Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1914-12-19


arrangement and the catalogues and lists of suit
able gifts. classified according to ages have done
much toward making shopping for
simple matter.
This, however, is a very recent institution In
the old days, went to the large shop,
without the slightest idea of what she wanted to
buy. and after ten minutes in the crowded. heat
ed alsles, surrounded by thousands of elaborate,
aliur1ng gayly colored possibilities with ap-
parent order or arrangement, bewilderment and
not decision was her portion. Under such cond
tons, even the most conscientious of them seized
the article nearest. She was at the mercy of the
saleswoman because she did not know what she
had better get or where she could get it
But the woman's bewilderment nothing to
the mans. He didn't even make attempt to
shop; he simply bought.
But all these things.ar different now You get
list of things which such-andsuch a store has
to offer for man, woman and child of any given
age, with the floor which it may be found indi-
Gated, and you have only to walk in calmly and
deliberately and purchase it. 1t is literally in
dex of the peace and good will which you may
wish to dispense. You do all your thinking be-
forehand and have opportunity to remember
that Mrs So-and-Sos library is furnished in red.
and that Kaiser Sim would be more
ceptable than a lamp.
Then when you have made your selection you
may make your way to the store with a fairly
calm and tranquil mind. OF course it is crowded
with density which makes progress almost i'm
possible, blazing hot with multitudinous lights
and noisy with many clamoring voices, but all
that can have no effect on you. You are sci
entifc shopper and know just what you are going
to get and where you going to get it. Science
saves time, money and nerves
There is another way in which Christmas has
become science and that is in the methods
which the big shcpkeeper employs to attract the
crowds of holiday shoppers. Go into one of their
establishments and you cannot fail to 1t.
They are aglow with light, bright with the colors
of unnumbered fabrics and you hear far and
the clash of music from many instruments That
is simply to lure you in and once you there
at first nothing but spectacle of con-
fusion and a conflict of sounds that would make
Babel lose caste synonym But if start
to buy what you have come for you will find a
remarkable state of order far the things
offered for sale concerned. 1t is not really
a store; it's exposition
There isn't a man in the world who has a
keener understanding of the human makeup than
the big shopkeeper He knows every string of
the instrument and plays diligently upon them
wonder stories He halts the passing crowd
in the streets with windowful of Christmas way
works. and once they have inside whether
with purpose out of mere curiosity, the ma
chinery is there to hold them fast
For weeks the designers decorators, scene
painters, dummymakers have been at work devils
ing and constructing some sort of living pictures
raught with the spirit of the Christmas tale
There is the papier-mache church. still and beam
tiful, with snow-covered trees about it light shin
ing from the tall windows, men, women and chill
dren mounting to the portal, and from away in
the inside sanctuary somewhere come the music
of mighty organ and voices singing Christmas
carols
1t is expensive, but it impresses the people who
enter the store 1t is the idea it all that the
hearts of the shoppers be mellowed and the spirit
be moved to buy more and stiH more for the
holiday giving That little far
fetched" you sit at home with Crouch on
because something went wrong yesterday, or a
man you thought was your friend went back ON
you, but get into one of those stores. where you
can't hear yourself think of your troubles for the
noise. and you win realize that it is really very
clever cpuceptiou