The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-09-14
ALL-NIeHT SHOPPING.
Latest Way in Which Big Stores Use
 Telephone.

From the Pilgrim.
 The Boston fishermen, whose fleet is the largest that sails to any fishing ground from an American port, laughed when | they read the recent report that Nor 1 wegian has invented a telephone by means of which the noise made by fish in the depths of the sea can be heard. Still some of these fishermen have learned the truth of the saying that wonders never cease, and they will not go so far as to scoff at the idea that the telephone may yet be a fixed feature of the fish ing industry. They have received with equanimity the decision of one big mer- 1 chant to furnish his ships with steam trawls and as for the telephone, they must have read lately by the light of the forecastle lamp the news that people I in Boston are shopping at night by tele- phone.
 The night telephone shopper was first heard of in Boston last year, but it was not until this year that all the big department stores found it advisable to adopt the novelty Nowadays the big Boston merchants print as feature of their advertisements the announcement that their patrons would do we'll to take advantage of the night telephone ser vice, which is intended not only to meet
 
 rection of mistakes
 Generally an emergency that arises at night is of a most serious nature For example, there is the demand for doc tor, for a clergyman, for the police, for firemen, and these demands the telephone has served so long that the public in general thinks nothing about it. But some times death comes into a house late at night and the mourners find them selves without proper apparel. Here is an emergency in which the telephone has not been of service heretofore, but it is one that the night telephone in the de- partment store can serve. A call sent to one of the big stores is attended to the first thing in the morning. and in this simple manner the mourners dispose of matter that ordinarily is the cause of considerable confusion and delay. One Of the managers of a Boston de- partment store says that the night tel ephone clerk has some queer experiences. In the first place upon him falls the bur den of complaints from people who had expected their purchases to be delivered during the afternoon or evening and who, through some unavoidable combination If circumstances, were forced to retire for the night without having the pleasure of unwrapping the bundles and exhibiting their contents Sometimes, too, a woman who Is going out of town early in the morning sees the night before in her pa- per an advertisement of something she wants very much and which will be sold at special sale, say in the morning. In days gone by she would either have to put herself under obligations to some friend to make the purchase for her or she would have to lose the opportunity altogether. Now she neither loses the op- portunity nor enbarrases "a friend, for, calling up the night telephone clerk, she leaves her order. with the a>>--<-nce that 1t will have special attention as soon as the store opens.
 Frequently people who have left town in the afternoon, after having forgotten to buy some needed article, telephone to have 1t sent to them the first thing in the the morning. In a dozen other ways the night telephone service In the department store is proving it's usefulness and the managers of the stores expect that as soon as the public more fully understands the new arrangement calls will come thick and fast during the still watches of the night.