The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1913-05-16
GAZETTE SCRIBE ABROAD
WHERE TEMPTATION TO LET GO
OF CASH IS PRESENT
EVERYWHERE
IN THE WH|RL OF THE MOB
That Haunts the Ever Attractive aud
Seductive Department Store
Bargain Counter

One of the drawbacks to a resi-
dence in city for the man of moder.
ate means is the ever present temp
tation to slim his hand into his pocket
1t is human nature to want nice
things, and the desire is almost ir-
resistible when the eye is continually
attracted by an endless array of shop
windows, where the professional dec
orator-who holds his job through an
ability to display fetching wares in
such a fetching manner as to coax the
reluctant dollar from the possession of
the passerby-has exercised his art by
a tantilizing exhibit of beautiful arti-
cles of every description that contrib
ute to the comfort, luxury, use or
adornment of the human family. AS
further incentive for raid on the
pocketbook such displays are general
ly made more alluring by marked
down tags that are intended to convey
the impression that the dealer has be-
come philanthropic, and in the throes
of this suddenly assumed spirit of ben
efaction was giving the goods away at
. an actual loss. OF course in the main,
the temptor Is spreading the net for
the feminine members of society, and
they are easy marks, judging from the
mobs that surge through department
/ stores especially on days when the |
= ,.~n"-~u "horoain" 10 l~~T; -, |
G. " to the dazed and bewlldered
n Ale flotsam that happens to drlft IN
tn one of these establishments when
the bargain counter" is in full bloom
and at it's best. | have seen panics IN
public halls, riots on public Streets
multitudes collected in ball parks ana
at public celebrations, but | would
rather take my chances for life, limb
and a continuation of happiness in any
one of them than amidst mop OF
ladies' that storm bargain sale in one
of these large emporinms. There may
be less noise about 1t, but hardly any
less decorum. Such pushing and haul
ing, showing and jostling, elbowing
and kneeing, hustling and bustling,
Jerking and jolting, such an absence OF
courtesy and consideration propriety
and politeness, amiability and affabil-
i.y are not to be witnessed in any oth-
er gathering that can be staged. Ihe
only persons in the mass entitled to
any sympathy are the harrassed
clerks, who carry the impress OF wear
mess and a shade of contempt be-
hind the sterotyped smile. For bar
gain counter crowd is trying and gets
on the nerves.
And this leads up to more direct
reference to one of the show places OF
Seattle, the department store, or
which there are several very large
ones in that city. 1t has been stated
and the statement has never been con-
tradicted to my knowledge, that Sc
attic has the largest department store
west of Chicago. Be this as 1t may
there is no grounds for deprecating
the extent of the largest establishment
of the kind to be found there, and
there can be no question as to the
volume of business it does, judging
from tramps through its spacious IN
terror on a number of occasions. The
building has frontage of an entire
block. extends back half a block, ant
embraces from four to six floors. Un
der that roof is displayed for barter
about everything that enters into th'
economy of daily life, including ar
ticles in selling value from single
cent up into the thousands of dollars
II is a veritable city of business es
Establishments under one general man
agement, running from hardware
fresh meats from toilet articles to tn
most EXPENSIVE dress goods, from toy
to furniture, covering the whole rang
of household necessities and luXurle'
1t is impossible to enumerate every
thing that can be found on the count
ers in this vast mart of trade IN
brief article on the subject for
would require days and more patienc
than the writer is endowed with to oil
out all the information diggable If or
started in on the job OF diggin
1t is sure convenient to the shoppe
although it emphasizes the statemel
CHANGED at the beginning of this lett'
that temptation to spend is one of tt
drawbacks of urban domiciliation. b
anyhow this great department stor
one among several large institution
of the same character distribute
"nut the retail districts, is most
in his declining .He to visit, either'