The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-01-27
By FRANCES SHARPER.

In a butcher shop the other day
weII-groomed, attractive-looking woman.
Of about thirty-five or so stepped up to
the counter to order some meat for the
following day. She wanted the best cuts,
and was willing to pay the price.
But-there the trouble began. For she
had not the slightest idea what those
cuts were, and did not even know what
to ask for, except in the vague way
Of telling that she would like a roast
and something to broil, something quite
tender and juicy. you know.
1t happened that the butcher was not
disposed to take advantage Of her igno-
rance. and he gave her the choice cuts
she wanted and did not know how to
buy. But as she stood there, admitting
her distressing lack of knowledge ana
throwing herself upon the tender mercy
of stranger-tradesman, she was not a
figure to inspire one with admiration.
And the butcher grew quite confiden-
tiaI telling her a great many things she
already knew.
Never Try to Learn.
He said that in his wide experience
among folk who were wealthy and folk
VINO were not, ne ObStiNtu mat
there were very few young housekeep-
ers who started in with any knowledge
at all OF meats. Their mothers had not
taught them, and they had not acquired
the trick in any other way. And the
worst of ii is" he added. some of
them start in ignorance, and they never
try to learn"
1t is temptingly easy to step to the
telephone and calmly order IA nice
.Na. ~ eta l.
for broiling," or some of your English
mutton chops" 1t is easy, if one does
not mind the price she pays and quite
like the idea of attempting to do what
she really knows nothing about.
The butcher? OF course he likes the
telephone scheme-it is all profit and
easy going for him. He just writes down
the order and proceeds to cut the meat
where he likes and to charge the best
market price. But when he grows con-
fidentiaI, quite ready to give sound ad-
vice he has another story to tell,
story in which there is faint praise FOR
that kind of buying and no approval at
all of the buyer. He says-and II Is
perfectly true-that not even the most
accommodating butcher in the world can
give THE best to everybody, and II is
the woman-who-know the woman who
Judges and does her own choosing who
gets the cream Of his ShOp ana OF every
other shop in the land.
Then he told that years ago when ne
first opened his stand. one of his earliest
customers was a young married woman-
''one of the ignorant kind" She did not
have a great deal of money to spend,
was inexperienced. and las green as a
little girl out of school," so he said. But
she came around to that shop every
morning. and she watched him cut and
she watched folk buy. She was so earn
est and so ambitious to get out OF the
Ignorant class" that he good naturedly
took her in hand. He told her where
the best cuts lay. where the most econo-
mical and explained to her just what
was what in meat.
Taught Her How TO Buy.
And now-wen, that was years ago.
and since then many things have hap
pened. In time she reached that very
comfortable turn in the road where
economy need not be reckoned with all
the time or any of the time unless she
liked. But when her little daughter
reached an age to see and TO know, she
took her out on marketing rounds and
taught her all that she had learned
Then the time came when the mother
slipped out of working harness, and the
daughter quietly and effectively slipped
in. And" said the butcher, you
couldn't fool her if you tried, for she