Jasper Republican, Volume 1, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 January 1875 — A Bargain in Naples. [ARTICLE]

A Bargain in Naples.

Have you ever made a bargain in Naples? I have been eying light cashmere suits for three days past, and this morning made a purchase, the nature of which I shall never cease to marvel at. An Italian friend having volunteered to assist at the ceremony, we entered a gentleman’s furnishing establishment, the proprietor of which greeted us with fraternal warmth. What would I have? Only command him and I would be served with the utmost expedition. I wanted a light suit, such as a fellow might wear through a hot month and then throw out the window. Ah, yes! he had the very article; and with that he rolled the clerk off from the counter, where he was sound asleep, and pulled down an avalanche of ready-made garments. They were not stylish, but they would do. I selected what seemed the least objectionable of the lot, and ap proached that delicate subject, the price thereof. Beppo beamed upon me; I don’t know what his name was, but it might easily have been Beppo. Beppo said: “ Only seventy francs for that complete and lovely outfit.” It struck me that the price was reasonable, and I was about to settle the bill when my friend plucked me by the coat-sleeve with an expression of horror, and exclaimed: “You must never pay the price asked you; make him an offer!” I wondered if he would feel insulted were I to suggest -sixty-five francs as a fair bargain. Again my friend saved me from a disgraceful sacrifice. “Offer the fellow thirty,” said he. I offered thirty francs and expected to be -stabbed on the spot. But no; Beppo thought it a cruel thing for so excellent a gentleman as myself to thus rob him of “the finest suit of clothes in Naples at that figure.” He would take fifty francs and nothing less, at which announcement he did the clothes up in a parcel. “Make it thirty-two francs and Stick there!” This was the last utterance of the monitor at my elbow, and when I obeyed orders with the calm deliberation of one who proposes to fight it out on that line poor Beppo burst into tears and plead his cause. This was too much for a man with a large family and no mean stomach; he might, owing to the fact that he had secretly admired me ever since my arrival in Naples, make it forty francs; but friendship, unselfish and undying friendship, alone prompted the generous act! With that announcement my friend took me by the shoulder and walked me out of the establish-

ment. We didn’t go far; we tarried about the threshold for a moment, and I was once more seized and walked back again, while Beppo embraced me tenderly and cried with much emotion: “ Take them for thirty-five francs—take them; I am a ruined man, but I would not have you go out into the world naked and forlorn for the sake of a few sous!” Feeling by this time that I was quite a brute I resolved to brass it out, and, therefore, put down my thirty-two francs, which Beppo received without a murmur. A tragedy in five acts could not have so worked upon my feelings as did the picture of Beppo weeping in the midst of a numerous and starving family, and this picture haunted me as I left that unhappy spot. A moment later Beppo was at my side begging that I would allow him the price of a glass of wine—only six sous! It was conscience money and was freely given; bnt as I turned the comer at hand Beppo was still watching me, and I saw then that there was a twinkle in his eye that seemed to say, “After all this shopping I have the best of you, my boy.” Of course the cloth is pasted together and the buttons put on with starch; but time is fleeting and perhaps I shall rise into cooler latitudes in season to save myself.— Charle* Warren, Stoddard, in, Soft francitco #e.