Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1899-05-21
SOME WOMEN'S WAYS


Observations Of sacriie eious Observer on
visit He Made to . Large Department
store.
Have you ever been in depart
ment store?a said Mr.. Downtowner,
with the air Of one who feels his SUI
periority to men with more meager
experience of life. Il have. l was in
one recently when it was full of wo-
men.
It's no use going now--plenty OF
men about in the holiday season. When
| went there were few men, but they
were nearly all employees of the store.
! tell you it's wonderful experience
for a man-widens his ideas Of wo-
men. You don't know anything about
women until you've seen them in
masses like that; it's like seeing masses
of men in battle.
"Now, there was the elevator had
to take an elevator to the fifth floor
The elevators are run by boys. One
elevator was going down and the other
UP. All the women that wanted to go
up rushed in a body to the door of the
elevator that was going down, and vice
versa. The boy kept shouting Going
up, going up and the 35 women that
wanted to go down to the basement
flung themselves on him and asked, all
together, This elevator going DOWN.
81 never saw an elevator boy with
such a look of conscious elevation
above his surroundings. He didn't
move a muscle, but kept on repeating
Going up. This elevator is going up,
not speaking to any one woman in par
tieular. The consequence was that
about Is out of the So who wanted to go
down got in and were taken up, and as
the elevator assembled they abused the
boy, because every one of them said
she had asked him if the elevator was
going down and he wouldn't answer.
Gall these women wanted to report
the elevator boy for insolence, but he
them up to the fifth floor so as to give
them all good drop back to the base
ment But before we got to the fifth
floor a lot more women had declared
they would report the boy for not let
ting them off at their right floors.
''As we hove in sight of collection
l. 1ol .I.i or
out: Come on, ma. This must be
where we get off, Then the elderly
lady with her said to the elevator boy:
Hi! Let us off here. We want the
kitchen towels department. And the
boy just looked straight in front of
him, bawled Carpets, rugs, upholstery
and bric-a-brac,' and slid the door open.
The girl and her ma fell over three
other women who were fighting to get
out and succeeded in getting out first,
then they called out, This isn't kitchen
towels and began to fight their way
back into the elevator, turning on the
three other women and attacking them
in front. When they got back into the
elevator they abused the boy, saying
he had prevaricated and led them to
towels.
when we got to the fifth floor I
squeezed out between two women who
originally belonged to the basement lot
and were debating whether they hadn't
better get off here, as it was already far
enough from where they wanted to get
81 learned a good deal about the
habits of women on the fifth floor.
There were very few men behind the
counetrs there. ] inquired for what
wanted at five different counters, and
at every counter young woman po-
litely directed me to another young
woman some distance away; the fourth
young woman sent me to the one l
had begun with.
'You see, that sort of thing wouldn't
pay if the customers were men. Men
would be annoyed at being swung
around a circle like that. But with
women it's different; they just browse
about and buy something else, until
they happened to strike what they have
come for, and then the sight of it re-
minds them that they came to get it..
They love shopping, don't you see, and
wouldn't thank anyone for cutting their
fun short.
when / asked the young woman
began with and ended with on the fifth
floor if she thought anybody in the
store really knew her way all over it.,
she taught me a lesson. She looked
very grave and said, We all know how
to attend to our own businesses.
didn't learn whether anybody's bust
ness was to know the topography of
the whole establishment, because / was
afraid to ask any of the women at the
counters. Even in the stationery de-
partment they snubbed me when
asked for key map or pocket guide
book.