Argosy All-Story Weekly, October 7, 1922 — page 48: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

194 home by parcel post reasonably soon. The idea of merchandising in these modern times was to give service, to increase the custom- er’s convenience. The idea concerning a bank seemed not to have penetrated the intelligence of women like Mrs. Swift. “* Didn’t it ever occur to you that a bank was something you could make an every- day convenience of?” she asked. ‘“‘ Land sakes, no! My husband, he says the dog-gone banks have got the whole country by the neck. I don’t suppose I should talk that way to you, what with your father’s ownin’ a bank.” Mrs. Swift blushed, and asked if Miss Benson wouldn’t have a little mite more of the rawsb’ry preserve. Beth smiled. . “It only goes to show,” she said. ‘ Mrs. Swift, when are you coming to town again?” “ Well, I don’t know. I go right often.” “ To-morrow?” ‘“‘T could. We got a real good car, and Hez lets me drive it about all I want to.” “You meet me at father’s bank at three o’clock to-morrow afternoon and let me show you around a little. It would be a great pleasure. Does Mr. Gibbs, the dry goods man, like to have new people come into his store?” p “T should say he does. He'll drop an old customer any minute to look after a new one.” ‘Banks are the same way. If they are not, they ought to be. Of course, I don’t have anything to do with our bank; but I'll be there. I don’t know any better way I can show my appreciation for your kind- ness to me to-day than to tell you a little about our bank and what it does for people. And—Mrs. Swift.” “ Yessum.” “Tf you’d like to bring one or two of your friends—”’ “T was just thinking of Mis’ Crafts and Mis’ Gillespie—”’ “Bring Mrs. Crafts and Mrs, Gillespie. And—one thing more. Do you think I came here to-day just to get you to come to the bank? I really did want the corn—”’ “Bless your heart, honey, it wouldn’t ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. of made any difference to me, not the least mite. Now you can just count on seein’ us ladies—only you be sure to be on hand. Gracious me, I shouldn’t know what to do to find myself adrift in a bank without any guide. I’d just turn and scatter, that’s what I’d do.” CHAPTER V. BETH TALKS BUSINESS. “* HO’S the collection of suburban sisters Miss Beth’s dragging around the plant this afternoon?” asked Garvin, the cashier of Benson’s Bank, of Busby, the paying teller. “I. was wondering,” replied Busby. ‘“‘She’s sure doing our institution proud. Guess they must be the wives of some of our prominent rural millionaires.” “Yep,” agreed Garvin. “They look like it. Pipe the lid on Mrs. Vanderbilt.” ‘* Jussa same,” put in Busby, ‘“‘ you never can tell. Dames like that might have a stockingful of mazuma tucked away some place. Trust lil Beth; she doesn’t overlook any bets.” It amused Mr. Busby, two days later, to have Mr. Garvin escort Mrs. Eva D. Swift up to the teller’s window and inform him that she was a customer of the bank. Later, Busby took pains to find out just how much of a customer Mrs. Swift was, and grinned when he learned that, as treas- urer of the Ladies’ Missionary League of the Cedar Bend Baptist Church, Mrs. Swift had deposited one hundred and thirty-seven and eighteen-hundredths dollars to her credit, and had been presented with a check book, a pass book and a bunch of deposit slips. After that Mrs. Swift found herself treat- ed with quite the same consideration as John P. Somers, of the Universal Tannage & Belting Company, an important industry of Templeton. Word trickled down from old Joe’s big desk in the front of the bank that this was so. A customer of the bank was a customer of the bank, not always to be judged by the size of his daily balance. It took Garvin and Busby several weeks, however, to find out that Miss Benson was comicboooks C©