the idle passers,
and soon a crowd forms. Presently,
those in the rear, unable to get near
the counters, move on to give anina-
the merchants object is obtained. En-
lie lola, the great French realiSt, spent
months in studying the operations of a
great department store in Paris, and
in the novel he based upon his observa-
lions continually dwelt upon the need
of crowds to make business success.
Speaking of his hero, the manager of
great department store he said:
He laid down as a law that not a
corner of the Ladies' Paradise ought
to remain deserted, requiring every
where a noise, a crowd. evidence of
life; for life, said he. attracts life, in
creases and multipIies.''
There is a store in Chicago in which,
it is alleged. the crowds are habitually
so great that visitors have been car
ried from entrance to exit without once
getting near the counters. OF course
that is OVERRIDING the thing, but every
body knows that Chicagoans are un-
necessarily energetic. Our crowds are
neither so fierce nor so vruel. There are
dry goods stores also in which crowds
and noise do not exist. Their owners
are conservative, and cater to ladies
with extra sensitive nerves-the sort
that shrink from contact with fellow
passengers in a street car. Those stores
are necessary to a. metropolis having in
its enormous population citizens with
no more serious occupation than the
destruction of time and money. But
the merchants who have their fingers
on the pulses of the people and who are
successful because they respond to the
popular demand are the other kind and
it is in their stores that one obtains a
truthful picture of the active, independ-
dent, vigorous, excitement-loving, typ
zeal New York woman.