The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1898-08-26
BARGAIN DAY FOR MEN, TOO
The Mania Among Them Qnite as
Acute as Among Women,

about woman's frailties have in recent
days become too badly worn to pass
current and the signs indicate that
the bargain counter mania as a subject
for humor will soon drop out of circu-
lation. Probably there are men who
will cling to the old bargain counter
jokes as pocket pieces. Men are al
ways loath to abandon any of their
established theories about women.
They find the facts Of femininity so
puzzling that they hold fast to tradi-
tions-which, having been invented by
men, are suited to their minds, says
the New York Sun.
The fact is that the bargain counter
habit is not feminine. 1t is universal,
and the statesmen in the large stores,
albeit prejudiced witnesses, are obliged
to confess that he mania among men,
if not so prevalent, is quite as acute
as among women. An advertised sale
of lightweight underwear or golf
stockings for men will draw a crowd
equaled only by the mob around a
shirt waist counter; and as men are
p~roverbially impatient and haven't
learned, through long experience in de-
partment stores, to wait serenely for a
condescending recognition from a sales
man, the excitement usually runs high
around the mems bargain counter.
A woman reporter strolled into a
store one day last week in search of
an umbrella to replace the last one
she lent, but forgot all about the m
brella in her excitement over what
seemed to be a football rush in the
center aisle. From the center of the
bunch came frantic cries of "Cashw
n an alert floor walker stood near,
evidently acting as referee. The re-
porter edged up toward the fray. She
didn't feel herself justified in distract
ing the attention of the referee, SO she
controlled her curiosity until another
floor walker hove in sight. Then she
asked breathlessly:
whats the matter?"
He looked puzzled.
What are they scrambling for?"
The floor walker grinned expansively
"Sale Of bicycle trousers marked
from $40 to $4.99."
The woman gasped.
D. men do that sort of thing?" she
asked in a dazed way. The floor walker
smiled again.
"Bless you, I should say they did. The
women aren't the only ones. The men
have been ten deep in front of that
counter all day, and I will say it for the
women they don't lose their temper the
way men do. Maybe it's because they're
more used to the scramble. It's kind Of
a recent thing, this bargain counter
business for men, but it isn't because
the men don't like it just as we'll as the
women do. It's just because there
weren't any bargain counters for them.
We advertised a sale of lightweight I'M
derwear at very low figures last Friday,
and things were so lively that I thought
put a policeman in my place. We had
to put two men out because they got
mad and swore like pirates. Now the
women don't do that"
The smile on the floor walkers face
suddenly broke bounds and became a
laugh.
Funny thing about the sale, though
he chuckled. w were selling the suits
here at so cents, and I never thought of
buying any, I'm too big to wear my of
those cheap grades-can't get them to
fit. Well, I went home hi night, and
my wife says:
":John, I've got a surprise for you
II always feel dubious when she
comes at me that way; but I followed
her upstairs. and there on the bed were
six suits of the identical underwear I'd
been wrestling over all day.
"'I saw them at Smiths for IS cents
a suit, and they were such a bargain I
just thought I oughtn't to miss the
chance of getting them for you,' she
said.
"It pretty nearly killed her when I
told her we were selling them at so
cents, and that I couldn't wear them at
any price; but 1t won't keep her from
buying me the next thing she sees that
seems cheap to her. That's one thing
men haven't got around to yet-they
don't buy bargains for their wives"
That's not because they are wise,
but because they are too careless to
think about it," said the reporter.
ooh, I don't know; I guess it's be-
cause they dom know one fubdub from
another. It would be better If women
would let these bargains for men alone.
Whenever I see a woman showing up
into a crowd like that, and buying mems
toggery. always know there's going
to be trouble and tears in one family.