Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-22
men At A DISCOUNT
Christmas Shopping is Not
Their Long Suit.
DON'T KNOW THE GAME
VICTIMS OF THE WILES OF FAIR
sALESLADIES.
Rarely Know What They Really Want
and Usually Buy What They
Do Not Want.
DON'T KNOW THE GAME

Inc notwithstanding male Increases
| In numbers and expands in guilelessness
and credulity as the years flow by.
| His holiday tours of the shops are not a
whit less entertaining from the dispassion-
ate viewpoint of the impartial student than
| the frenzied ante-YuIe shop gyrations of
| his wife, or sister. or his mother.
/ The difference is that through it all the
| misunderstanding male has latent but
| abiding consciousness of being involved in
| vortex that presents certain phases of
humor, whereas his wife or his sister or
his mother accepts 1t all in deadly earnest.
and even becomes careworn, peevish and
fearful over it.
The Christmas-shopping male Is already
| SO abundant in the Washington stores that
| 1t is difficult to arrange and analyze him,
and wholly impossible to make COM
posite of him.
He is one however, in all of the main es-
| sential characteristics of the species. First
and foremost he is the merest bObbing
| chip upon the surface of a stormy sea. He
doesn't know what he wants, can't tell
what he wants II he sees 1t, implicitly be-
| lieves everything that is told him by the
! saleswoman with the wavy hair, while he
is deeply suspicious of the most patiently
| truthful statements of the statesmen; pays
| almost any price for something that he
| doesn't want and can't use; growls saw
agely over the perfectly reasonable figure
attached to the thing he does want and
e.
| indeterminate and incompetent figure of
fun, not to say of pathOS.
whats this for, rniss?" one of them in
| qured at fancy silver counter the other
afternoon.
He held up a rabbits foot neatly mount
ed in silver handle.
TT is for applying color to the face re-
piled the SaleSwoman
The young woman saw That the young
man was trying to put up a bluff to hide
| his sheepishness and his precise knowl-
| edge of the use of rabbits feet
In Great Demand.
Women use 'em much nowadays?" in
ouired the misunderstanding male. with
| big-eyed innocence.
"a great deal" replied the saleswoman.
| More than you'd have any idea of.
The young man looked the rabbits foot
| over carefully, mumbled something about
| it's being lucky, anyhow, and then addressed
the saleswoman again.
See here" he said to her, bending conf
dentially over the counter, you don think
| that my-er-that she'd get sore over the
suggestiveness of the thing if l sent her
one of these things, do you? 1t wouldn't
| imply that 1 thought that she used the
| thing for the purpose you mention, would
| it? 1t ud be all right for an ornament
wouldn't it?"
"A rabbits foot makes a very suitable
present" replied the saleswoman. I'VE sell
| a great many Of them.
.tAIl right-gimme this one. How much
die say it was? All right. Mower
| you've got all kinds of silver junk here.
haven't you? / want to look at some of
| those-er-buckles. you know: buckles"
The girl behind the counter didn't ask
| him what kind of buckles he wanted to
| look at. She just put tray Of garter buck
| les before him.
You don't mind my asking you. do you.
whether this is all right. this-er-buck!e
| business?" the young man inquired nesl-
tatingly Regular thing. isn't 1t. this-er
buckle business for present! Initials
| on 'em, you know and all that. l don
know about the-er-propriety of the thing.
| but pass it up to you, y'know. Wouldn
think it-er-impertinent. or anything like
| that. would she? Any girl, 1 mean. ysee,
| that a fellow just knows-y'understand
II have sold great many pairs OF
| buckles to gentlemen this week, conVlnc-
| ingly replied the saleswoman. What initial
| do you wish engraved on them!
A Difficult Role.
| Thus do the saleswomen have to convert
| themselves into guide. philosopher and
| friend for the tangled and doubtful Christ
| mas-shopping males.
A few afternoons ago a solid looking
young man, with not the least sign or In
| sanity or drink about him, created some
thing of a sensation in a store by strolllng
| from counter to counter on the ground
| floor and earnestly sizing up the physicai
! conformations and proportions of the sales
women. -
| The saleswomen looked at him with a
| good deal of establishment as he passed
along, directing searching chances at each
| of the girls in turn.
Il wonder what I've done now?" NUM-
| her of the saleswomen inquired in mock
fear of one another. He must be new
| store detective. Now, l haven't cribbed
| anything out of the store m sure nor
made false returns on my Slips ana yet he
| looked at me just as if he was after me.
The Young man passed along, scrut1nlZing
| each saleswoman with a critical. eompre-
| hensive glance, until he reached the rear
| of the store.
| girl who was handling and arranging lot
| All" exclaimed the young man, hating
| directly in ..ont OF that young woman
| counter shes the one! Same size to
| IT,
| Just then one of the fioorwalkers. who
| had been observing the young mans queer
performance and its effect upon the "on u
| dering saleswomen, tapped him upon the
| shoulder
rs there any particular department to
which you wish to be directed, slr!, the
| foorwalker inquired of the peculiar Gus
| toner.
He Wanted Model.
Nope" was the immediate reply. Il
know where the cravenettes are. I've been
| looking for model to try EN- on for me
| a girl of the same Size as the ole III 6o-
| ing to get the cravenette for, you know.
| That young woman behind the yarn coun-
| ter is just her build and size exactly. Could
| you, as a particular favor-and, of course,
| with her consent-spare her for five min
utes or so while she tries on a few craven
| cites for me, SOS 1 can see the effect of
| them?"
The young man obtained the purchasing
facilities he had carefully searched for, the
young woman behind the yarn counter be-
| ing perfectly willing to serve as craven
| cite model, and he bought the most ex-
pensive garment of the kind in the store.
A good many men who go Christmas
shopping with their wives try to assume a
| half playful, half superior air.
1.-The difficulty isl saidBthe wife of one of
them, biting her lips as she surveyed a
counter covered with knickknacks the
other afternoon, agnes has been over
| everything on this counter a dozen times
| herself l am perfectly certain, and I'm
sure she knows the price of every article,
down to the teenchiest little thing"
well, what if she does?'' airily inquired
| the husband. with the usual lack of per-
ception that characterizes husbands
"Well, that's the reason l wanted to do
| some of my Christmas shopping in Balti-
more" pouted his wife.
We'll, that's perfectly absurd and nom
sensical you know" said her husband. "A
| pink and gold chocolate pot like that one
| you're looking at is bound to be marked
90 r. ,,t1 H.. H. Tvzgf 800 toka