Year: 1873

kind. Is il too much to ask? The,


have all the advantage of situation


They are familiar with the locality


They know exactly where the blacl


silks are to be found, what is the lurk


irg-place of the sheetings, what t''cornel


is haunted by the hosiery The quality


the price, the style o, goods, they have


it all at their fingers ends. They are


barricaded by the counters and sup


ported by ranks of acquaintances. You


constitutionally timid, full of misgivine


concerning your own skill and taste


with but a vague idea of v hat you Oughi


to want, enter a palace of splendor and


confusion, to encounter single-handed


these veterans Of the yardstick. If they


are civil, friendly, reassuring, it is as


much as you can do TO keep your wits


well in hand, and choose from the dis


tracing variety the one little supply


that you demand. If they are Insolent,
curt. Indifferent. what remains but re-
treat?


There are different species of obiec.
| tiOnable clerks. One is valuable, IA


miliar. and altogether abominable. You
never willingly approach him, but, ac'
costing him unawares, you feel as if you


we're instinctively and constantly hold


ing him by tight rein to keep him from
open impertinence, and not always suc'
cessfully. To the severest simplicity
of address he will sometimes respond
rudely. In novels, ladies are majestic,
impressive, all-powerful. They repress
manifestations of ill-breeding in Others
by the overpowering grandeur of thelr
own ladyhood. But in real life real la
dies are quite as likely to be modest,
shrinking, easily subdued by brutality,
and capable of offering to aggression no
resistance but flight. Such swiftly sue
cumb to the bold and blatant clerk
succumb by flying. not buying. There
is the teasing clerk, who leaves you no
quiet for reflection and no space for
comparison, but imagines the way to
secure your custom is to urge You with
out irtermissiOn. There is the indiffer-
ent clerk, who says he has not the goods
you want before you know yourself
what you do want ; who throws the par
Gel down on the counter as if it were to
take or to leave, but mapifests not the
ightest interest in ascertalning yOur
wish or accommodating or Assisting you.
There is the snapping-turtle clerk, who
brings you to the point, re-adjusts your
somewhat incOherent question, and an
swers you with quick, impatient di-
rectness that quite hnmiliates yOn. Him,
though some condemn unmeasuredly,
/ can tolerate.


Honest human petulance, born of fa-
tigue, is the least pardonable of mercan
tile ill manners. l can consider that
the man has been the target for all sorts
of questions, wise and foolish, through
long hours. If l had been in his. place
I doubt not that by this time l should
greet an angel with growl. But re-
member this, 0 lOng-suffering dry
goods man you have made your bed.
and You must lie in it. YOu are tied
by the tape measure of your own free
will. 1t is your business to answer
questions. You are paid to display
goods. Doubtless there may often be
before the counter stupidity, selfish
ness, unreasonableness, lack of princi-
pie 4; but these do not justify or excuse
the display of such traits behind the
counter. Still less do they excuse their
outlay upon the modest, the moderate,
the upright. When clerks have been
teased bv women who do not examine
goods with frank intent, but simply to
idle away a superfous hour, to gratify
a morbid and frivolous taste, to bear
off surreptitiously some imported idea
for domestic manufacture, 1t is not alb
solutely unnatural or impossible that
they should be betrayed into irritation;
but it is unbusiness-like and unwise.
They will never thus Iepress the idle,
or the curious, but they will often Of
fend the unoffending. Let them re-
member that the shopping as we'll as
the selling world is a much tried and
long-suffering world. Does the woman,
under pretence of buying a gown, mere
ly take note of it's style that she may
make her own fOmces after the same
pattern? Be not too harsh upon her,
outraged dry goods clerk, who will have
no percentage from your sales to her.
Doubtless she would be only too glad
to buy your robes outright, but her hus-
band cannot or will not furnish the
means, and she is forced to use her own
fingers. Do not begrudge her the small
help Of your lay figure. 1t would be,
indeed, far better that she should be
honest and frank, and express her in
tention, not to attempt to carry it out
by deceit. l am glad to avOw that 1
never asked permission to examine goods
without receiving a courteous and
prompt assent. But the poor thing is
not unused to brutality, and has unhap-
pily learned too much indirectiOn.
You, dry goods clerks, are Young and
strong, and man. Do yOu, by kind
ness and helpfulness, further her aims,
and so win her over to confidence, ease
and outrightness, not repel, frighteD,
and wound her by your demeanOr.-
Gail Hamilton.