Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-12-03
TALES OF CITY
STREETS.

An advertisement inviting applica-
nified employment as the travelling
| representatives for an old established
shoe house was inserted in a locai
newspaper recently. Those impressed
| with the proposition were requested to
address the agent of the company.
then sojourning in the city, giving age
and experience, if any.
The advertisement was answered by
number of young women, but only
one has had the courage to explain
her failure to now be holding a posi-
ton with the establishment men,
toned. Some few days after she had
| written to the agent she had caller
at her home in the person of a polish
ed and educated gentleman. He was
fashionabiy attired, and impressed one
with his business airs.
He told her that her letter had the
right tone to it, and her appearance
satisfied him that she would fill the
| bill She was the one whom he had
chosen from a score of applicants.
Naturally she was fiattered. The
house. the agent told her. was. engag-
| ing a corps of refined women to go
| through the country demonstrating its
higher grades of shoes. She said that
the work doubtless would be pleasant.
and he assured her that it would, as
she had to call on only the best peo-
pie in those cities to which she would
| be assigned.
After further preliminary talk, a
eI,
attached her signature. Her engage
ment was to date from the first of the
| month. thus allowing her week to
get in readiness for her trip. Her sam
pie outfit would embrace a pair of all
the finer grades of shoes manufacture
ed by the concern. The wholesale
value would be SIS. and as the firm
demanded some sort of protection, he
would let her off with an advance of
SIS, which she paid over to him with
out the slightest hesitation. The
money, he said. would be returned to
her when her engagement terminated,
| or whenever she returned the sample
outfit to the house. The outfit, he
said, would be shipped as per wire
order that he would send in at once.
To make sure of her receiving it. he
wrote out an order on the express COM
pany. He thought the outfit ought to
be along in at least two days. After
giving her instructions as to territory,
ETC., he bid her adieu, stating that he
would be obliged to leave the city
that night for point further west, at
which he would select another repre-
sentative.
The young woman was at the ex-
press office to the hour and when the
clerk told her there had nothing come
for her, she was not suspicious, sup
posing that there had been a delay.
She was on hand the next day, and
still the next. and she received the
same answer. Then it began to dawn
on her that she might have been deal
ing with a swindler. She had, as she
discovered on an inquiry to the house
that he claimed to represent. She got
very nice letter from the manager
sympathizing with her. She had been
duped, but she was offered consola-
ton in the information that there
were others, one lady at Dubuque hav-
ing put up her diamond ring as secur-
ity for the outfit, and another at Mus
catine having turned over $25. The
manager did not doubt there were
many more victims that he would new
er hear from. The company was en-
deavoring to apprehend the swindler,
and when it did get hands on him it
proposed making it warm for him.
"Hugger Extraordinary to the-Club''
is a title that has been bestowed upon
a certain married man in the city. |
His wife has learned of his having
been knighted, but she is not jealous |
of him. She says that her husband |
is just the sweetest man in the whole |
world, and she wants him to prove it |
whenever he gets chance to do so. /
1t came about in this wise; The club |
in question, which is composed OF
eight pretty girls, has occasional meet
ings from which the opposite sex Is
debarred On this night the club met
in the home adjoining the one in
which the man with the favorite grip |
resides. He heard of the gathering,
and with the consent of his wife, he 1
popped in on the girls unannounced,
and he was the lion of the evening. Il
They toasted him until he grew
ashamed of himself, and. by the way. /
not having anything else to offer, he
told the girls he would permit each
one to kiss him on the left cheek. He