Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1939-12-28
COUNTRY AUCTION

CSHIS, tllI Iy-nNc TIE HlSn Dlu
thirty-fve's the high bid"
The monotone of the auctioneer'.
voice droned on, reaching a new
high each time the bid was raised
"What! Only thirty-fve cent.
for this bucket! Why, ladies ant
gentlemen you're robbing thi,
lady! That's murder! Take lool
at it, men. Just look at it, Thirty
five's the high bid. Who'll make i
forty?"
Silence. :. A few habitual buyers
shook their heads in negative re.
Spouse as the auctioneer looked
hopefully toward them for an in.
creased bid.
"Going-one, two, three = gone
to the man right over by the
scales!"
Beginning last Monday night
the goods of the general store
owned by Mrs. Eva humphrey of
Germantown, has been on sale at
public auction. The sale will con-
tinue until the stock is exhausted
Every night, the bidding begins
promptly at six, the hour being de-
rived from an old English custom.
Cars line the roads leading to and
from the store, and all sorts and
conditions of men, women and chill
dren turn out to buy, bid, or watch.
The thing that most forcibly
strikes the visitor is the great
variety of goods. In the short space
of half-hour, saw up for sale
fly sprays, underwear, shoes, ga
loshes, stockings, pickles, shot,
cough syrup, bobby pins, ink, mus
tard, tablets, darning thread, scoot-
ers, Christmas cards, bedroom
slippers, ironing boards, syrup,
wrapping paper, macaroni, rat
traps, straw hats, milk pots, hand
kerchiefs, wagons and washing
powder.
One of the most interesting fea-
lures of the sale is the selling by
assortments; that is, various ar
ticles of greatly diverse nature are
put into box and sold as one
piece of goods. Sometimes the
boxes are passed around for a pre-
liminary inspection by the crowd;
but more often they are not. The
auctioneer simply shouts the names
of several of the articles and then
starts the bid.
l decided to try my luck on one
of these assortments, and, hearing
a 10-cent bid for one that the seller
was holding up, l raised the bid
to Is cents.
Fifteen cents, fifteen cents, fif-
teens the high bid. who'll say
twenty? Going, going, gone for
fifteen cents!"
l hastily paid for the package
and inspected its contents :.
12O bronze bobby pins (and 1 a
brunette!), pale purple handker-
chief, mouse trap, and pair of
garters whose elasticity had been
lost in antiquity. l stretched the
garters out to see how long they
would become and found, to my
dismay, that they did not snap
back. 1 did not complain, however,
for l felt that my Is cents had
been well-spent.
One assortment purchased by a
near neighbor contained box of
washing powder, two cakes of soap,
some Irvine, several spools of
thread, a handkerchief, and two
writing tablets.
1t is interesting to note that
certain articles evoke no bid at all
from a given crowd. One night,
for example, several pairs of
underwear were held up before a
large crowd, but not even 5 cent
bid was Forthcoming. The next
night several bids were shouted as
soon as the garments were put on
sale.
For variety and amusement, for
pleasure and for profit, there is no
place quite like a country store on
auction night. You'll find every
thing from corn huskers to silks
from wheelbarrows to underclothes.
You'll probably go home with some
straw hats you didn't think you
wanted, but when you find you
can't get a dozen for 75 cents you