The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-08-01
WHEN WOMEN HANDLE
 HAMMER OF AUCTIONEER
Bidders Must Be Prompt in Making up Their MndS for
 the Hammer Will Drop Very Quickly at Times Also They Must Never Forget to Be Polite.

of her. She had been a society woman, a dress reform lecturer, and pure food demonstration. and the manager argued that if a woman who had done all those things was not competent to discharge the arduous duties of an auctioneer mo-
 body was. That woman's first assign ment was on a miscellaneous stock of goods in Fourteenth Street store. The manager escorted her down to the store.
 but unfortunately, he was not in at the start. He was detained in a back room for several minutes after the show be- gan, experimenting the unpacking of a
 box Of soup plates. and she had 10 make her first appearance without an introduc- tion. Presently the manager discerned, through the thin partition, that things were not going right in the front part of the store, and he went in to investigate. The woman on the platform was evident ly in a bad humor. She leaned across the desk and glared menacingly at a man in the corner. who seemed trying to squeeze through the solid wall at his back.
 Were you speaking to me, Sir?'' the woman demanded.
 The man was little and he looked fright ened. Yes. Ma'am," he said; but I didn't mean any harm. only said I would give 15 cents for that bonbon dish in your hand"
 The mans very expression was proof Ol tIiiOCcuCS, Dut IIlS woman was TOT committing him anyway. T heard what you said." she returned; T am not find ing fault with the price you offered for the dish; I object to the way you offered 1t. You were discourteous to me. You simply said Fifteen You should have prefaced your bid with some recognition of my personality. You should have said Madame, bid fifteen cents.'"
 The little man turned purple. Holy smoke" he said.
 The rest of the shoppers giggled The | manager said "Sh-sh-sh'' and addressed few whispered remarks to the auction eer. He expected her ito be easily tanned but to his surprise he found her untract- able.
 "All my life" she said. mo matter what my position. I have been accustomed to | a respectful salutation. and will not deal with people who omit the prefix ma dame and sing out fiippantly. fifteen cents'" The manager was disappointed. Ob- viously 1t was not expedient to thus de- lay the progress of the sale by the intro- duction of drawing room etiquette, so he had to cancel that womans contract. By the time the manager had got along that far in his "reminiscences he had worked off most of his spleen and he spoke thenceforward in a more charitable tone.
 T don't want you to think" he said, 'that all women who wish to try their hand at auctioneering are natural-born idiots. They are not, and I have struck number who, if they had not got dis couraged so easily, would have turned out pretty fair auctioneers. The habit of losing heart is, next to. their unseemly hustling. the quality that contributes most generally to their failure. As soon as they find that prices have a tendency to run low, they fall into a panic, and | from then on the sale proceeds at sixes and sevens. Our customers, as a rule, positively refuse to allow a woman auctioneer to be put in charge of their goods. so for that reason the woman whose ambition lies in that direction rarely gets a chance to show what she can do. However, there are some lines of goods which women, with all their faults, can usually sell to advantage. At fairs and exchanges where fancy work and women's and childrens clothes con stitute the bulk of the commerce, their characteristic methods seem particularly appropriate. Unfortunately the woman who gets the auctioneers bee in her bon net is not content with that class of feminine trade. She aspires to pictures and libraries and racing stables; or, at least general household furnishings, and the superintendent who cannot see his way to appoi~e her to some such inn portant sale is responsible for a big load of misery in that Woman'a life