Evening Star Newspaper, August 17, 1924, Page 75

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C.—GRAVURE SECTION—AUGUST 17, 1924. THE GIFT SHOP By W. E. HILL. Copyright 1924 by Cricago Tribune. “Now, my dear, I simply zon’t let you buy me a thing! Not a thing! I won't hear of you getting me this piece of Chelsea!” By and by they will compromise on a pair of little grass mats, and that's that. This is the beautiful creature in charge of the department store gift shop. The stock i cludes all those articles which cannot be rig This is Miss Thorpe, the young lady who manages the “Bide-a-Wee" tearoom and gift shop combined. In the dual role of waitress and dealer in pale blue classified under the regular departments. (The smock gives her the air of just having been called away from a_ masterpiece, doesn't it?) Her job is to stand among the idols and the little shrines and the lacquer telephone stands. in_the ori- ental section. “I don’t see what Carric wants with that junk!” long the little wife will rush out crying: “Oh, Harry! I've found such a lovely pair of candlesticks!” Miss Lilvan Fenerbush is clerking this sum- mer at the Novelty Art Shop, one of those swell seaside emporiums just off the board- walk. There are all sorts of gifts for the folks back home: Kewpie doll lamps, hathing beauty lamps, mottoes—(*“No parking around coat hangers and papier mache beads, Miss Thorpe causes no end of consternation at tea hour. The passing mo- torists don’t_know whether to insult her with a tip or not and settle things shoving 5 cents under the saucer before leaving. The waiting husband knows that before Can you let me have ten dollars? The lovely lady who runs the “Peter Pan Shop™ deals in very early American stuff. Nothing but maple and apple wood furniture. When a pros- pective buyer asks for mahogany. she waxes very grand and haughty. this office”)—and a fine assortment of souvenir postcards with tender messages thereon, such as “Kissing is no crime at Long Beach.” Mrs. Watkins is the cheery manageress of the “Polly-Eliza Gift Shop.” *“The Polly-Eliza” is one of those cute shops where for a mere frac- tion above the department store price one can procure unheard-of bargains in painted door stops, tea cosies, pink or blue coat hangers, pink or blue slipper trees, and the famous “Polly-Eliza Fudge.” Aunt Rose is looking for a little inexpensive gift to take home from “Ye Olde Time Gifte Shoppe™ and the little hawthorn ginger jar seems to fill the bill. Aunt Rose, bless her dear, generous heart, is yet to learn that the price is seventeen dollars, including a packet of Tansey bloom in- cense. “I don't think I quite like this pattern,” Aunt Rose will say. “I'll come back tomorrow or The gift shop specializing in antiques is haunted on pleas- ant afternoons by motorists who ask, oh, so politely, “How much is this, please, and this, and this?” The " . proprietress is not unbending one it. She , next day. from long experience that they are :