The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1910-08-18
Traditional
Tightwads
An Expose Of Some Of the Methods
To Get Ahead of the Other
Fellow at Times.

The test of slang word or express
sion lies in it's general popularity and
the length of time it stands the wear
and tear Of innumerable pat appli-
cations. English as she is spoke''
today is made up of many words or
phrases peculiarly fitted to such use.
Take the phrase, It's up to you.''
1t became Immediately popular and
is still much in vogue. Tightwad is
slang word much in use as sub
stitute in cl "a ing or speaking OF
penurious, parsimoniouso or avaricious
individuals.
There are many varieties of tn e
genus tightwad. Here's one: You
all know the man who in the early
days acquired few lots in town
destined to become bustling city.
Now large office building stands on
each chunk of his real estate, the rent
from which each month supplies him
with twenty or thirty times as much
as he can spend. He goes into a
tobacco store to buy cigar. Does
he pull the ready money from his
pocket and fling it carelessly on the
counter? Not on your life. He pro-
duces a good old ST Haskell wallet
about foot long and proceeds to
paw over all the money and change
in the sack and after about five min
utes' search hands over greasy
nickel. The clerk hass been watt
ing all this time and other customers
desire his attention. One more
impatient than the rest speaks up
and says, that's what | call tight
wad."
| Another common variety is the
man who waits on the corner and
waylays you on your way to lunch
con or some other refreshment. His
style of salute is, ah, going to lunch?
Guess I'll joint you." His salary is
just as large as yours, but he squeezes
each penny until the Indian on it lets
out warwhoop-and he has bank
account. After while you get tired
of buying his meal tickets and the
next time he suggests joining you he
gets stiff rejoinder something like,
yes, you will-if you've got the
price"
Maybe you work in an Office where
the boys are jolly set and perhaps
each man takes turn at treating to
the cigars after lunch. Generally
one of them when it comes his turn
will want to postpone the inevitable
moment by proposing game OF dice.
Perhaps he does get out of it few
times, but the boys are all wise to
him and go into secret session to de-
wise ways and means to beat him
and they generally hit upon nice,
easy. soothing method Of separat-
ing him from some of his spare
change. That's another kind of a
tightwad.
l once heard of man who used
to keep a plug of tobacco in his
| desk where both he and his friends
who came in to see him could help
themselves. One day one OF the Of
flee force happening to be out OF
3 tobacco himself went over to the
drawer and cut off chew. The
man who owned it saw him and it
so hurt his sensitive feelings that
thereafter he locked up his tobacco
in the safe.
There are tightwads in business
also. You run against them every
day. OF course, all credit men are
generally pessimists, but some are
more pessimistiferous than others.
e There was a Hebrew firm doing a
r large wholesale business not many
g years ago and their credit man was
3 certainly the prince of tightwads in
s the business sense. They had many
large accounts and in the course of
( years business would naturally
g accumulate number of bad ac-
counts. Well, this credit man, the
= moment an account became due,
. would start working his system,
which consisted of writing string
of letters to the delinquent all in
+ vitations to pay and some OF them
: very sarcastic. This didn't always
produce the desired result. One
7Confjn1fed IN zfh cOI9fmn fhis D0Oe \