The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1899-04-07

slider this question carefully, and with
out prejudice? 1t is an undeniable
fact that tho present cry for chcapness
is ruinous to the production of genuine,
worthy articles. And who can COM
plain? Cheap things are demanded.
cheap things are supplied.
Grandmother gave twenty dollars
for yondcr plain stiff mahogany chair,
but it has been in constant use for fifty
years, and from present appearances
one seems safe in predicting that its
days of usefulness will not be over an
other half,ccntury hence: while the
daintilv carved little rocker for which
Granddaughter Dollic gave Sl.99 last
spring, having been placed too near the
register, fell apart when Dollie' rather
heavy husband inadvertently sat upon
it, and the poor man escaped very well
with merely shock which upset his
nervous system for Il week.
One may now get bargains not only
in dry goods, habcr,lashcry, books, etc,
bnt even in meat and groceries; and
miroJi'e dictn!-the druygists--reluc-
family, | must coniess-arc becoming
aware that a business without bargains
is utterly vui,, If int, RS; to the women
of to-day.
We hear, also, of dentists who pull
teeth gratis during certain hours every
day-a rare bargain this! Can we not
discover some old molar. with which
we can dispense, so that we shall not
lose this glorious opportunity?
1t new remains only for the doctors
to institute a bargaln-dav. upon which
one can have three ailments treated for
the price Of one, and, when this is done,
perchance even the plumbers may be
brought low.
Truly the days lob de wah;'' when
cotton was thirty cents yard and tea
a dollar pound, were preferable to
these. when things are made TO sell
and to sell, alone.
And their brief term of usefulness is
only in accordance with popular desire,
for, when they must be renewed, 10!
another chance to bag bargain.
1t may be Il pleasant game for those
who have time and strength for it; it
certainly appears to be an absorbing
'one; but it is not particularly en-
nobling pastme.
Go among gathering of bargain
hunters, and study the faces around
you. Note how eyes once clear and
limpid, looking out upon the world in
frank delight, now peer out cunningly,
greedily, from beneath drawn and
puckered brows; noses once saucy, tip
tilted, have grown long and pointed,
and sniff the air like the sensitive pro-
boscis Of rat; mouths once sweet and
smiling are tense and hard; and there
is general appearance of shattered
nerves about the genuine bargain-fen
which is as pitiful as it is repellent.
A modern departmental store on bar
gain-day is like nothing so much as Il
woman's stock-cxchange.
Good old Horace Greeley says:
"That is the darkest day in mans
career when he thinks there is an easier
way of getting Il dollar than by squ;I,.-
ly earning it, And the woman who
gives one dollar for what is actually
worth two of necessity cheats some one
ont of the other dollar. If the alticle
is really worth less than she pays for
it, she herself is cheated, and so in
either case fraud and dishonesty reign
supreme. What says Seneca? "A
good bargain is a pichpochct.' Ponder
that, ye parsimonious people!
Let us, then, knowing that in this
world the unalterable law is something
for something, and nothing for moth
ing" refuse to be alured and scduccd
by bargain-baits. Let us demand the
best and cheerfulIy pay its just price,
to the degrading and injuring of no
man, and perhaps, before the twentieth
century is rung in, the tinsel age of
sham and fraud and mutual deception
will have passed away with the other
faults and follies ofthis fl" de-siecle age.
". y. Uyme JoWnui. ~
Two country clergymen had agreed
to exchange pulpits on a certain date.
One of them made the following solemn
announcement to his congregation on
the Sabbath previous TO the event: