The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-07-10

First Purchase in This Country
 Need for n shopping Guide-AmeEi-
 can system Is Much Better Than
 English.
 Surely the large towns of the world should each publish a shopping guide. Why not? When we consider how very necessary it is to shop" and how large portion of woman's life is spent in this pursuit, few hints for the guidance of foreigners would not be amiss.
 Of the many towns in which l have shopped, New York has been to me the most curious and interesting, especially in comparison with London. l have spent many hours exploring the various stores of New York, and adding to my fund of what a school curriculum de- scribes as general knowledge" In vis- iting foreign speaking country, one somehow expects to find considerable differences, the very names of things are not the same, but in coming to America, where the English language, with slight notifications and infections is spoken, one feels distinctly surprised and aggrieved at having to learn the art of shopping all over again. do not feel that have at all mastered the subject, but perhaps a slight sketch of my experiences and impressions of New York shopping may by chance fall in the hands of one of my countrywomen SIfcf ioniinnr fto Sta and hn of some service to her. Also Americans who have not visited London may be amused to hear of some ways of shop ping other than that of New York.
 I had been told previous to arriving that New Workers do not cultivate the habit of walking about the city, but jump on car every time they need to go few blocks. This decided in my own mind would be laziness, and with high moral rectitude told myself that l would not indulge in cars But after walking around many blocks on the hot pavement, the zest with which l start ed Jagged considerably. and it was in- deed a miserable object that reached home after a comparatively small amount of shopping-at least, the result Was SIlldll but l udu leeal hSu OAlC ASS son, which there is no danger of my forgetting. I now swear by the cars. Tn London one can walk quite long distance without being tired and foot sore, for the sun is but seldom suf1i- ciently hot to cause one any incon- venience. Even in cool weather I find the pavement of New York much more tiring than that of London.
 On my first day in New York. as I was requiring a good many small arti- cles of a varied nature, I was directed to what have since found to be one of the largest stores in New York. Now, the expression store" as used in New York, meaSs quite a different thing in London. There are only four or five stores in London--that is, houses that sell all descriptions of goods. from pins to pianos. To shop at these houses one generally has to be a subscriber that is, pay small sum yearly for the privilege of dealing there. They also have system by which you can open a deposit account, which most people do An American who might walk into one of these stores would no doubt be puzzled when the shopman asked for his ticket number. Each subscriber is given a number on joining, and is ex- pected to carry around with him a num- Der sometimes running into five figures. This is tiring on hot day. All estab lshments, other than these stores, we call shops.
 The store, which after many adven- lures I succeeded in finding, is in size 1o.. have in London, looking much more like wholesale warehouse than retail shop. On entering the door I at once found myself in an immense room. my eyes travelling over what seemed to me miles of counters, ranged along and across the room in endless profusion. I looked around. Which one of all those counters was the one wanted? Should l turn to the right or left or keep straight ahead? I wished ardently for a map. with all the little lanes and turnings marked thereon. The stations on the road would be the names of the various counters, and the shortest route to any counter might be easily de- termined upon. I had never been con- fronted by this difficulty in London for =tWO ICdSolio. III ltlt hiSt pldCE, Out largest establishments are nearly al- ways 9 collection of separate shops, added one by one as trade increases and connected with one another internally, 50 that each department on the ground floor has a separate entrance from the street. The buildings are only a few stories high, but have as a rule large frontage. Even when a large building is especially erected for any firm, this system is still carried out, the goods displayed in the windows around the sdeorWays indicating the nature of the department. Then, in the second place, | on crossing the doormat, one is imme- diately accosted by a "shopwalker," called in. America ''fioorwalker." He is Q man who oversees the department, | signs bills, settles all disputes and ap- peals. This man will place chair for you at the counter you require, and if | after making a purchase there, you wish to visit another department, will 1 himself conduct you thither. > This I discovered was not the system | of the New York store. I waited some 1 minutes for the shopwalker, but none voyage of discovery. It was a Satur- | day afternoon and the shop was crowd | ed with people, rushing here and there | with no regard for those who stood in | their way. I asked one of the young ! girls behind one of the less popular l fCy. tx-hnr Ne