New-York tribune., 1921-11-13

standing in their doorways looking for trade
Before the woman shopper has gone three
steps in Division Street the siren song of
Bargains, LADY," will be waited to her ears.
One doorway after another will yield up the
song Of the skirt or the sealskin, whichever If
may be, and whoever listens to that song e
lost unless she be hardened shopper.
The Division Street shopkeeper will not
take it amss If she passes on, for with sfr
long, solid blocks OF women's clothes to choose
from even merchant gets used to having
people pass on. But If the tentative buyer
stops to look too long in the window after hay-
ing ignored the proprietor's invitation to stem
inside and see Something in dresses. LADY, 8
crafty look will be leveied In her direction
and some favored model in the window will
be hastily replaced before she passes that wav
again.
In the legend Of Division Street, which il
seduously kept alive by the shopkeepers, the
cloak and suit market offers choice garments
at incomparably low prices. We have heard
that and other things, but we really couldn't
find out much about it, for we are too sus
ceptible. After the blond saleslady had ex
tracted 81 deposit from US on dress that
we didn't much want we didn't dare get too
close to any of the other stores. But our
friend Rosaind, whose uncles and brothers
and cousins are all in the cloak and suit
business and who was clothed in Division
Street from infancy, assures us that Division
Street clothes are cheap if one ''knows how
to buy and lasting whether one does or not.
They may not be up to the latest whrn Of
tickle fashion, says Rosalind, but, then. no.
body wants them to be. The garments of
Division Street can be remodeled and handed
down from mother to daughter. and then to
younger sister and not show it, according to
RosaIind.
Division Street merchants themselves claim
that their prices are immovable, and several
protesting shopkeepers even have signs to that
effect plastered across the walls of their show
rooms. We mentioned this to Rosalind, but she
only said something about Shakespeare saying
something about some one who protested too
much.
"You have to know how TO buy,'' repeated
Rosalind, with volumes of meaning IN the
phrase.
For whatever It is worth we may as we'll
recount here the whole incident of the maroon
jersey dress. The price Of that DRESS as told
by the blond saleslady, was 1880. At the
time it seemed cheap enough for dress, espe-
cially for one that had the superlative ad
vantage of not being in every shop window Oh
Sixth Avenue. So we fell victim to the ex
tent of 81 deposit
The first misgivings were sown in our mind
by the same Rosalind. did you say s13.5o?o
she inquired, with that competent air of hers
And you took it at the first price they asked
Poor thing, you could have got it for $40
You could have got it for So. Why, you could
have got it for $6.''
"Please stop, Rosalind,' I'VE begged unhap-
bargain hunting we should be as innocent as
all that about buying q dress in Division
Street. So we did not hurry down to pay the
balance. Instead, we watched both Fifth Ave
nue. and Sixth Avenue shop windows for a
replica of it, for in New York, where there is
one dress, there are usually anywhere from
dozen to million like it. We even MORTAL,
offended woman wearing similar dress BY
asking her, five minutes after we were intro
duced, how much she had paid for it.
She didn't tell US, but we found out q day
later. For in the window of what we had
always considered an insignificant shop in
Forty-second Street WAS a duplicate of the
and it was also labelled "S14.9S."
Let the woman who sknows how TO buy
take that to heart and act accordingly if she
ever goes to the cloak and suit market.