Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1914-12-11

A Business Adventure Of Emma McChesney
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cigars, samples, hotels, ball teams and
are upon which they stand united.
Every member of that fraternity which
is condemned to a hotel bedroom, or
sleeper berth by night, and chained
to sample case by day agrees in
this, f1rst: That it isn't what it used
TO be. Second: If only they could
find an opening for nice, paying
gents furnishing business in a live
little town that wasn't swamped with
that kind of thing already they'd buy
It and settle down like a white man,
by Georgei and quit this peddling.
The missus hates 1t anyhow; and the
kids know the iceman better than they
do their own dad
On the morning that Mrs. Emma Nc
Chesney representing T. A. Buck,
Featherloom Petticoats) finished her
talk with Miss Hattie Stitch, head of
Kiser & Bloch's skirt and suit depart
ment, she found herself in a rare
mood. She hated her job; she loathed
her yellow sample cases; she longed
to call Miss Stitch a green-eyed cat;
and she wished that she had chosen
some easy and pleasant way Of earn
ing a living, like doing plain and fancy
washing an ironing. Emma McChesney
had been selling Featherloom Petit
coats on the road for almost ten
years, and she was famed throughout
her territory for her sane sunniness,
and her love of her work. Which
speaks badly for Miss Hattie Stitch.
Miss Hattie Stitch hated Emma Nc
Chesney with all the hate that fat
one who can wear a large 36 with
out one inch OF alteration, and hat
that turns sharply away from the face.
For 46 weeks IN the year Miss Stitch
existed in Kiser & Bloch's store at
River Falls. For six weeks, two In
spring. two in fall, and two in mid
winter, Hattie lived in New York.
with capital L. She went there to
select the seasons newest models
(sIightly modified for River Fallsl,
but incidentally she took a regular
trousseau with her.
All day long Hattie picked skirt
and suit models with unerring good
taste and business judgment At
At night she was a creature trans
formed. Every house of which Hattie
bought did its duty like a soldier and
a gentleman. Nightly Hattie powdered
her neck and arms, performed sacred
rites over her hair and nails, donned
q gown so complicated that hotel
maid had to hook her up the back, and
was ready for her evenings escort at
eight. There wasn't hat in a grill
room from one end of the Crooked
Cow-path to the other that was more
wildly barbaric than Hattie's, even in
these sane and simple days when the
bird of paradise has become the ma
tional bird. The buyer Of suits for a
thriving department store In a hustling
little middle Western town isn't to be
neglected. Whenever a show came
to River Falls Hattie would look
bored, pass q weary hand over her
glossy couture and say: ooh, yes.
Clever little show. Saw it two win
tiers ago in New York. This won't be
the original company. of course" The
year that Hattie came back wearing a
set of skunk everyone thought 1t was
lynx until Hattie drew attention to
what she called the brown tone" in
It. After that Old Lady Heinz got
her old skunk furs out Of the moth
balls and tobacco and newspapers
that had preserved them, and her
daughter cut them up into bands for
the bottom of her skirt, and the cuffs
Of her coat. When Kiser & Bloch had
their fall and spring openings the
town came ostensibly to see the new
styles, but really to gaze at Hattie
In new confection. undulating up and
down the department. talking with a
heavy Eastern accent about this or
that being smart or good this
year." or having "a world OF style.
and sort of trailing her toes after her
20 give a clinging, Grecian line, like
pictures Of Ethel Barrymore when she
was thin. The year that Hattie con.
fided to some one that she was wear
ing only scant boomers beneath her
slinky silk the floor was mobbed. and
they had to call in reserves from the
basement Observation-Disclosures
wear,
Miss Stitch came to New York In
March. On the evening of her arrival
she dined with Fat Ed Meyers of the
Strauss Sans-silk Skirt company. He
informed her that she looked like a
kid, and that that was some classy lit,
tie gown. and it wasn't every woman
who could wear that kind of thing and
get away with it. It took certain
style. Hattie smiled, and hummed
o1f-key to the tune the orchestra was
playing, and Ed told her 1t was a
shame she didn't do something with
that voice.
4 have something to tell you said
Hattie Just before | left | had a
talk with old Kiser. Or rather, he
had talk with me. You know have
pretty much my own way in my de-
partment Pity II | couldn't have. ]
made II. Well, Kiser wanted to know
why l didn't buy Featherlooms. /
said we had no call for 'em, and he
came back with figures to prove we're
losing good many hundreds year
by not carrying them. He said the
strass Sans-silk skirt isn't what II
used to be. And he's right"
Oh, say" obise ted Ed Meyers.
TITS true" insisted Hattie. eBut
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