The age-herald., 1900-12-24
SKETCHES FROM
 EVERYDAY LIFE

We have kept open our store until ten o'clock at night recently" remarked the proprietor of one of the largest stores in the city in speaking of the Christmas trade. "and today don't think we could have waited on any more customers than we have. Monday night we will prob ably keep open later Shopping is peeu- liar in Birmingham" he continued "al- though the stores open at eight o'clock, there is really no trade before ten, and the stores might just as well be closed until that hour. I suppose this is due to the fact that men do not shop much and the women can hardly get down town before ten o'clolk Fully ninety per cent of our customers are women, and I have often wished to know what per centage of them are attracted to the store by the display windows for well-arranged window is very fascinating. Now that window there,,'' pointing to the window near which he was standing 'is arranged by a man who does nothing else. He makes a speciality of it, and we keep him employed solely for that purpose. You would not think it, but ar ranging display windows is the hardest work in the world. It all has to be done at night, in a stuffy window which Is frightfuly hot, and the men as a rule who do the work soon die with consumption. However, this is looking behind the scenes and taking a gloomy view of Christmas windows" Let me change the subject, then," said bystander, 'by refating an incident that happened recently in one of the large department stores. which goes to show that clerks during Christmas time should wear ear protectors. A clerk had sold woman a suit of clothes for her son. They did not fit and she brought them back to the store to be exchanged. For some reason the clerk refused to exchange them and he and the woman had scrap about it, during which the woman bit off a piece of the clerks ear. 1 did not learn whether or not she had red hair, but she probably did. Certainly she did not have false teeth. for false teeth could never cause clerk to wear false ear. The moral of this incident is that fair ex- change is no robbery, but no exchange means the larceny of an ear"
 
 'Woman has again invaded one of mans vocations," said an observing citizen, "and I foresee the downfall of the street fakin business. Ever since I outgrew the age when I wanted to be a pirate I have had a lurking desire to be a fakir. It is the most independent and fascinating life in the world. A fakir is his own master He works when and where he pleases and there is always a large population in every city in the United States waiting to be faked Hitherto this vocation has been monopo- hxr, hut in, fba r have seen at least three women fakirs in 7 Birmingham. One was selling a knife sharpener, another a harmonica and for get what the third one had They were all doing a good business watched one of them sell fifteen knife sharpeners in less than an hour at 35 cents each. Wom- en, however don't understand the fakir business, they are much too honest, and generally give value received for the money, which is a great mistake, and en- tirely against the ethics of the profession. Imagine a side show at a circus giving a show which was worth the price of admis- sion Women, therefore, are going to ruin the business. The public will be educated 10 expect something for their money, and the man fakir, who never was known to do such an unprofessional thing, will be driven out or the DuSlneSS. Inat IS why l IOre- see its downfall, for women will degrade the profession into a petty bargain and sale and their street stands will be merely shops for the sale of small wares.
 Tt is worth the price of the fake to see the performance of real good fakir. remember the first one that made an inn pression upon me. He was selling a won derfuI knife that had all sorts of things in it, blades, corkscrews, toothpicks, scissors, etc, which he advertised to sell for 75 cents. He held one of the knives in his hand and made long spiel about 1t. It really was a fine knife. It would cut pa- per as easily as air, 1t was sharp enough to shave with, the screwdriver worked to perfection, and every man in the crowd wanted one of those knives, and was feel ing in his pocket for 75 cents while the fakir was talking. The latter had cart full of knives and when he got through and began to sell them they went like the proverbial hot cakes. In fifteen minutes he had sold out and left town. The knives the men had bought almost melted in their hands, they were so worthless The blades would not cut a lead pencil and when you tried to pull a cork with the cork screw it strengthened out into wire. ] have never seen fakir since who was his equal, and I never enjoyed a scene more than the sight of those men with their dummy knives''