930 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



raencement of the honey-flow, to a certain- 

 ty, where we shall find the best market. It 

 may be near home, and it may not be. It is 

 far safer to adopt what the markets in gen- 

 eral demand. Friend Kelley should re- 

 member that a 5 x .5 section is an odd size, 

 and as such will not fit regular-sized crates, 

 frames, and shipping-cases. Odd-sized sec- 

 tions, cases, frames, and crates, also cost 

 more than the regular. 



MRS. CHADDOCK'S VISIT TO MRS. L. 

 HARRISON. 



HER EXPERIENCE IN SHOPPING IN PEORIA. 



'HAT'S the matter with Mrs. Harrison? 

 She's all right! " I know, for two days 

 I have been marching over the stony 

 pavements, or riding in the stony 

 streets of Peoria with her. For ten 

 years I have never had a cloak that kept me warm. 

 When I took long drives in winter time I was oblig- 

 ed to wrap up in a blanket. So this time, " when 

 my ship came in," T said, " Mahala is going' to have 

 a new cloak, if the whole family have to be put on 

 short rations before spring to make up for it." 



Now, I have always had an idea that, if I had 

 money, I could buy any thing; but I find it is not 

 so. 1 went to our town to buy this cloak, and, alas! 

 there were none large enough. Then, as 1 have 

 been going to visit Mrs. L. Harrison for fourteen 

 years, I thought, "Now is my time." When the 

 train stopped at the C, B. & Q. depot a bareheaded 

 woman, with her knitting in her hand, came sailing 

 out to meet me. 



" Now," said she, when we were inside the depot, 

 " sit down and tell me how long you are going to 

 stay, and just what you want to do, so that we shall 

 know what to do first." 



I told her I thought of going back on the four- 

 o'clock train (it was then 12); but Mrs. L. said, "If 

 the court knows herself, and she thinks she does, 

 you won't leave Peoria to-day nor to-morrow." 



Then we went up town, and 1 tried on most of the 

 "44" cloaks in Peoria. Now, some of you may 

 think this is an extravagant expression; but I 

 found there were not a great many 44 cloaks in any 

 store, and it did not take long to try them all on. 



I had never bought any thing in a city before, and 

 1 thought perhaps 1 should feel timid, and that the 

 clerks would see that I was from the country, and 

 would snub me; but I did not find it so at all. If I 

 had been Queen Victoria, just over from Europe, I 

 could not have been treated with more respect and 

 deference, and I was not timid in the least, nor 

 flustered, nor any thing. 



Lucy, the youngest of Mrs. Harrison's orphans, 

 was with us; that is, she was about forty feet ahead 

 of us when we were on the sidewalk, and we lost 

 her completely several times while in the stores. 

 Lucy is an invincible child. She carried the heavy 

 luncheon-basket all the time, and would not give it 

 up to any one; and as she ran on ahead, she occa- 

 sionally stumbled over cellar-doors and curbing; 

 but she always picked herself up, unaided and un- 

 hurt. When in the stores she fitted herself out in 

 new cloaks and hats, and wore them as long as we 

 stayed. At last, when I had walked over stones 

 till 1 felt as though my toe-nails were as long as a 

 bird's claws, and that I was walking on the nails 



and nothing else, we struck a " Daniel Deronda," 

 and he— sold me a cloak ! It was not a Jew store, 

 but that particular clerk was a Jew; audit is my 

 private opinion that he told me more lies in that 

 one hour than he will ever get forgiveness for. 

 He told me over and over again that he could not 

 take a cent less than the price marked on the cloak. 

 He talked in a loud voice, and waved his arms 

 frantically, like a Methodist preacher; then he 

 would come up to me and smooth the cloak, and 

 pat it lovingly, and show me what good stuft' it was. 

 Then he would start off, and go on with his har- 

 angue. After awhile he wore himself out, and, 

 throwing himself on a pile of cloaks that lay on the 

 floor, he closed his eyes, and I thought, "Why, the 

 man has talked himself to death," and I should 

 have sprinkled water in his face if I had known 

 where to get any. As it was, I sat on a high stool 

 and looked pityingly on him. Presently he revived, 

 jumped to his feet, and said: 



" No, madam, I can not let you have that cloak 

 for a penny less than the price marked. It is mark- 

 ed down seven dollars and a half now." 



I told him I was too tired to buy any thing; that I 

 would feel rested in the morning, and come back. 

 Then he tried to scare me by telling me that that 

 cloak would not be there in the morning. I started 

 to go up to the other counter, where Mrs. Harrison 

 was, and he said he would take three dollars and a 

 half less than he had offered it to me before. I 

 could not believe my ears. I thought I had not 

 heard aright, and I asked him to say it over. Then 

 I said, " Why, you told me only a minute ago that 

 you could not fall a penny." 

 "Well," said he, " I've changed my mind." 

 Now, in Vermont, where 1 do most of my shop- 

 ping, they never fall more than fifty cents or a dol- 

 lar on any garment. They would not if I stayed all 

 day, and walked out and in the store a dozen times. 

 But that was such a big fall that he would not do 

 any better; and after walking around in the store, 

 and pricing other things awhile. I took it. Then we 

 went to Mrs. Harrison's house, and I dropped down 

 on the lounge and lay there till bedtime, and Mrs. 

 H. and her husband sat by me and talked me dizzy- 

 headed. The next day we went the rounds again. 

 We went to a fur-store to look at robes, and the 

 proprietor was almost a friend of mine— that is, he 

 knew a great many people that 1 know, and asked 

 me about them. When he showed me robes I said 

 I thought them too small lor two big people to 

 wrap up in. He said : 



"No, they are just the regulation size— plenty 

 big enough for me and my wife. I'll show you; " 

 and he brought a chair and seated himself close to 

 Mrs. Harrison. "Mrs. Harrison is a large woman, 

 and I am a large man, and here we sit just as we 

 would in a buggy, and you see the robe is plenty 

 large enough." Mrs. Harrison began pulling, and 

 said, " It doesn't reach over to my side very well." 

 Then he gave her more of it, but that left him so 

 that the wind could blow in. I asked him how 

 much the price would be if I wanted it, and he 

 said that I reminded him of a man who used to 

 come to him when he kept a hat-store. The man 

 would price the hats and trythem'on; and when 

 he found one to suit him he would say, " How 

 much will this hat be if I want it ?" and the hatter 

 would repeat the price given before; then the man 

 would say, " Well, how much will you take in ca:Sh 

 lor it? " 



