10 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



OCTOBKB 6, 1910. 



Mrs. J. B. Freeman. 



the department store credit man how 

 promptly the account is paid and you 

 have about all the information that is 

 required with the average customer. 



Carrying a large number of accommo- 

 dation accounts means that the florist 

 must learn modern business methods 

 and must practice them assiduously; 

 neglect would be fatal. 



MBS. FREEMAN'S STOBE. 



The store at 336 Superior street, To- 

 ledo, O., the interior of which is shown 

 in the illustration, was owned until re- 

 cently by George Heinl, but was pur- 

 chased September 6 by Mrs. J. B. Free- 

 man, who had been connected with the 

 establishment for thirty years. Thirty 

 years — though one eye-witness avers 

 that if so much time has really elapsed, 

 Mrs. Freeman must surely have begun 

 the work at the time children ordinarily 

 start in kindergarten, as is evidenced 

 by the brisk and blithe way in which 

 she takes orders over two telephones, 

 meanwhile fashioning sprays with one 

 hand and wreaths with the other, wait- 

 ing on customers and directing half a 

 dozen employees, all at once! 



Founded at a time when flowers were 

 comparatively little used, even for the 

 most pretentious social functions, the 

 business of which Mrs. Freeman is now 

 proprietor has kept pace with the 

 growth of the city and with the in- 

 creasing popularity of florists' wares. 

 "We began our career," she says, "in 

 Frank Cheney's drug store, at the cor- 

 ner of Summit and Adams streets. In 

 those days the florists' business in To- 

 ledo was modest, indeed. There were 

 brilliant entertainments, of course — 

 perhaps more in proportion to the pop- 



ulation than we have now. But, except 

 for large affairs, flowers were not much 

 used. As for funerals, those were the 

 days of the long crepe door-piece and 

 nobody sent flowers except relatives 

 and near friends of the family. Still, 

 we did well and considered the business 

 thriving. Our next move was to Miss 

 Lena Johnson's millinery store — milli- 

 nery and flowers seemed to harmonize 

 well — and later we were in Brooks' 

 candy store — what a lot of faces and 

 reminiscences those names will recall 

 to the older residents of Toledo! From 



the candy store we went to Miss Fell's, 

 from there to Teipel's and some years 

 later came to our present location." 



Mrs. Freeman, it is said, has more 

 than ordinary skill as a decorator and 

 designer, combining an artistic taste 

 for color effects with a thorough knowl- 

 edge of people, their position and what 

 it demands. Her chief decorator. Earl 

 Metz, formerly of Chicago, is consid- 

 ered one of the best in his line, and 

 Harry Turvey, her second assistant, has 

 been in Europe all summer, studying 

 foreign methods and getting new ideas. 



Mr. Heinl, her former employer, joins 

 heartily in the general expression of 

 the wish that she may prosper in the 

 management of her business. He is 

 well pleased that Mrs. Freeman should 

 succeed him in the business he has built 

 up, and with which his name has been 

 80 long connected, and has always 

 hoped that when he was ready to retire 

 she might carry on the enterprise in 

 which he feels much natural pride. Mr. 

 Heinl will spend the winter in Cali- 

 fornia. 



WESTEBN WEDDINGS. 



One of the most apparent ways in 

 which the florists' business is develop- 

 ing is the call for elaborate decorations, 

 which now have become quite numerous, 

 even in the smaller cities. 'Way out in 

 the southwest, which many people still 

 think of as the home of the cowboy, the 

 rapidity with which the country has 

 been settled up, and the prosperity 

 which has come to those who reside in 

 the towns, has brought the florist many 

 an order which would be considered an 

 excellent one in a metropolis. Texar- 

 kana, as you might know by the name, 

 is on the borderland in that it sits where 

 Arkansas enfolds the northeast corner 

 of Texas, but this is now a most flour- 

 ishing agricultural region and Texar- 

 kana is a bustling city, with several 

 busy florists. The accompanying deco- 

 ration is one designed for a church wed- 

 ding by Mr. and Mrs. A. W. Ardis, of 

 the Stegall Floral Co. They operate a 

 downtown store on State Line avenue, 

 with greenhouses on Garland avenue, 

 and the picture shows that the people of 

 Texarkana know what is fitting for the 

 wedding of the daughter of a leading 

 citizen. 



The fact that this is a chrysanthemum 



Store of Mn. J. R Freeman, Toledo, O. 



