The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1914-12-12

arrangement and the catalogues and lists of suit
able gifts, classified according to ages, have done
much toward making even shopping for men a
simple matter.
This, however, is a very recent institution. In
the old days, a woman went to the large shop,
without the slightest idea of what she wanted to
buy, and after ten minutes in the crowded, heat
ed aisles, surrounded by thousands of elaborate,
allurtng, gayly colored possibilities with no ap-
parent order or arrangement, bewilderment and
not decision was her portion. Under such condi-
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 was nothing to
the mans. He didn't even make an attempt to
shop; he simply bought.
But all these things are different now. You get
a list of things which such-and-such a store has
to offer for man, woman and child of any given
age, with the floor on which II may be found indi-
Gated, and you have only to walk in calmly and
deliberately and purchase it. 1t is literally an in
dex Of the peace and good will which you may
wish to dispense. You do all your thinking be-
forehand and have an opportunity to remember
that Mrs. So-and-So's library is furnished in red.
and that a Kaiser Sim vase would be more &C.
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 a 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 a sci
entihc shopper and know just what you are going
to get and where you are going to get 1t. Science
saves time, money and nerves.
There is another way in which Christmas has
become a science and that is in the methods
which the big shopkeeper employs to attract the
crowds of holiday shoppers. Go into one Of their
establishments and you cannot fail to see it.
Thoy op1ou with fUhf briOht with fha aO1Ora
of unnumbered fabrics and you hear far and near
the clash of music from many instruments. That
is simply to lure you in and once you are there
you see at first nothing but a spectacle of con-
fusion and a conflict of sounds that would make
Babel lose caste as a synonym. But If you start
to buy what you have come for you will find a
remarkable state of order so far as the things
offered for sale are concerned. 1t is not really
a store; it's an 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
all. He lures people with advertisements which
are wonder stories. He halts the passing crowd
in the streets with a windowful Of Christmas wax
works, and once they have come inside. whether
with a purpose or out Of mere curiosity, the ma
chinery is there to hold them fast.
For weeks the designers, decorators, scene
painters, d~ummymakers have been at work devils
ing and constructing some sort of living pictures
fraught with the spirit of the Christmas tale.
There is the papier-mache church, still and beau
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 a mighty organ and voices singing Christmas
carols.
1t is expensive, but it impresses the people who
enter the store. 1t is the idea of it all that the
hearts of the shoppers be mellowed and the spirit
he moved to buy more and still more for the
holiday giving. That may seem a little far
fetched" as you sit at home with a 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 il is really a very
clever conception.