The Jamesburg record., 1900-01-06
: A SUIT OF CLOTHES :
By Kennett F. Harris. :
:
n A BOUT the last of next week,

on his overcoat and jerked the tails OF
his undercoat to bring the collars of
the two garments into their proper
relative positions.
"The last of next week." said the
tailor, reassuringiy. II may be able
to get it done by Friday, but won't
disappoint you Saturday"
You'll remember about the buttons
and the padding on the shoulders?"
"Sure thing"
The young man was wandering to-
ward the door when his attention was
arrested by the figure of Vandyke-
bearded gentleman in a cutaway
tweed suit and miraculously symmet-
rical boots and gloves that appeared
in the center of fashion plate hung
on the wall near where the stationery
man was sitting. The young man
PAUSED. and after q moments contem-
plation of the work of art turned to
the tailor with an irresolute air.
"How would it be to have it made
that way?" he asked.
well" said the tailor, "of course,
if you'd like that style it don't make
J
like the sack better, and 1 think it
will give you better satisfaction.
They amt wearing them cutaways
much this season. You're the one TO
say. though"
"Well, let it go the way it is. III
call in Saturday evening"
The door slammed behind him and
the stationery man drew his chair
closer to the oil heater and cleared his
throat as if he meant something by it
The tailor took no notice and the sta
toner coughed again. The third time
the tailor looked at him and the sta
toner winked a wink of perfect un-
derstanding which included an assur-
ance of inviolable secrecy.
You'd better take something for
it." remarked the tailor, looking at
him severely over the top of his spec
tacles. "If you let that run on it may
give you trouble. Take some rough
on rats and see if it won't help you"
Say, but you soaked it to him!"
exclaimed the stationer, admiring1y.
The tailor looked displeased. I'D
like to soak it to you," he said. Some
of these days you'll go to the hospital
with injuries that will appear to have
been caused by some blunt instru-
ment. If l thought nobody had seen
YOU come in I'd What makes you
think l soaked it to him? Because
charged him S22 for suit of clothes
he couldn't get anywhere else for less
than $3o?"
mo, that amt it," replied the sta
toner Its the way you worked
him. He come in here with his mind
made up to get suit of that SIS
goods in the window. He knew what
he could stand and he was stretchin'
the limit at $15."
He could have had it if he'd a
wanted it."
mo, he couldn't, and you know darn
well he couldn't. When you looked at
him as if he'd disappointed you by
asking for SIS goods and when you
drop the roll down on the table and
run your hand under the cloth with
your eyebrows touchin' your scalp,
and then say: why, yes, it's good
piece of goods-for the money! what
did you s'pose he was going to do?"
81 s'posed he was going to do what
he liked about it. 1 told him the
truth about the goods. If it had been
you you'd have told him it was just
as good as the $22 goods"
"If it was a good piece of goods I'd
have let him have a suit of it if he'd
wanted it. I wouldn't have draped
that other about him and patted it
and smoothed it like it was pet dog
in delicate health and told him how
fashionable it was, and what killing
he'd make when he got clothes like
that stretched on his frame. No, sir"
NO." said the tailor. 81 don't s'pose
you would. I'd like to see you selling
customer anything but slate pencils
or an evening paper. l was doing that
young man a service, and he was sensi-
BILE enough to take my advice. Did you
take notice what he was wearing?"
81 don't know as did"
''Weu, I can tell you. He had on some
80 per cent. cotton hand-me-downs-
about the same quality of goods you
wear. They showed the warp ike a 40
cent ingram stair carpet after six
months wear in a cheap boarding
house. The trousers bagged at the
knees as if he'd got enlargement of the
joints, and there was enough slack in
the back of them to have made another
pair just like them. The vest was two
inches higher up on the neck than the
coat and there wasn't a whole piece Of
lining the size of the palm of your
hand"
"Why didn't you want him to have g
cutaway? How much more cloth would
it have taken?"
1.-THE cloth didn't cut any ice," re-
in1ied the tai1or "T didn't want to