Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-16
A NOVEL EXPERIENCE

IT had my first pawnshop experience the
| other day." said q happy. though married,
Mount Pleasant young matron 1t WASH
so horrifying. after all-perhaps Tor the
reason that visited the pawnshop for the
purpose Of getting out something instead OF
putting something in. am told that 1t
| makes a difference.
ST dare say that If had gone to the place
to-to-er-well. to spout one Of my we'd
ding presents-the gravy boat, say-so that
we could have pie in the house. or to shove
up as my husband puts 1t. my marten paff
for the price of imperatively needed meds-
cine, the affair might have had quite few
slow-music elements to 1t.
But didn't. / went to the pawnshop 10
get my husbands fall overcoat out.
1T is one of my husbands distressing
bachelor habits to put his overcoats In
pawn as soon as he ceases to need them Tor
q season. He swears that moths and Suen
like haven't any regard or fear whatsoever
for the moth balls spread out in chests for
their destruction by women folks. put ne
eloquently AYERS that he never heafo OF
moth getting within four nautical KNOTS Oh
q pawnshop. He gets loan OF oniy one
dollar on an overcoat when he puts 1t In,
so there Is no doubt that he himself ID
believer in pawnshops for storage pur-
poses.
II am bound to say that felt real Bo-
hemiany when I approached the pawnshop.
When l got to the place halted before the
window and carelessly gazed at the Wlndo"
display for a while. glancing up and down
the avenue out Of the corner OF my eyes 10
see IL anybody / knew was In sight. Inen
seeing nobody to fear. l went In There
were several respectable-looking young men
lined up at the counter. and, curiousiy
enough, the pleasant-faced young man IN
charge Of the pawnshop was passing out
fall overcoats to all Of them.
Something doing in the benny line to-
day. eh? said one of the young men, put
ting his top coat and wtnking at the
pawnshop young man; and l could swear
that all OF those young men exchanged fur-
| tive winks with each other. as much as 10
too
well, when it came my turn I laid the
ticket down on the counter In front OF the
| fabbergaSted to say anything.
" DO you want to get 1t out. ma ann ne
asked me.
"Of course. I did. and found my tongue
| to tell him SO. 1 was curious as to his rea-
| son for asking me that question. I asked
| him why, In fact.
Why should 1 bring the ticket II did
| not want to get the top coat out" found
the temerity to inquire of him.
"'Oh, he replied pleasantly. lots of EN-
come here to get further loans their
| tickets, you know-didn't know but what
you might want TO squeeze the TICKET,
ma'am.' and then he called out a number
| to his assistant In the back room. and pres
emily had the overcoat slung over my arm.
There happened to be a group OF sporty
looking men standing outside talking when
| I emerged from the pawnshop with that
| awful1y moth-bally overcOat over my arm.
| The gaze Of all of all of them seemed to be
| instantly riveted upon that overcoat. And
| they exchanged knowing glances with each
| other and smiled.
| when I stepped on board the closed
| avenue cart was threatening day-the
| conductor, who was on the rear platform,
caught Whit Of the moth balls and grin
| ned good-naturedly. The moth ball aroma
| became terribly permeative in the stuffy
| back to the open car, so as to give the chill
| wind an opportunity to watt some Of the
| unwelcome fragrance away.
| AS / stepped upon the rear car I gave
| the coat a shift. SO that the pockets were
momentarily turned upside down There
was rattle on the platform. and, look
| ing down. l saw that perfect shower
| Of moth balls was falling from the top coat
pockets. l was paralyzed for a moment
! especially when looked up and saw catty
woman OF my acquaintance, with a sar-
donic, chessy smile on her face
| Been having a little repairing done, my
| dear?' she asked me.
| No / replied, brazen as you please
| I've been getting my husbands overcoat
out OF pawn and then suppose I looked
| around in a challenging kind of way as II
| expecting somebody else to knock a chip off
| my shoulder.
| But that first pawnshop experience
wasn't really dreadful. 1t wasn't hall
| SO bad as going to the installment house
and telling 'em that they'll have to skin .
| month in their collections-not half &c
| bad" 50