The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-10-18
LOST IN THE STORES.
THINGS DROPPED OR FoRooTTeNe BY
THE WOMAN WHO SHOPS.

p Point Of Numbers, and Then Come
Umbrellas and Gloves - Careless
ness with Purses and Change.
"Oh, where's my pocketbook2 My
purse! My purse!"
The little woman futtered around In
the front part of the store, and every.
body within seeing distance smiled, as
people always smile at an excited WON.
an.
whats the trouble, madam" inquired
the Hoorwalker.
"Why, I've lost my pocketbook! Some
one has stolen it! l know they have! /
had it less than two minutes agOw
The little woman threw a threatening
glance at .the clerk, and the clerk re-
sponded ditto. The instinct to throw the
blame of misfortune on some one else is
strong, especially in cases of lost pocket
books. But short search revealed the
missing treasure under the folds Of bolt
Of silk.
at is always So" said the man in
charge. "Women do that repeatedly.
They come IN, put their pocketbooks on
the counter, become interested In looking
Mt the goods and forgot their purses. Yes,
usually they are found by the clerk or the
floorwalker or by customer, and then
they are sent to the office, where we keep
regular account of lost goods.
Most all Of the purses that are found
nre called for soon after they are lost,
because the ladies discover their absence
MS soon as they begin to think of getting
on q car. In case they are not called for
we notify the owner If her name is in the
purse. If we happen to know the owner
we return the purse to her Immediately.
Where there is no name. and no way of
Identifying the purse we advertise-that
is, il it contains enough money to war
rant our SO doing. But nine out of ten
lost purses are called for. There is a
chance for them to be picked up by sneak
thieves and by persons that argue that
whatever they find is theirs, but such
cases are rare"
In many Of the stores lost articles are
Immediately reported to the Office on the
floor where they are found. In others
they are kept in the main Office on the
first floor. Not a day passes that some
one does not find himself or herself the
poorer for an article of some kind lost in
the stores. One of the large dry goods
houses has little drawer that holds a
stock Of small envelopes containing
change that has been forgotten, the
amount varying from few cents to the
same number of dollars.
Just think! walked off without my
change" said woman as she came out
Of one of the avenue stores the other day.
$50 did L." laughed her friend "How
did you happen to do it|'
"Why, l was thinking about what
big bargain l got and forgot it."
"That wasn't my reason" said her
friend. 81 bought something of ped
dler and waited for him to 60 round the
corner to change a quarter. That's the
reason walked off without my change"
Such cases, of course, are hopeless
without the aid of the police. but change
that is left in stores can be recovered il
the owners will apply for it.
In point of numbers nothing equals the
handkcrchefs that are lost. The 'lost
and found" corner of every large store is
usually fcstooned with them. If the
names are on Them they are returned; if
not, they are kept for awhile and then
thrown away. The germ theory has
scared the populace so thoroughly that
handkerchicfs belonging to unknown per-
sons are usually passed by like a small
poX sign. But the number lost in stores
alone is very large. 1t is good thing to
think of when inclined to look askance ut
the washcrwoman for bringing home such
small pile.
Not long ago queer looking old wom-
an with hitch and, . brogue went the
rounds Of the stores declaring that she
had lost her parasol. Each. place, she
was positive, was the one in which she
had left it until shown the entire array.
At one store she was SO persistent that
the clerk took her behind the counter and
showed her the entire stock Of found
goods.
"Oh, there It isl" sol she, grabbing at
an old umbrella that was big enough to
take the entire family to. the circus.
'Thcre's my parasol"
Next to handkerchiefs come umbrellas,
parasols and gloves in point of numbers.
Gloves, though, are usually divorced from
their mates, as a single glove is more Of
ten left than pair, unfortunately.
what are you doing?" said the wom-
ans husband as they rode in Third
street car.
"Throwng away my glove" she said.
"rve lost the other one somewhere, and
don't want this one around to be al
ways reminding me of it. Nothing is so
tantalzing rs to lose one Of a pair Of any
thing"
"'rhat's what say" whispered little
friend at her side, giving a hitch at her
nee. 'But, then, I'll not throw my 9th
/ one away. III keep it for souvenir"
Jcwery is sometimes found thalgh not
often. Rings seem to be lost more easily
than anything else in that line, but it is
usually owing to cnrccssness in leaving
them upon the washstand. 1t is such an
old, old story that it seems as IL women
ought to know better by this time, but
they don't and only few days ago the
collection of lifetime was left in the
washroom Of one Of the big stores and
has not since been seen by the owner. In
such cases there often is n tendency to
blame the clerks if one happens to be
near, but the accusation is invariably I'M
just. for it seldom happens that a clerk
is guilty. Such thcving Is much more
likely TO he done by person that can
Immediately make her escape into the
street. Those whose business it Is to
watch such things say that the morals Of
many persons regarding their right to
keep things that they find are peculiarly
lax. Many refuse to give them up.-De-
troit Free Press.