The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-08-15
SHOPPING IN LONDON

and l. we wore our old clothes until they
We're threadbare
wen get something new to travel in. .
said Katheryn. but well buy all the
things that are 50 English ia England.
| ike tailor dresses. those comfortable
shoes with nice broad heels. shirt waists.
high collars, and heavy gloves, the things.
in short, that are stiff and straight quiet
elegant. and unobtrusive, like the English
| themselves
Then well go TO Paris for the fluffy
| friyolities. the idiotic high heels-which
we are too weak-minded TO give up be-
cause they do look prettier with a party
dress and those audacious summer gowns
| with lace yokes. which, of course, these
proper English girls don't wear
In America, the things you buy at the
! small places cost more than at the big
ores, so we started out TO find the big
| ones in London. But the only stores we
could find were two or three stories high
you could put about dozen of them
in one corner of Siegel. Cooper & &C.. or
I The Fair, or any of the big department
houses in New York or Chicago
There were hosts of women streaming
| in and out, but at first we thought they
must be all French. In the whole week
/ of watching we didn't see one tailor
| gown, which we had had drummed into
US by our tailors as $50 correctly En-
| glish.' Every other woman wore French
| heels. and as for high collars-wen, they
weren't there at all Such transparency
| transparent yokes we never expected to
| see, even in Paris, and where the collars
ought to be-there was nothing,
1t was joke TO watch Katheryn's face.
| she was actually so shocked, Are these
| the proper Engiishwomen 1 see before
me?' she cried one day with a dramatic
gesture.
But when we began taking our dinner
| at the restaurants down town her stock
| OF adjectives was exhausted. There were
no words to express the state of her feel
| ings in the superlatiye degree of being
shocked. Some English people at the
hotel were shocked. by the way, that we
| two girls should dine down town without
a chaperone Well. il was bad enough to
see the low-necked dresses in the restau-
rants that were worse than our most ex-
travagant ideas of wicked Paris; but it
vas worse in the streets to see the women
IN the handsOms who were going out to
dinner or to the theatre.
What would your father do if he saw
you in an open carriage like that with
such dress on, and with your wrap
thrown back so that every man in the
street could see your" | said, Just to hear
what she would say
What would he dor she answered
Grossly. Why, he'd take me home and
put me to bed. And don't you talk TO me
any more about your proper English
fashions"
These things put us rather out of gear.
az far as our plans for shopping in Lon
don were concerned. but we decided to
buy some things anyway. One day we
thought We had at last discovered big
store. There was an elevator and a book
department and a BARRIERS shop, quite
Ike New York, although we didn't dis
cover the meat department.
| bought yard of ribbon, but when
| started to pay for it the clerk said.
And your number. madam "Oh, IN
carry it myself, thank you, L said. think
ing he meant the number of my house,
and wanted to send it. But he didn't
mean that; he meant that the store was a
private one, and people couldn't buy I'M
less they belonged" and had a number.
The clerk seemed very sorry. and has
tened to explain that 1t woald be quite all
right if some friend who did belong"
would introduce us. But that struck US
as being too unutterably funny for any
thing. and we both got purple in the face
from trying not to laugh. Here | was
with my money, and there was the clerk
with that yard of ribbon. and / couldn't
pay for it and take il away without being
introduced"
Katheryn burst into a giggle as soon as
we got into the street. and she giggled
over the occurrence all evening. But she
woke up in the middle of the night to say
very seriously. Here's pretty state Of
affairs if we have to be introduced every
place before we can buy a package of
needles or a spool of thread An mp to-
date American store is good enough for
me, where spot cash payment will bay
anything. and the floor walker doesn't
care a grain OF salt about your social po-
sition or about your being introduced.
We found II was not so bad as she
feared, and there were plenty of places
where they would take our money and
not ask first for an introduction. But we
never knew what to ask for, because the
american name was generally different
from the English. We decided in the end
to publish a dictionary on English and
American English and make our for
tunes.
We went in a shoe store and asked for
Oxford ties. They are known the
length and breadth of the American CON
tinent as the reigning English style; but
they are known in London as the great
American shoe" We saw them labelled
that way in all the stores. Then, shoes
were not shoes unless they were slippers;
when they were high, they were boots.
When we needed a spool Of thread we
asked ia four different places and they
said, we don't keep it. thank you" We
said Thank you, and they said.
Thank you" That made Katheryn smile
again. and she was starting TO say.
Thank you again, but I pulled her
away. else | suppose they would still be
50 ing il to each other
In the fifth shop. however, we got our
thread. There was an American woman
at the same counter, ard she told US to
ask for reel Of cotton" Katheryn
said Thank you twice. and the clerk
said it three times.
We heard a woman ask for calico" one
day, and the clerk brought her roll Of
muslin for sheets. when We expected 70
see a bolt Of figured cotton stuff for =
cheap dress We spent half a day buy
ing a tape needle because we didn't ask
for a 'bodkin" We asked for shirt
waists and the clerk said he was sorry.
but they didn't keep them. and when
Katheryn saw some, he begged our par
don. and said. You mean blouses.
see"
The clerks were really extremely polite.
much more 50 than they are at home
when we bought things But we didn't
always buy. and Their they were as rude
.ls could be. often We would 90 il just
TO have look around. and there was al
ways a clerk AT our elbows. asking And
what can ! show you today. madam
They simply logged our footsteps and
finally we bounced out of place where
we did intend 10 buy because they would
not let Us see first What there was on the
different counters
We had some funny experiences one
day when II was raining We went into
a small shoe store in neighborheod /
where we were sight-seeing ard tried % I
buy a pair 81 toe ruboeTs for the sum
rner the kind without heels We dfsc8v-