The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-04-09
WOMEN MEET 4 MYSTERY.
WONDERFUL B~IRGJINS OFFERED BIZ
4 SiIIk TOUNG MIN.
Prices Tint the Sternest Feminine Virtue
Gould Not Resist Q~uotcd-The Goods
Ordered Have Sot Appeared, Though,
mud His Insfnnhnr. Ann pur-IuI

could Not Resist uuotcd-The Goods
Ordered Have Not Appeared, Though.
and His Customers Are Puzzled.
Did you see him - Did you order any
thing d YOU ever hear of anything like
those prices ~ are questions uptown house,
keepers are asking one another Just now. and
they narrato experiences with a man who has
been invading their households.
Regular air-castle shopping we did at our
house" recounts one participant. Il heard all
and didn't yield an inch until he came to the
stockings. and then | gave In. and scnt Tor
Maggie so as to make sure that my ears weren't
playing me false. or that the man had not hyp-
Noticed me. Sister Maggie. YOU know. though
four years younger than lam is a born mana
ger and shopper. Nobody ever gets around
her. out when she had that silk stocking actu-
nlly in hand and felt and saw the quality. she
gave me a look that said. It's unheard OF. but
get them and | ordered a dozen pair promptly.
Who wouldn't when every blessed pair Of silk
stockings In the land costs at the very lowest
81 90. and there was the identical thing full
length. fine woven. for 81 n dozen. l own 10
took my breath away Just to think OF the
money we'd save"
And towels. two Yards long. and such qual-
ity! You saw those ?" puts in a neighbor.
positively better value than any bath towels
we had in the house, and for less than 8 cents
upicCc' ~ was tHc UOWelS tndJ got me. 1 nau
looked coldly on when he was showing the
cloth Tor dress patterns. although 1t was beau
tiful and dirt cheap. because / had just given
vests and mems wear | could stand also. be-
cause NJ; L. can look out for himself In these
I,nst that ts sia stot tSM.iiin eye He S Sldn, and te tRe ta PBis;
damask! Even vice seemed excusable when
such sue grand gods e were going at such figures.
s, IL was the NAPKINS that made me weaken.
bought from MItxhis"re's, ard ndi" we lose ESQ so many
K tie d laasdfy to1 TGH WV ,ns &c dii;ap wss li Htomfsn rin:
in the face Of providence not to take those
beautiful napkins when they were offered right
, Ct y1 man 1907 fS pn lGF dS sa:"2 ,h a sS dozen Y ! isis ! ed ed
was wrong, but there he stood, so trim and
his little book out and his rencil Just ready TO
mark That it seemed reassuring.'
the man seemed SO sure OF his ground that
actually he gave you The IMPRESSION that you
suspicious. not he. If he had seemed anxious
for one to buy. or had looked seedy. or any
thing. It would have been different; but, he was
so businesslIke and eDen and aboveboard. Welll
ordered: | ordered heavily some OF every-
thing he had. except the cloth; but / didn't
anything. nor even give him my visiting card.
] got into a scrape with a look agent once ON
can do me any damage. even il l am to be tho
receiver, of stolen goods"
L UNDERSTOOD tndt tnOSe Things naI come IN
on a steamer that was captured early in the
war last summer and had been laid aside. and
rid Of at any price. " said one aircastle shopper.
Yes. and he said something else about the
duty being so much higher on the goods
already in the country could be sold for a very
much less price" said another woman. oh.
tured me completely. although | felt All the al
ternoon aiterh he had gone as though | had been
KnDlA vet thAt ordered and n friend GIpupata
that maybe. the, man wasn't a salesman at all.
but a discussed burglar; taking that way to get
the staircase was and the buffers pantry and
a. thought Of that; and when went np-
sllysr in TIE diniEe room, Bai i don't believe
saw that sort OF poidler in New York before.
and do think the man had smuggled goods.
though he looked the picture of honesty
who INDUCED in this aircastlc shopping, has
RECEIVED eGesSse ~ ne .bs goods jmdis ordered r. Numbers haze
have been besought to get stockings or napkins
or towr,.s for those friends when the mysteri:
course. there's something upcanny about the
goods and about 4 man peddling such things
shops hardly six blocks away. rs not a. IL
one were out on. n ranch or some remote. place
ins to nc s S9rn Sis f9 tbi snqpn nnvbow Su Ws II m hs,S f 90
well profit by the bargain as anybody
else" is the usual argument. In the mean
my 'ilc. Sllt hhilt man las NpIlt, bhth lpt
has he given any sign since that edifying first
appearance. Some Of his customers still have
faith that they viii get their purchases, on the
ground that he obtained no money from them.
and that there would be no sense In his spend
ing SO much time and ingenuity for nothing
Business mems wits have been asked to aid
In solving the mystery. and one Of these ad-
vances the theory that the man did not have
instance Of French ladies' cloth, which he
showed In the observation-disclosures. double
width and OF rare guality-at an absurdly low
price. This tatherIy critic argues that II any
one OF the women had ordered dress patterns
OF this cloth the order would have been filed
on the snot, but in every case they ordered the
other articles. fabulousarticles. of " which he had
only samples which samples were used as n
bait to win attention and sell the dress patterns.
Had the man presented himself at the house
hand the butler would have turned him away.
but he came with a trim. neatly folded sample
book and an air OF quiet assurance. and bust
ness method that disarmed even the worldly
his samples. his one napkin. one towel. ono
silk stocking, one sock, &c, and then after the
auditors interest was fairly aroused, he asked
permission In the most suave way to go to his
was really worth seeing. Whether be went
actually to a wagon or to a partner waiting for
him round the corner to get the goods
is not known, but he shortly reap
feared with the two or three PIECES
stuff was probably all that he really had to sell.
Be that as it may. his diplomacy failed OF the
mark In many cases, and II there are women IN
town who have received the choice patterns OF
cadet blue and smoke gray French cloth
congratulating one another. and are neither as
disappointed nor as much on the tin OF expecta-
ton as the other shoppers who, look daily for
BARGAINS hat come not and that existed