The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1910-12-23
Round About
New York


glad season written sarcastick, as
Josh Billings would say of Christmas
shopping have convinced me that the
average shop girl of the metropolis
possesses not only "some sense" but
also patience and a remarkable quality
of physical endurance.
Two classes of writer-folk take pen
in hand to describe and pity the New
York shop girl. To the one she is a
silly, empty-pated, frivolous creature,
who spends her money on frippery
clothes and her spare time In dream
ing of drudgery This type doubtless
exists in considerable numbers, but
the worst that can be said of them Is
that they initiate, In raiment, man
ners and affectations, the fine ladies'
whom the fortunes of birth or matri.
mony have placed upon the other side
of the counter.
To another class of writer's. uplift-
ers by trade, the shop girl is the vic
tim in conspiracy of business, forced
by cruel and ruthless masters to work
long hours for a pittance insufficient
to keep body and soul together, and
to exc out scanty existence by meth
DDS not to be mentioned in a family
newspaper.
Neither of these theories fit the
facts. The average merchant Is not
an ogre, but a humane gentleman,
considerate to employees and ever
ready, in his own good interest, to
recognize exceptional ability. And as
for the much.maligned and pitied shop
girl:
THE colonel's lady and Judy O'Grady
Are sisters under the skin"
The average shop girl is an indie
pendent young woman, proud of her
store, but at this season of the year
especially, not over fond of the Gus
toners who throng the emporium from
morn to night. The weeks before
Christmas are a nightmare to the shop
girls. 1t Is strange but it is true, that
the Wanted Christmas spirit" trans
forms usually amiable persons into
harsh and intolerant tyrant', who vent
their spiteful rage upon the hapless
shop girls. The woman who goes to
church tomorrow will on Monday seek
to secure the discharge and humilia-
ton of some young person who. tired
and worn to the point of exhaustion,
does not serve her promptly and sat
isfactorily.
For many weary shop girl, tonor-
row will not be a day of rest. After
a week of unprecedented onslarShts
nv the great army of buyers, most of
the big stores look as If cyclones had
passed through them, and the sales
people will spend Sunday in clearing
decks for the coming weeks final bat
tie with the Infatuated shoppers.
Disloyal to their sex as 1t is, most
shop girls insist that the male shop
pers are, as rule, much more con-
siderate and easy to please than the
ladies. A visit to any big store dur
ing the rush hours more than confirms
this theory. Woman's inhumanity to
woman during the coming week Will
be a thing to make the devils weep
But will the shop girl, when she has
married the millionaire of her dreams
be any different? The probabilities
favor negative answer. There is
something about the celebration OF
the birthday of the Prince of Peace,
apparently, which causes those en-
gagged in the preparation OF the :east
to forget all the precepts and prac-
tees of Him whom they worship. II
Won don't believe 1t, ask the shop girl.
Also. there is the New York post
man. How blithely he goes about his
daily tasks! How happy he Is in these
glad days preceding Christmas. How
he laughs! He is fairly bubbling over
with the Joy of living, is he not? Yes,
ne is not.
Already the metropolitan postottice
has been swamped with mail, and the
automobiles and wagons in use are ut
terly inadequate to the job. Hundreds
of vehicles have been commanded TO
aid in handling the avalanche of mails.
Moving vans and delivery wagons
have been pressed into service to car
~ the outgoing mails. Next week the
incoming flood of packages and let
tiers will reach high tide, and every
body connected with the postal depart
ment will work overtime in an attempt
TO keep the torrent moving in the pre-
Scribed channels.
All the steamships arriving from
foreign ports this week had their holds
filed with mail bags, and the same is
true of those starting on the eastward
trim across the Atlantic. The giant
Mauretania sailed today with one or
the largest cargoes of first and fourth
class mail ever carried by any liner.
These mails will arrive in time to be
distributed before Christmas all over
Great Britain, Ireland and western
Europe.
AS barometer indicating prosper
ity or the reverse, nothing equals the
marriage license office. Therefore it
may be stated that the year now near
ing it's end has been an exceptionally