KinSource - Tale of the Week

KinSource

Minnesota Tales

St. Paul Daily Globe, December 15, 1891, p. 4

XMAS SHOPPING.

If any individual in this waste-howling wilderness of a world needs the patience of Job it is the average dry goods store clerk at this season of the year. All the women of the town are going shopping, each one with a determination to buy ten dollars' worth for five dollars. In the first place the average woman goes shopping with no idea of what she wants to buy. She selects the busiest hour of the busiest day in the week and goes shopping. The first time anything strikes her fancy, she haughtily calls a clerk, and says hard things of the proprietor if the wretched minion does not instantly respond. Then she wants to know the price of this photograph frame and that chiphon jabot, and how much those fans are worth. The clerk obediently takes down whatever is called for, and then the shopper says, "Well, I just wanted to look around," and sails out without one word of thanks to the clerk - well, one oughtn't to blame the clerk if next time he - or more likely she - is just a little curt.

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The clerks have a great deal to endure. At this season of the year they work hard and long, and one really ought not to blame them if they are sometimes too tired to be sympathetically interested in whether Cousin Jane would like this blue fan better than the pink one, or what Aunt Julia would like. And when the woman who has had the audacity to wheel her baby carriage right down the busiest aisle, asks foolish questions and lets the baby finger things on the counter, it is not to be wondered at that the clerks look cross.

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There are two sides to the story, of course, and there are clerks whose high and mighty rudeness nothing can excuse, but a woman may take it as a rule in life that she receives just the kind of treatment she invites, which rule applies equally to street flirtations and shopping experiences. The ideal shopper makes up her mind beforehand just about what she intends to give for presents. Then when she asks the price of an article she does it because she has an idea of buying. If the price is beyond her, she simply says that she doesn't want to buy anything so costly. She doesn't say: "Why, I can't get that very same thing at Blank's for half that price" - and why in the world the women who say that don't go to Blanks' nobody knows - and she invariably returns thanks to the clerk for his courtesy. She doesn't dawdle and haggle and ask the saleswoman's opinion about anything, for knowing what she wants she buys it in short order.

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And it's very hard to know what to buy, inasmuch as it is very hard to know the individual tastes of one's friends. An elaborate smoking cap for a man who detests tobacco, a shaving paper case for Cousin Jack who never shaves himself, and a lavender fan for Maria who always wears red, are some of the things Santa Claus brings every year. It is a safe plan to steer as far as possible from articles of personal use. Every woman has her own favorite perfume, and unless you know what it is don't send her anything that has a scent. Don't inflict letter paper on her unless you know whether she prefers rough or smooth paper.

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Books are always safe, for even the people who never read appreciate the implied compliment to their literary tastes, and books are easy to send. Never presume to write anything on the fly leaf. Your card accompanying the package is all good taste allows, for every book lover has his own peculiar fashion and place of writing his name in the books he owns. Christmas cards, in the usual acceptance of the term, are out of date. Never, if you value your reputation, send anything with satin puffing or silk fringe about it. If you have no artisitc taste, select a card whose publisher is accepted as artistic.

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Cards take all shapes this year, and a great many appear in booklets in the shapes of flowers or heads. Prang sends out quite the daintiest thing of the year in the shape of a lettuce leaf covering a little book entitled "Christmas Salad." It is after Sidney Smith, and describes the ingredients of a good salad.

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Colored printing is carried to such perfection that there is no excuse for sending anything ugly to any one's friends. Calenders are always acceptable, and are shown in a hundred dainty forms. A simple present is always in better taste than anything elaborate, for it is after all - or ought to be - the giver who makes the present valuable. One may offend by too costly a present, but if you are at all in doubt what to give, or whether your acquaintance justifies any gift at all, just buy a box of flowers and send them as a Christmas greeting. Your nearest and dearest will appreciate it, and the most disdainful fair will not be offended at it.