Evening star., 1923-09-23
One Thing After Another

| was SO cents, and then resbip the
stuff to the mail-order house collect
ana write in for a refund of ths
freight charge that he had paid. And
right then he made his biggest mis-
take OF all.
Expecting to be but few mo
] ments in winding up the minor de.
| tail of this business, he loaded his
family in his auto and started to the
freight. office, arriving there at
am, intending to take the Pride Of
His Heart to the store later for a
shopping tour
Presenting himself to the freight
cashier, he paid his bill in the pre-
scribed manner and then instructed
the cashier to reship the goods. Did ,
the cashier answer politely Eyes. sir"2
He did not. He informed the victim
that he would have to prepay the re-
turn shipment That. however. was
no serious requirement, so out he
went to bin No. /. where his goods
were reported to be. A game of hide
and seek with the clerk ended by the
latter finally being cornered. and in
dustrious search was started for the
shipment in order to retag il. The
shipment was elusive, If not to say
completely lacking, and back went
the two of them to the cashier. After
| a careful search of the waybills, the
| official declared that he had been IN
error; the goods were in bin No. %.
To bin No. % led the trail The
clerk here was easily found. Yes.
! indeed, he had the shipment, but the
ladder was gone. Only the paint was
left. Investigation of the box OF
paint followed, bnt the paint turned
out TO be the tire chains. for which
the substitute shipment was made by
| parcel post.
| A strange calm settled upon the
| purchaser, but there was A wild look
in his eye when the clerk told him
| to go back to the cashier and get
| authority to take the chains, which
he had a growing impulse to use as
a moose for himself, but back he went.
| This is a mix-up, isn't it," pleas
antlyr inquired the cashier. "PIease
go over to the over and short order
clerk and explain it to him"
The over and short order clerk solved
! the puzzle instantly. He declared
| that the order covered a step-ladder
and a box of paint, which had not
arrived, while a carton of chains had
arrived sans bill. Nov, the ques-
tion is, What shall we do about it?"
he added. He went to a superior and
| had a lengthy confab and came back
| You say you have already re
ceived everything you ordered from
! the mail-order house?" he asked, and
| being answered in the affirmative, he
| left to see another superior.
In time he returned to inquire if
| the original order had specified that
| the goods be shipped by freight, and
having confirmed this, he left-just
plain left.
In due course he returned once
! more and asked one final question:
| You have received everything you
paid for in your original order?" Ex-
! asperated to a point just shy of com
mitting murder. the purchaser re
| piled with a mighty shout, "Yes!" and
! the over and short order clerk de
parted to see the general freight
agent 49,.
Finally he came back and said: go
to the cashier and haveryour so cents
refunded, and we will take care of
the return of the goods"
This came about as ordered, and
forth strode the victim at IL am.
| weak but happy. Hurrying to his
auto, he was bursting with his story
which he contemplated relating with
minute detail to his wife. \ stony
| stare Snuelched his ardor and for the
next few minutes he withered away
before her eaustie comment on his
general abilities, his money-saving
ideas and his judgment or lack
thereof. ..s...
Soaring as the words were TO the
poor victim, the effect was as nothing
as compared to what they did to the
germs of the economy bug. The poor
little things. just shriveled up and
died. The victim is cured.