Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1899-01-17
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their parents wouldn't give them airguns,
right In this city, / suppose it's nature IN
every boy TO want gun, and these ar !
guns filled the bill, because parents d!dn I
consider them deadly. They weren I,
either. unless a boy happened to get MT
In the eye with the slug. 1t was a great
,fad then to have target matches for
prizes"
"Now. can see some use in that sald
the stranger. with approval IT'S eood
thing for any man to know how to use
gun. 1t makes him careful"
THAT'S your view OF It, Is it?' remark
ed the shopkeeper with some bitterness.
( "We,l. YOU never owned house full OF
windows where the air was full or lead
slugs and little steel pins, with feathers
20 make them shoot straight lost az
most as rhuch in broken glass as l maze
I'm profits on the airguns SOLD, >anu 'her'
was n mighty nice profit, at that.
Not as harmless as the popgun gaine'
eh?" suggested the stranger.
"Well. hardly. There was predecessor
If the airgun that wasn't harmless
either: the bow, mainly useu 10
shoot at sparrows. That cost good oil
I'm window glass before II was played OUT.
The most innocent form OF the shoouhs
fad was the snapshot craze.
1.-THE camera pop. eh?" said the custo-
mer. at guess that was pretty UNIVERSAL
7 struck IL down In Paraguay just before
orr little turn-up with the Spaniards when
we weren't very popular down there'
and a two-foot kid lined me up with one
OF the small cameras and jabbered away
AT me like n monkey. Finally maue
out he was asking me 10 make up race
for him. so that ne could take my picture
and show It TO the old folks at nome as
an Americana. He'd heard that all the
Americanos looked like pigs, and he want
ed me to pose for model. kicked that
kid hard enough 10 bring on an lnteThd-
tiOnal complication.
..Yes T guess the camera had about as
general a popularity as anything, taking
! IL all in all but the grandest, widest
craze of all was the roller skating craze
People simply went wild over 1t, old and
: young. but principally the young
never could see anything in IT myself
g but as long as I could sell all the roller
I, skates that | could keep in stock at
a 1good price 1t was none Of my business
to kick. Buildings for skating Went
y I'D all over the country, ant us saie
= assertion that there wasn't city OF
10000 inhabitants in the east that hauh
a al least one roller skating rink. III there
: e. single one now used for that purpose
Il alone don't know where 1t is. Roller
( nolo has had a revival lately, and that
has brought some OF the old buildings
c into use in this vicinity, but all over TINS
= state you'll find old roller Kinks used
q as theatres, convention halls, lumber
rooms. and drill halls. There never
Il was so complete craze so completely
o dropped. and / can tell you there were
d thousands of dollars dropped with II
int
I 10 get out a little bit quicker. But II
{ was good business for the shopkeepers,
It though some Of them got stuck with big
( stocks of skates, and l don't mind ad-
hitting there are a few dozen pairs
d lying around the place now"
: BE a great thing for a man if he could
q start a boom OF that kind himself, anc
u then drop out before the bottom ala
= wouldn't it?" said the stranger thought
> fully.
y s,The trouble is that you can never tel
e when the end is near until the whole thins
has collapsed" observed the shopkeeper
y "There was a young fellow up the Stat'
invented a parlOr game that everybody
II thought would catch on like wilchre ina
" boy got cool $4,000 for his patent
n sounds big but I know what / am talkinl
10 about The mysterious Juvenile publ
n, didn't take TO It, and II was a dead los
~ 10 the buyer You can Jolly man int
re liking a thing by advertising II. an6 ma
TX sort Of thing. but boys aren't that cas-
ae 10 fool"
II guess I'll drop that scroll-saw," sal
IN the stranger. mo use sticking Paups XII
In with a prehistoric plaything."
c. bicycles are the thing now said IN
k TOW man. THAT'S even bigger rage tina
ut roller skating but even so it isn't the ia
that Il was two years ago. The novelt
IN IS wearing off. and while lots Of peop
r. saw it's come 10 stay, I'm not so sure.
or can remember when meh would come
on here and discuss their different makes
roller-skates. and get almost az mad oV'
ne Il as the fellows do now over their r
or spective wheels Still. the wheel Is bouI
ne 10 last for good while. and all u
lg- youngsters are after them"
ms Guess I won't risk IT," said u
stranger. 'Td hate 10 get a wheel I
en- the kid and find II was superannuat
or next year On the strength Of what "
an. say I'll Just dodge downtown and bic
ter I'm what I've got on candy, with a coup
ar of good four-bladed knives for the boy
Ing keep. I guess knives aren't out OF las
.ou ion with any kid that can find bit
lty wood TO white, and know candy dol
lad last long enough around healthy b
IL 10 get very stale. Much obliged for yo
du- POINTERS" concluded the man In the uls'
me as he walked out.
l IL "This telling ali you know at or
doesn't pay" said the shopman to hi
asst self ruefully, as ny went back TO tell }
trlc that the scroll saw wasn't needed, me
aD- tating on lost sale.