Show SIMPLY VL SKIRTS A business adventure of emma mcchesney by EDNA FERBER author author of damn dawn 0 hwa buttered stile side down etc copyright by Fred fredarick crick A stokes company they may differ on the subjects ot of cigars ani oani ples hotels ball teams and ocl le I 1 ai ds do but tm two 0 things there ere ore abich they stand united 1 1 ery member of that fraternity which Is condemned to a hotel bedroom or a olesper b rth by night and chained to a i mple cde by day agrees in this filet that it ion t m what hat it used to be second it if only they could find an opening tor for a nice paying gents furni furnishing hing business in a live 11 little toan town that wain t swamped with that bind kind of thing already they d buy it and settle down like a white man by george and quit this peddling the missus hates it anyhow and the kids knots the iceman better than they do their own dad on the morning that mrs emma me chesney representing T A buck Feather loom petticoats finished her talk with mith miss hattie stitch head of kiser blocs s skirt and suit depart ment she found herself in a rare mood she hated her job she loathed her yellow sample cases she longed to call miss stich a green eed e ed cat and she wished that she had chosen some easy and pleasant way may of earn ing a A living like doing plain and fancy washing an ironing emma mcchesney had bad been selling Feather loom petti coats on the road for almost ten years and she was mas tamed famed throughout her territory for her sane and her love of her work which speaks badly tor for miss hattie stitch miss hattie stitch hated emma mcchesney with m ith all the hate that a flat cheated thin thinh haired alred woman has for one who mho can wear a large 36 with out one inch of alteration and a hat that turns sharply away from pe fae fare for 46 weeks meeks in the year miss stitch existed in kiser bloch s store at river falls for six weeks two in spring two to in fall and two tuo in mid winter hattie lived in new york with a capital L she went there to select the season seasons s newest modele models slightly modified for river fall but incidentally she took a regular trousseau with her all day long hattie picked skirt and suit models with unerring good taste and busine busl nes s judgment at at night she was a creature trans formed every house ol 01 which hattie bought did its duty like a soldier and a gentleman nightly hattie powdered her neck and arms per performed formea sacred rites over her hair and nails donned a gown so complicated that a hotel maid had to hook her up the back and was ready for her evening evenings e escort at st eight there m son t a hat in a grill room from one end of the crooked cow path to the other that wae was more wildly barbaric than hattie eleven 16 even in these sane and simple days when the bird of paradise has become the na bird the buyer bufer of suits for a department store in a hustling little middle western town ion t to be neglected whenever a show came to river falls hattie would mould look bored pass a weary meary hand over her glossy coiffure and say oh yes clever little show saw it two win tere ago in new york this won t be the original company of course the year that hattie came bask back wearing nearing a set of skunk everyone thought it was mas lynx until hattie drew attention to what she called the brown tone in it after that old lady heinz got her old skunk furs out of the moth balls and tobacco and newspapers that had preserved them and her daughter cut them up into bands for to the bottom of her skirt and the cuffs of her coat when kiser bloch had their fall and spring openings the town came ostensibly to see the new newl styles but really to gaze at hattie I 1 in a new confection undulating up and down the department talking with a heavy eastern accent about this or that being smart or good this year or having a world of style and sort of trailing her toes after bei he to give a clinging grecian line like pictures of ethel barrymore when she was thin the year that hattie con aided to some one that she was wear ing only scant bloomers beneath her slinky silk the floor wae was mobbed and they had to call in reserves from the basement ladles and misses ready to I 1 wear miss stitch came to new now york in march on the evening ot of her arrival she dined with fat ed meyers of the th strauss sane bans silk skirt company he III informed her that she looked like s kid and that that was some classy lit i tie gown and it every woman I 1 ho could wear that kind of thing and get dway away with ib itt it took a certain J etyle style hattie smiled and hummed off key to the tune the orchestra wae WAN 1 playing and ed told her it was a shame she didat do something with that voice I 1 I 1 have something to tell you said hattie just before I 1 left I 1 had bad a talk with old kiser or rather he had a talk with me you know I 1 have pretty much my own way in my de apartment part ment pity it if I 1 couldn coulden t have I 1 made it well kiser wanted to know why I 1 didn dian t buy I 1 aid said we had no call for or em and he lie came back with mith figures to prove were losing a good many hundreds a year I 1 by not carrying them he ile eald said tb thi strass sans silk skirt isn t what it used to be and he s right oh say jobje ted ed meyers its true insisted hattle hattie but I 1 couldn coulden t tell him that I 1 didn dian t buy Feather looms because mcchesney made me tired besides she never entertains me when I 1 in in new york not bt that I 1 d go 90 to the theater in the we evening with mith a woman moman because I 1 mould rit but say listen why don dont t iou ou make a play tor for her joba As long as aff I 1 ve got to put in a heavy line of Feather looms you may as well get the benefit of it you tou could double your commissions bet that woman makes her I 1 don t know how many thousands a year ed meyers naturally ruddy corn com alexion took on a richer tone and he dropped his f rk hastily As he gazed at miss stitch his glance was not more inore than halt half flattering how you women do love each other don dont t you I 1 you don t I 1 don t mind telling you my firms firm s cutting down its road force and none of us knows who s going to be beheaded next but well a guy n wouldn t want Y ant to take a job away from a m woman oman e especially special Y a square little trick like mcchesney of course she s played me a couple of low down deals and I 1 promised to get back at her but that s business but sos SOB this interrupted miss hattle hattie stitch and I 1 don it know that she Is so square let me tell you that I 1 heard ashes she s no better than she might be I 1 have it on good authority that three weeks ago at the river house in our town their heads came close together over the little rose shaded restaurant table at 11 clock next morning fat ed meyers walked into the office of the T A buck Feather loom petticoat company and asked to see old 1 4 he ile s in europe a stenographer informed him and sprudel sp rudel ing and ba dening want to see T A junior T T A junior almost shouted ed meyers you don t mean to tell me 1110 that fellow fellows s taken hoi hol believe me why feather looms are soaring and sans bans silks are sinking nobody would have believed it T A junior s got a live wire look ing like a stick of licorice when they thought old T A was going to die young T A seemed to straighten out all of a sudden and take hold it 8 about time he must be almost forty but he don t show it I 1 don t know he aint so good looking but hes got swell e ees es ed meyers turned the knob of the door marked private and entered smiling ed meyers had a smile emile so cherubic that involuntarily jou ou armed yourself against it hello hel lo 10 buck he called jovially I 1 hear that at last you re taking an interest in skirts other than on the hoof and he offered young T A a large dark cigar with a fussy looking band encircling its middle young T A looked at it disinterestedly and spoke saying what are you on after why I 1 just dropped in began bd ed meyers lamely the dropping observed T A junior la Is bad around here this morn bg I 1 have one little formula tor for all Vt eltora today regard regardless les 8 0 of f m whether h et book agents or skirt salesmen that Is 1 what can I 1 do for you ed meyers tucked his car lifear neatly into the extreme right corner of his mouth pushed bis his brown daiby far back on his head rested his strangely lean hands on bis his plump knees and fixed T A junior with a shrewd blue eye that suite suits he agreed I 1 never was one to beat around the bush look here I 1 know skirts from the drawstring draw string to the ruffle ruffie its it a woman s garment but a man mans 8 line there theres a 60 50 reasons why a woman can cant it handle it like a man for one thing the packing cases weigh 25 pounds each and ashes she s as dependent on a packer and a porter as a baby Is on its mother another Is to that it a man has to get up to make a train at 4 a m he don t require 25 minutes to fasten down three sets of garters and braid his hair and hook his waist up the back and miss his train and he don t have neuralgic head headaches achAs then the head of a skirt department in a store ie to a woman ten times out ot of ten and lemme tell you he leaned forward earnestly a woman don dont t like to buy of a woman don dont t ask me why I 1 im M too modest but it its a the truth well said young T A with the rising inflection well finished ed meyers I 1 like your stuff I 1 think it U a great it its a a teller seller with the right man to push it I 1 d like to handle it and guaran tee I 1 could double the returns from your middle western territory T A junior bad had strangely trans lucent eyes their luminous quality had an odd effect upon any one on whom he happened to turn them he ile had been scrawling meaningless curly cues on a piece ot of paper as an ed meyers talked now he put down the pencil turned and looked kd ed fairly in the eye you mean you mant ant mrs beches anys territory 9 he asked quietly well yes I 1 do conf confused eased ed ed meyers without a blush young T A sm swung ung back to his desk t tor ore from the pad before him the piece ol 01 paper on wiloh he had been scrawling crushed it a aid id hobed it into the Wiste basbet mith an air of finality take the second elevator down he said the nearest one ones 2 out of order for a moment ed meyers stared hia his fat face purpling oh ve very well he said rising I 1 jut juat ma made de you a business proposition that s all I 1 I 1 thought I 1 was mas talking to a business man now old T A that 11 be about all observed T A junior from his desk ed meyers started toward the door then he paused turned and came back to his chair his heavy jav jv jutted out threateningly iso no it aln aint t all either I 1 dian didn t want to mention it and if you d treat ed me like a gentleman I 1 wouldn t have but I 1 want mant to say to you that mcchesney s giving this firm a black eye morals don t figure with a man on the road but when a woman breaks into this game she 8 got to be an the level T A junior rose the blonde stenographer who had ma e the ad miring remark anent his eyes would mould have appreciated those features now they glowed luminously into bd ed meyers pale blue ones until that gen tieman drooped his eyelids in con fusion he seemed at a disadvantage e in every way as T A s lean graceful height towered over the fat man s bulk I 1 I 1 don t know mrs afro macche mcchesney s ney said T A jun junior I 1 or I 1 haven t even seen her in six years my interest in the business is very recent I 1 do know that my father swears sl e s the best beat salesman he has on the road before defers you go r y further I 1 to tell you that you 11 have to P prove rove what you just implied so defan tel and conclusively and convince convincingly angly that when you finish you 11 have hav e an ordinary engineering blueprint blue print look ing like a turner landscape begaii ed meyers still standing clutched his derby tightly and began she ashes Is a looker emma is and smooth As the top of your desk but ashes getting careless now a decent hard working straight girl like hattle hattie stitch of kiser bloch Is river falls wont won t buy of her you 11 find you don t sell that firm and they buy big too why last summer I 1 had it from the clerk of the hotel in that town that she ran around all day with mith a woman named lehaye blanche lehaye of an aggregation of bum burle called the sam levin crackerjack belles and say for a whole month there she had a tough young kid traveling with her that she called her son oh ashes cheering cue ering your line all right the days are past when it used to be a signal for a loud merry laugh it if you mentioned you were u ere selling goods on the road it s a fine art and a science these days and the name of T A buck has always stood for downstairs a trim well dressed at woman stepped into the ele vator ator and smiled radiantly upon the elevator man who had smiled first hello jake she said na hat s old in n new york I 1 haven it been here in three months it its s good to be back seems grand t see you mis alls me ale chesney returned jake well noth emma mcchesney swung down the hall and into the big bright bouce she caused p aused at the head bookkeeper bookkeepers s desk the head bookkeeper was mas a woman old man alan buck had learned something about the faithfulness of women employed emp loyes the head er looked up and said some convince c ing things thanks said emma in return it its s mighty good to be here Is it true that skirts are goli 6 to be full in the 1 back aback I 1 hows lows 7 9 T A in ina Y ecung ung T A Is but I 1 think he s busy bubyr just now you know T A senior ion t back yet he ile had a tight squeeze I 1 guess ever body s talking about the way may young T A took hold you know he spent years running around europe and he made a specialty of first nights and first editions and fierch frer ch cars when he up here but now I 1 ile lies s changed the advertising and design ing and cutting departments around heie hei e until there s as much difference between this place now and the place it was three months ago as there Is between a hoop skirt and a hobble he designed one skirt here miss kelly just go in and get one of tl ose embroidery flounce models for mrs mcchesaey McChes rey how s thata hon colly etly I 1 d wear it myself emma mcchesney held the garment in her two hands and looked looke delt lt over critically lv her eyes narrowed thought fully she looked up to reply when the door of T A buck bucks s private office opened and ed meyers walked briskly out amma mcchisney put down domn the and crossed the office so that hp and he met just in front of the little gate that formed an entrance along the railing ed mouth tilted itself its into a mlle mile he put out a welcom ing in hand aly hello str stranger angert when did you dive ina hows every little things im I 1 m darned it if you dont glow prettier and younger every day of your sweet life quit sans silks 9 inquired mrs me chesney briefly why no but I 1 was mas just telling young T A in there that it if I 1 could only find a nice paying little gents furnishing business in a live little town toun that swamped with that kind of thing already I 1 d buy it b george im tired of this peddling sing that said emma mcchesney it might sound better and marched into the office marked private T A jun or a good looking back and semi bald head were toward her as she entered she noted approve angly woman fashion that his neck would never lap over the edge of his collar in the back then young T A turned about he gazed at emma me ale chesney his eye eyebrows brons raised inquiry angly emma McChes mcchesney s honest blue eyes with no translucent non sense about them gazed straight back fit st T A junior I 1 in mrs mcchesney I 1 got in half an hour ago it its s been a good little trip considering |