"Like Alp on Alp, and hill on hill, arise" to greet his view; with here a steeple or a tower, there a monument, and yonder a chimney-stalk rising beautifully over all, and giving them a pleasant variety. From this suggestive scenery the linen-draper's assistant can extract such sweet and bitter fancies as he best may.

As to the question of employing girls in shops-if they had been found to be most fitting behind the counter, they would have been behind the counter, and no preventive influence could have kept them back, as no spasmodic effort to benefit them has ever yet been able to substitute them for men behind the counter. Girls suit best at certain duties in our mills and factories, and they are preferred for those duties; and so it will ever be; the master being always the best judge of who will do his work best. Linendrapers will have young men behind their counters, because it suits their purpose better to have them than girls; as mill and factory owners will have girls for their work, because they are the most suitable for it. To sneer, therefore, at the linen-draper's assistant on the score of effeminacy is simple absurdity.

But, in addition to the hardish work within doors, there is the intolerable nuisance of "taking goods out on sight;" that is, taking goods to the private dwelling-houses of ladies for them to select from, so as not to have the trouble of going a-shopping. This is almost invariably done in cases of mourning, when, it is presumed, the bereaved individual or family could not think of coming out. This annoying practice is carried on to some extent in the city; but in provincial towns it is very common-young men being often loaded like beasts of burden, and sent jogging along like a pedlar with his wares. The linendraper's assistant hates with a perfect hatred, and more than any other abomination, the abomination of going out with goods upon sight. It is a standing grievance, and should be abated. It is an evil which, whenever girls are introduced to do the work of shopmen, must No. 37.-VOL. VII.

Porters must

be abolished for ever. then be hired to do the slavish duty. Girls are unable to do it.

In London retail establishments, almost all the assistants eat and sleep on the premises. They are allowed the privilege of seeing the green earth and the blue sky, of hearing the birds whistle, and perhaps setting their feet on the soft grass, once a week-the day set apart for this enjoyment, of course, being Sunday.

The ordinary day of the London linen-draper's assistant is, or used to be, passed in something like the following manner-At seven, or half-past seven, a bell is rung for all hands to turn out of bed. Breakfast is on the table in half an hour, or thereabouts, by which time it is expected that every man has brushed his own boots, washed, donned the indispensable white "choker," and otherwise dressed himself. Breakfast over, every one is at his post about halfpast eight or nine o'clock, or sooner, according to the regulations of the house. Relays of hands take turn about to attend for half an hour before breakfast; but, as extra time is allowed for the toilet, they do not reckon the early hour or half hour a grievance.

Dinner is usually served about one o'clock, and is of necessity partaken of in relays. Tea is about five; and in the better class of houses a light supper is provided. In general, the food, although plain, is wholesome and tolerably abundant-few complaints on this score being made against employers. On Sunday mornings, if any one feels inclined, and has the means, to luxuriate on a ham breakfast, or if he is in the humour for despatching a couple of eggs with his bread and butter and rather thin potation of coffee or skyey tea, he will generally find the cook obliging, and, for a very small gratuity, or, perhaps, from downright favour, he can have his bacon fried, or his eggs boiled, and served up to him in becoming condition. It is, however, most common for the young men to be contented with the fare set before them, seeking superfluities only when out for the day-on Sunday.

D

The hours during the busy season, which lasts three months in spring and three months in autumn, are always late; the clearing up of goods that have been tossed and tumbled during the business of the day being seldom over before eleven or twelve, or even one o'clock in the morning.

Stock-taking, which occurs once, and in some establishments twice a year, is always a trying time. Three and four o'clock in the morning are common hours for young men to be kept up to-some slight extra refreshment in the shape of beer and sandwiches being usually doled out about eleven or twelve o'clock to enable the hands to toil on, measuring and tallying, and rolling and folding, so that the firm may balance its books and count up its gains. This stock-taking time is a period of severe labour of labour sometimes to exhaustion-and usually lasts from seven to fourteen days, at the dullest season of the year for business; very commonly about the first of January.

The imposing functionary known as the shop-walker, who is always a goodlooking man, besides his ostensible duty of seeing that no customer goes away unattended to, has his eye continually on the young men, and is to all intents and purposes their master. His voice is law, and from his orders there is no appeal. He will discharge a recusant in a twinkling, nor is there any quarter to which he can turn with the hope of having a remonstrance heard. There are no time engagements in retail establishments; and in the wholesale houses in the city the same rule generally obtains. The assistant in either branch "swops" or is "swopped," or gets or gives "the sack"--such being the slang terms used for giving up or being discharged from a situation, at any moment, without reason asked or given.

Whether this fast and loose system be a good one may be doubted. The want of a tie to bind master and man together is apt to beget a feeling of indifference on both sides. The appointment which may be lost in a second through caprice, or for any reason, must

necessarily be less valued than permanent employment even at less wages; but such is the rule of the trade.

We knew a man of standing in a large linen-drapery establishment, whose salary, he sometimes half jocularly, half seriously boasted, was greater than that of a colonel in her Majesty's army, being over a thousand pounds sterling a year. He was set down on Ludgate Hill from his curricle and pair every morning to business at nine o'clock-his vehicle sometimes jostling the vehicle of his principal, when both happened to be driven to the door at the same time. He was much esteemed by his employers and by the buyers who frequented the concern; but he had one fault-he was reckoned rather a fast man. His propensities showed themselves in a desire to witness what is called sport; his failing leaked out in his strong liking for the Fancy. The ring, the cockpit, and the turf were known to be his favourite places of resort when he could manage to obtain a day's leisure to enjoy them; yet he was withal a sober, an industrious, and a vigilant servant. He was, besides, a man of capacity, good manners, and of great persuasivenessthe last a qualification of high value, and, indeed, all but indispensable to success; and he was placed in a position of confidence in the establishment, and remunerated, as has been stated, accordingly.

Yet even this man was under no time engagement. He could go, or he could be sent, about his business at a moment's notice.

One day he made known to the head of the establishment that he was desirous to go down to see the Derby. The partners had a disposition to permit him every reasonable freedom; but they disliked indulging him in this particular way. Objections were started, then urged, against his going; it was the busy season, large orders requiring his personal supervision were being executed, he could not really be spared from business just then, &c. In short, he was remonstrated with gently, kindly, to induce him, if possible, to forego his

intention; but he would not be advised; he was firm, headstrong, and, as he waxed warm in the discussion, he said he would go. Altercation followed remonstrance, and the end was that he was there and then walked out of the house.

Young men whose activity and zeal commend them to their principals are taken from the ranks, promoted, and made partners, the new blood invigorating and infusing new life into the concern. In some houses this promotion is systematic. A young recruit is added to the list of partners; but he is, on admission, bound to retire after a given number of years, to make room for another transfusion to keep the old veins fresh and healthy. By this means vigour and vitality are preserved, and the latest improvements are constantly introduced, keeping the business lively and wholesome-the capitalist at the head always retaining his position and keeping the lion's share of the profits to himself.

Among linen-drapers' assistants who have risen from the ranks and become eminently successful the following is a remarkable instance :—

He

A lout of a lad came up from Norfolk, and somehow contrived to obtain employment about an establishment in the city, at that time of little note. began humbly, as a kind of porter, his work at the outset being to carry parcels, and assist in taking down and putting up the heavy shutters on the windows mornings and evenings. He was a raw, uncouth fellow-tall, thin, and ungainly from rapid growth-his drab corduroys scarcely reaching to his ancles. But he had a clear head on his shoulders, and he had willing hands; and the coarse ill-cultured hobbledehoy wrought his way on perseveringly till he was placed by his observant master among the salesmen. This vantage ground once gained, his greatest difficulty was surmounted, and he took his place among his fellows and maintained it; and, having acquitted himself to the satisfaction of his employer, he was, after a time, occasionally trusted to make a

run down to the manufacturing districts to buy. This had been the height of his ambition. To be a buyer! To attain this lofty eminence was the culminating point of his earthly desires; and, when. he attained it, his satisfaction was without bounds-it was supreme.

He started by coach from the Swan with Two Necks, Lad Lane, one morning in the beginning of November in the year 1817 to make some purchases. On arriving at the place of his destination late in the evening, he found some other buyers from the city in the hotel; but being little known to them, he kept as much as possible apart. He had his reasons for wishing to avoid coming in contact with them. From information which he had received previous to starting on his journey, and which he had thought carefully over on his way down, he had a game to play, and he meant to play it well, thoroughly, out and out. It is said that he was secretly, but busily engaged all the following day, among the manufacturers, buying up right and left, but keeping down all suspicion of his motives as much as possible, the entire stock in the market of one article. News did not then travel so rapidly as they do now by rail and telegraph, and it was not till the coaches arrived that night or next morning, that the astounding intelligence was brought of the unexpected death of the Princess Charlotte. The London buyers of goods were instantly agog for the interest of their respective employers; but, to their extreme mortification, they found that, except trifling morsels, every packet of mourning crape in the town and neighbourhood had been bought up. Our Norfolk youth, now metamorphosed into a buyer, had secured it all.

Having done his work, he set off home, and communicated to his master what he had done. The master was a plain-sailing man; he had saved his money rather than made it, and he was uneasy. It was a speculation beyond the range of his ideas to buy up the whole of any commodity whatever, and, most of all, of the whole manufactured black crape in the country. He did not

like it. The longer he thought over the transaction, the more the temerity of his buyer alarmed him. And, when van after van began to arrive at the warehouse, setting down absolute mountains of the rather bulky commodity, the poor man wrung his hands-he was in despair. Every corner of the warehouse was filled with crape; every hole and cranny was stuffed with it; pile upon pile rose in vast pyramids before the eyes of the bewildered man, shutting out of sight the other portions of the stock, and making a passage through the premises nearly impracticable. Crape, crape, nothing but crape was visible on floor, and shelf, and counter; the horrid article was everywhere, to the exclusion of everything else, above or below.

The unfortunate linen-draper in the anguish of his heart cursed the Norfolk lad, bitterly lamenting the hour in which he had unluckily permitted his imprudent assistant to go out unrestricted as to the extent of his purchases. Ruin was manifestly staring him in the face, and he insensibly began to calculate how much might be saved from the wreck wherewith to compound with his creditors. Not so the worker of all the mischief. He had faith in himself. He did his best to console and soothe his employer by assuring him of what he felt confident would turn out to be the fact that the whole retail trade of the United Kingdom would require to come to them for their supplies, and that they would obtain any prices they pleased.

The lamentation for the death of the Princess Charlotte was so sincere and so universal, that the mourning worn at her decease, out of sympathy for her untimely end, was much more general than is usual on the demise of members of the royal family, and, consequently, the demand for black crape for mourning was in proportion unprecedented. The vast stock rapidly disappeared, and the general trade of the concern was thereby greatly improved; the foundation of a princely fortune was laid, and in due time a partnership, and after that, the hand of his master's daughter, re

warded the services of the bold crape buyer.

The tricks of the less respectable portion of the linen-drapery trade are well known. An article is ticketed at a certain price, perhaps at one-half of its value, and exhibited ostentatiously in a plate-glass window. Some large article-a shawl for instance-is usually selected. Some newly-arrived country booby is taken with the bait, ventures into the shop, and offers to purchase the article. The smiling shopman either bamboozles yokel into the purchase of another shawl-which, of course, he protests is much more elegant than the one that was hung in the window, and had hit his fancy (this latter somehow getting spirited out of sight during the higgling); or, if that won't take, by dexterous manipulation on the part of the rogue in charge, the ticket is shifted, and shown to belong to quite a different piece of goods; or, it is made clear to yokel that it has been put on the one exhibited in the window by a mistake-entirely by a mistake. If our country friend escapes from the clutches of the harpies in whose power he has unwarily placed himself, without being heavily mulcted for his pains, he may thank his stars when he gets safely out, and think himself very lucky indeed.

A dishonest salesman can cheat you while you are looking at him. His fingers are as nimble as a card-player's, and they are as pliable and sensitive as those of a sharper-for, at the moment he is vending a piece of goods, he will so contrive to slip back the measure as to give you a less quantity than you have paid for, watch him as you will. Few families when they go home take the trouble to ascertain if the measurement of what they have bought is correct; nor is it requisite to do so when you are dealing at a respectable house; but, when you do not know the parties, depend on it, you may be robbed while your eyes are steadily fixed on the salesman, who may be a rogue, and laughing at you while cheating you to your face.

Tricks of this kind, however, are stale

and are only resorted to by rascals and thieves, of whom every trade has its proportion, injuring those who are upright and honest, and sometimes, but rarely, by the falling man, ere he lets go his last hold on the outward and visible means of living. That fortune does not always smile on the linen-draper may be fairly assumed whenever a huge placard appears in his window announcing a "tremendous sacrifice," or an 66 enormous reduction," or a "frightful fall," or an "awful decline in value," or, as we have seen the words printed on large placards in the suburbs, "tremendious" and "enormious." These ruses are, however, but a prelude to honourable mention in the columns of the Gazette.

The linen-draper's assistant is not without his peculiarities. He will do a stupid thing like other people, and he will persist in his crotchet when he has one, and believe he knows what is what as well as you do. Behind the counter he is all meekness and submission; but, when at large, he asserts his prerogative to be as wrong-headed as he likes.

Many years ago we happened to stay a night at a hotel in Liverpool along with a linen-draper's assistant who was then on his way to Sheffield to a new situation. Our own route lay in the same direction, through Sheffield, but farther south. As he was an old acquaintance, we went along with him, and took outsides for two in the stage-coach for five o'clock on the following morning. Our friend was a man of sluggish ideas, and as slow to move as a corporate body. In spite of all difficulties, however-and they were manifold-we got him out of bed about four o'clock, partook of such breakfast as could be had at that early hour, and, portmanteaus in hand, we trudged off to the office from which the coach was to start. We were in good time, and therefore walked leisurely along until we were near the place of our destination, when lo he remembered that he, had forgotten his umbrella, that he had left it behind. What was he to do? It might rain-of course it might rain. Or snow? Yes, it might even snow, as we have known it in crossing Shap Fells

in June.

Would he return to the hotel for it? Was there time? There surely was plenty of time. There must be time. We endeavoured to convince him that there was not. We tried hard and vehemently to point out the risk he ran of losing the coach, and that the loss of his old umbrella was but a trifle compared to the loss of the fare he had paid. But our sage counsels were set at nought. He was certain he had time to go back; he would go back, and he went.

When the coach was turned out of the yard, we got ourselves ensconced on the seat beside the driver, sitting patiently while the roof was being packed, and lifting up our legs as ever and anon the boot was opened for parcels to be thrust in, at the same time keeping watch on the turning round which we every moment expected our erratic friend to emerge. But the loading is ended; the passengers have scrambled to their places, and the final word "all right” is pronounced. At our urgent request one more blast of the guard's bugle is given; there is a moment's pause, and the ribbons are passed through coachee's hands; they are adjusted; the ostlers hastily pull the rugs from the horses' backs, let go the bridle of the leaders, and we are off. We never saw our unlucky friend again. Whether or not he ever reached Sheffield is one of the many unsolved mysteries of our exist

ence.

The right men do not always and easily find their way into the right places, latent talent often lying perdu for want of a fitting opportunity to bring it into action. If audacity, audacity, and still audacity be every thing in the political life of a demagogue, manner is the one and indispensable essential in the linen-draper's assistant. Without this virtue all others vanish into thin air; they are lost in the shade, and go for nothing.

A young man whose bluntness was such, that every effort to turn him to account in a linen-drapery establishment was found unavailing, received from his employer the customary notice that he would not suit, and must go.