The Savannah morning news., 1903-04-05

ter brings us the heaviest business of
the year." remarked the department
store manager. II might add that
we dread the aftermath of the Easter
trade more than the unpleasant re-
suits of the holiday rush. A shopkeep-
er may placate the woman whose
Christmas gift has gone astray, but
not her whose Easter frock or hat
failed to reach her in time
One of the sights in a big city on
the Saturday before Easter Sunday
is the scurry of belated shoppers, each
ly berating the clerks who never SEEM
ed so slow at other times. The wom-
an whose dressmaker has gone down
under nervous prOstration and sends
word that the Easter raiment will be
delivered a week late, dashes into
the suit department of a fashionable
shop at o'clock Saturday afternoon
and Historically paws over the array
of ready-made gowns. When she
learns that the alteration department
has orders to keep it running into the
wee small hours of Sunday morning,
and the extra three inches cannot be
taken off the skirt, or the fullness re-
moved between the shoulders, she is
in despair and VOWS she will never
enter the shop of such unaccommo-
dating people again.
If she is wise, she will select a SIM
pie costume whose alterations can be
made by a home dressmaker, and
then finish up her afternoon at train
ing school for young women who can
handle such modest alterations as she
may need and who are not engaged
in the mad scramble over unfinished
work. which confronts every large
and fashionable establishment.
When the Trade Is Heaviest.
Another class includes the women
who do not save money for emery
encies--if Easter frocks may be term
ed an emergency-but who do their
shopping in a happygo-lucky fashion,
which they are apt to dub Bohemian.
These women are pretty sure to for
get that Easter is at hand, until they
receive an invitation to attend some
especially interesting church service
or an Easter night supper, whereupon
they study their finances, look gloomy
and select ready-made finery which
they afterward detest.
The departments which enjoy the
heaviest trade during this rush period
are the suit, millinery, glove and can
dy departments. AS a rule, the tardy
millinery shoppers may be divided
into two classes-the reckless buyers,
who pay exorbitant prices. and the
| very poor whose purchases are de-
layed because funds are lacking. Thus,
the most expensive and the cheapest
grades of hats are sold on this day,
while the conservative. thoughtful
buyer has long since made her selec-
No matter how heavily the glove
department may be stocked, dis
gruntled customers are numerous, be-
cause the most popular shades are
bound to give out in the common
sizes. Then, too, many Easter cos
tunes require gloves of tint that
| must be especially ordered, and this
cannot be done on twenty-four hours
notice. Many a woman compromises
on white gloves and feels that the
| essence of her Easter raiment has
been sacrificed on the altar of the
shops poor assortment. That the
gloves should have been selected with
the costume does not enter into her
| thoughts.
Things Hum I'm the Candy Stores.
In the candy stores things fairly
hum for forty-eight hours preceding
| Easter Sunday. Here, too, are sold the
favors for Easter dinners and lunch
cons.
1T is something I have never been
[ able to understand" said clerk in a
| Well-knoWn candy store. For weeks
before Easter our windows are filled
with novelties and our advertising is
practically devoted to Easter goods, yet
| the real rush does not set in until the
| last moment. Perhaps shoppers think
! they will get fresher goods by wait
| ing, but our fancy packages are put
up long in advance, and very little new
! stock comes in at this late hour.
I'VE have the Easter buyers pretty
we'll classified. First there is the anX-
| ious mother, who asks to see all the
novelties and then winds up by buy
ing the good old-fashioned sugar eggs
in pink, white, yellow and chocolate
ones.
Then there is the bachelor uncle
! who wants the old style clear eggs,
that look like rock candy and have on
one end a tiny piece of glass through
which you can see paper scenes of
! peasant life abroa=. He insists upon
I the same scenes that he enjoyed as
youngster.
THE engaged young man, who has
been buying his weekly box of candy
all winter, is quick and buSiness-like.
Nine times out of ten, he knows his
fiancee's favorite color and buys an
egg-shaped basket tied with this rib
bon, or a big paper mache egg decor
ated with cupids and roses. Only the
extravagant youth, who wants to meas
ure his devotion by the money invested
in an Easter offering, buys the impos-
sible egg-shaped jewel case of bisque
or colored glass and fills it with bon
bons. The man who knows selects a
more dainty and spring-like offering.
THE funniest man of all is he who
has not given his wife a box of candy
in years and who suddenly catches the
Easter spirit. He is like a bull in
china shop and we usually have to
help him out.
AN amazing number of young wom
en-typical bachelor maids, 1 imagine
buy their own Easter bonbons. l once
worked for a candy firm whose shop
was located in the heart of the finan-
cial district and our Easter trade
among pretty clerks and stenographers
was phenomenal. Every girl feels that
she must have her Easter bonbons,
presume, and she is not taking chances
on being forgotten by all her young
men friends
The Buyers of Flowers.