The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-12-09

at full prices, but as it costs the managers
absolutely nothing, any price pays. There
fore, at a ummage sale, there are bargains
like to none upon the earth. Any one can
come into it with only 3 cents, and yet
find boundless capabilities of buying in
his purse. In this Southern town the col
ored people fiocked to the rooms where the
sale was he'd, and supplied themselves
will long-coveted articles, such as musical
instruments, high silk hats, dress suits.
gay millinery and tan shoes. to their
hearts content. One small calored boy had
4 cents to spend. He stroI1ed about for
hours, looked at the old shoes, hung over
a mouse trap for a while, considered some
penny pictures, and half decided upon q
cracked blue vase. but finally expended his
all upon half a dozen numbers or an H.
Illustrated magazine.
The bagpipes were sold Off the moment
the sale began, and were inquired Tor
eagerly afterward by many corners. In
deed, the out-of-the-way articles soon dis
appeared, except in the picture line. There
were two large walnut-framed e~ngravings
there of the vintage, say. or 1850 or there
abouts, which were mysteries indeed. One
represented q sort of Hall Of Fame, in
which perhaps 4 hundred men and women
were grouped, all absolutely unfamiliar at
first sight, but labeled Our American
Authors" BY patient effort a faint re-
semblance 10 Holmes, Poe and Cooper
might be traced in three of the strange
forms, but there the hardest conjecture
ceased. AS a puzzle picture 1t was a sue
cess. The other engraving was equally
enigmatical, for it represented the trial
of some bewigged and melancholy individ-
ual in a large Gothic hall, crowded with
apparently distinguished personages, only
nobody knew who they Were. Failing to
sell il as 1.-The Trial of Louis the Six
teenth,' the managers then called 1t, in
despair, The Trial of Lord Russell" and
then the Spectator heard it offered as The
Trial of Charles the First" the price get
ting lower, but no takers. 1t finally Went
to a colored lady at the auction that ended
the sale, and she may now be represent
ing it to her friends as the trial of Jener-
son Davis, for all anybody knows
AS has been said, the sale pleased every
body; or, as one bright woman put 1t, lit
was like the quality of mercy, twice
blessed, which blesseth him that gives and
him that takes There were some awk-
ward happenings, however, as when one
woman shopper held up a pair of infants
socks III asked the seller, in a sepulchral
whisper, us them diseased?" and another,
after eying a jacket marked "N.75," hang
ing behind the counter for ladies' wraps,
asked the one in charge how much 1t was.
.sWhy, one dollar seventy-five," responded
the seller; then, with a quick sizing up
of the apparent customer, "but you can
have it for one dollar and a quarter" The
woman drew herself up with an indescrib-
ably whitening glance, well, II / had
known you were going to sell 1t for so lit
tie, 1 would never have sent 1T here!' she
cried. Tableau!
Another woman, having purchased a hat.
a cape, a dress and a pair of shoes for her
daughter. laboriously explained to the
various saleswomen that she wouldn't
think of letting her child wear cast-on
clothing; no, indeed-she was only buying
them for souveneers!" A stout German
woman. dressed in bright blue, pricing a
Grape bonnet with a most Imposing veil.
was told gently by the seller, This is a
mourning bonnet, you know, and you are
not in mourning" NO." was the answer.
with a conscious pride of accent, but L
expect to be- and she sailed on with the
bonnet. leaving amazed conjecture behind
her. Bonnets and wraps went on with as
tonishing rapidity, and 1t was not safe to
counters. One girl. having carelessly left
her new tailor-made jacket behind one
counter, while she stepped over for a mo-
ment to speak to a friend at another.
0bked across just in time to see IL pinned
up among the others, marked, Only g."
and she had some difficulty in rescuing 1t
from an eager buyer.
The colored people asked for all sorts
of things. One man wanted Caesars DE
BeIlo Gallici' in the original, another
wished for Macaulay's essays. and dozens
wanted dictionaries. Cook books and hymn
books went of like hot cakes. and all the
little colored children hunted for PEN
wipers to take to school. and even cried
when the supply gave out. There were
eager buyers for carpets and curtains. and
though nearly all the bric-a-brac was
brio .-broke.' as one lady put Ii, IL sold
readily. Some of IL was queer indeed
Rogers's groups Clipped to the quick.
cracked lamp shades. headIess stafuettes.
broken vases-but there was always some
assky buyer to ss carry 1,yci = 90 N , triumph =.
sale called. in contempt, an 'eyesore ex-
| change and a rubbish sale. " but for hts
part he considers e r1<hcr IN unriyoIod