Show FOR THE mm once upon a time in a city not far from ogden a certain good housewife thinking to econom economize iz e invested the sum or of two cents in a postage stamp hunted up a small quantity ot of stationery and wrote a brief letter asking for a catalogue from an eastern mall mail order house which promised to sell ladles ladies cloaks and suits much cheaper than they could be bought it at home or words to that effect the good woman after the catalogue had arrived became interested in the p pages and forgot the passing of time so that when her cheerful husband arrived for his noonday luncheon he be discovered that it was not yet ready in the frenzied rush of preparation the good wife being compelled to do her own work a hot pan fell front from the stove burning a huge hole in the kitchen linoleum in her efforts to prevent further damage the good woman burned her fingers badly and with a display ot of temper hubby hastened down town where he invested a small sum in eatables while his poor wile wife nursed her injured findeis and telephoned to one of agdens furniture stores for a man to come up tip and repair the damaged linoleum toward evening conditions about the house res resumed timed their normal state hatate and the missus after the file supper dishos dishes had been away resumed her reading of the absorbing fiction provided by the catalogue turning its pages with carefully careful ly bandaged hands after some hesitation the good wife made her selection of a wonderful suit on which a great saving could be made her order was forthwith male made out and the money that had been paid by a man who sells womans comans suits and cloaks in ogden to a carpenter tor for services and had afterwards been turned over to the husband of the good woman who poses as the heroine of this little tale of truth was enclosed after pacing the tee fee tor for a postoffice post office lice money order in an envelope and forwarded to the great eastern company employing ing sweatshop lobor now the household heroine referred to was especially anxious as usual with womankind that her suit arrive for a certain occasion occasion this was explicitly stipulated in her letter but through some unavoidable accident the suit tailed failed to arrive until til the day after wice refused to take in the little affair which Olf offended ended the would be host whose friendship for business reasons the husband was particularly anxious to secure and through the failure ot of the mail order house to get its shipment into ogden on the date dale promised the husband lost a goodly commission and the wife shed many tears the suit finally arrived troubles Tiou bles were temporal ily forgotten and after careful though rather disappointing examination the garment was wag tried on something appeared to be wrong with avith the shoulders it sagged a trifle across the back and the skirt somehow seemed to hang tit in a fashion bearing sti aking resemblance to the monday wash on the line the perfect fit that had been faithfully promised in the well illustrated catalogue was obtained all right but tit the purchaser had it and it was not the variety of fit bargained for more postage stamps and moie stationery were brought into play and the good wife wrote what slie she imagined was a wrote what slie she imagined was a ching letter to the eastern firm demanding ru that they return her money and take back the suit in due course of time uncle sam delivered the epistle among sonic some thousands of others to ill an office girl who was working ten hours a day tor for five dollars and a half per week the office girl opened the envelope in a mechanical fashion and spread the letter in a heap of oc dozens of others upon the desk of in an older oung woman whose salary was a trifle more the latter glanced hurriedly at the beginning of 0 the letter reached across the desk to a heap 0 ready printed postcards announcing that it if the good house wife in osden ogden would return her suit of course paying the transportation expenses such alterations as necessary would lie be made but there could be no exchanges and it was a positive rule of the great catalogue house that no money should ever be returned to a buyer the printed postcard reached the good house wife and she was furious but the suit went back together with more letters finally it returned again it had been altered all tight right but not in fit the lie way desired and the good ogden woman bundled the suit under her arm and hied bled herself toa to a nearby dressmaker where sufficient changes were made so that the suit could bo be worn figuring up the cost the purchaser decided that she had paid nearly as much is as she would at home but she knew that just as the printed correspondence ot of the big firm said the fault was with her because she had not taken the measurements properly A few days later after telling her friends of the remarkable saving that had been made the house wife happened to drop into a local store with a friend while there she noticed what seemed to be a familiar garment and investigation disclosed disc lobed the duplicate of her mail order suit whose catalogue price not counting all the accompanying expenses had been 2498 the woman surreptitiously glanced at the price tag it II read 1975 then the ogden house wife went straight home and burned her catalogue this is a true story it is a fact it t happened in ogden there is a lesson to be learned think it over then buy at home |