You ought to have seen those girls sell the water heaters. The device was a little affair about the size of a pencil. The idea was to put it in a glass of water, turn on the current, and it heated the water very quickly. They sold those to women to give for Christmas presents to their husbands—hot water to shave with in the morning, you know. I made up my mind to stock a lot of those—I thought it was a good idea. People were most curious about it—it was such a novelty, and many who stopped to look remained to buy.
It had puzzled me for a while to know why they had sold so many of the toasters and chafing dishes and coffee percolators, until I realized it was because those were demonstrated more than the others. Everybody who came was offered a delicious cup of coffee. Wilkshire told me that they spared no expense to get the choicest coffee possible. They put in just the right amount of sugar to suit each one, and used thick, rich cream. People would exclaim: "What delicious coffee this is!" and the girls would smile sweetly and respond: "Yes, madam, it was made with this electric percolator. It does make such splendid coffee." They gave the percolator all the credit for it, although of course the fine grade of coffee and the rich cream were responsible for a good part of it.
And then, with the toaster, they had fine brown toast, crispy and piping hot; and the girl in charge would look up sweetly and ask: "Do you prefer fresh or salted butter?" Such splendid butter it was, too, and they spread it on good and thick, and that toast was really enjoyed. It certainly sold the toasters.
"THE GIRL IN CHARGE WOULD LOOK UP SWEETLY"
And the other girl was a past mistress in the art of making Welsh rarebit. When old Wimple tasted it, he said: "That's the finest Welsh rarebit I'll ever taste this side of Heaven!"
"Are you married yet, sir?" asked the girl.
Married yet!—and he was sixty-five if he was a day!
"You bet I am!" he responded, vigorously. "I got a daughter as old as you."