The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-08-29
TRAVELLING SHOP SOLVES PROBLEM
 FOR WOMEN
Here Today and Gone To-
 morrow Concern Made An Immediate Success for Two Ex-Service Women.
PEOPLE WERE
 EAGER TO BUY
Aust Be Prepared for Re :. buffs and Upsets and Have Strength of Char , acter to Succeed.

. acter to Succeed.
 f"No towns for mel I couldn't face +he Idea of anything which did not provide for an open-air life." writes 1fargaret Fillingham in an English rany In reporting the experiences of .n ex-service woman in regard to the sind of work she had taken up since Rehabilitation.
 The article continues:
 | Another woman and myself have ~1ne Into partnership with shop selling women's things chiefly
 uses, undies, ribbons, faces. and
 ldren's clothes. Only 1t is not an
 mary shop with an ordinary win
 ' in an ordinary street It IS a
 1elIng shop; a kind of here-today-
 -gone-tomorrow concern!
 Seriously, the idea Is not quite so
 as it sounds! After our demo-
 tzation, neither Madge nor I felt at we could stand a. stuffy town sfe, so We invested our savtngs-or part of them-in a caravan. It Is a really good van, and cost us rather Ices '.han $50, but this must not be taken as a typical price
 'sThere Is a demand for caravans just now and a good one easily fstch-up to E100. In fact, we could have sold our own several times al- ready at a good profit. When any one Is setting up a travelling shop, however, 1t Is almost essential. and certainly cheaper, to buy van out right, since 1t is impossible to hire one under several guineas 0 week.
 Our Stock.
 Having obtained our caravan, and, incidentally a hawker's license, we set to work to stock our shop with things likely to appeal to women lying in country districts, moderately ,riced goods such as all women want, ut which cannot usually be obtain
 easily at country shops. Such Gods, of course, were bought whole ne, in exactly the same way as if were opening up in High street, iburbia, and surplus stock we stor- in a room hired for the purpose.
 ''It was with a certain spirit of
 venture that we set forth on our At real selling expedition, but there
 ie no real need for qualms, or fears either as regards selling our wares, or the reception given to us. When we halted at a village. the women were only too glad to look at our goods, and 60 make purchases; those upon whose doors, we did not knock soon made their way to where our travelling shop was anchored. More over, without a single exception. the women who bought from us asked our way round the country. and sev- eral told us that our venture met a very real opening for travelling shops There Is no doubt that our trav- cling shop Is going to be a success, not only to our personal health and pockets, but also in being of real. practical service to other women. And that's something.
 "So that is our job at present, and our experience proves that there is a very real opening fo taveling shorps VI rked on similar lines
 yre ran up against one other trav- C lg shop, and that was a carpen-
 s business owned by a man. His
 perience was similar to our own:
 any people were glad to see him me along They had plenty of work waiting for him, his profits were greater than if he started a shop In - town, his expenditures less, and life in general much healthier and pleas anter.
 Other Openings.
 "An experienced lady gardener friend of my own thinks of gettns g e caravan and becoming a travelling gardener, and if she does so, she will probably soon find it necessary to take a partner.
 There are big openings, too, for travelling crockery and tinware shops; and Judging from the number of women who ask for dressmaking 2 advice 0 travelling dressmaker who would give instructions as well as do the actual work has a small for tune waiting for her in all country disticts. The idea originated by the officials of the Ministry of Food in running travelling kitchen schools might also be advantageously de- veloped by clever women on their own account. Such a lot of women living in the country are eager for cooking lessons but cannot get to towns to obtain them. If teachers went to them they would soon re- spond.
 come to us as we have gone round e country and are by no means
 pstive; but you can take 1t from
 chat travelling shops have como
 tay. Women who want to live an
 sn-afr life and love their fellow
 eatures and have some business in- 'tincts might do very much worse than consider the idea
 Tt is best for women 10 work ir pairs though and they must be pre-. pared for a strenuous life and foi all sorts of weather. Also they mus have capital enough to make the ex periment-and they must be prepar ',d for some rebuffs and upssts tC heir dignity"
 Madame Sonia Serova. the note,