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Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue Keeping Store, a novel by Laura Lee Hope |
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Chapter 18. Bunny Has An Idea |
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_ CHAPTER XVIII. BUNNY HAS AN IDEA Mrs. Golden read first the letter from her son, sent to her from the distant city. But if Bunny and Sue thought to see a look of joy spread over the store owner's face they were disappointed. "Did he--did your son send you the legacy?" asked Bunny, as the letter was folded and put back in the envelope. "Well, no, not exactly," was the answer. "It seems there is some trouble about it. I hoped Philip could come home to help me, but he can't, and it will be some time before we'll get any money from that legacy--if we ever get it. Oh, dear! So many troubles!" Mrs. Golden sighed and opened the other letter. Her troubles seemed to be more now, for she sighed again as she laid this letter aside. Sue could not help asking: "Is it a bill?" "Something like that, yes," answered the old lady. "It's from Mr. Flynt's grocery company. It says if I don't pay soon I'll be sold out." Mrs. Golden sighed again. The children did not know exactly what it was all about, but they knew there was trouble of some kind and they wanted to help. But they felt, too, that it was time they went home. Mrs. Golden must have seen the worried looks on their faces, for she tried to smile through the clouds of her own trouble as she said: "Never mind, my dears! Run along now, for I'm sure your mother will be getting anxious about you. You have been a great help to me. I guess I'll find some way out of my troubles--I hope so, anyhow. Run along now! It was good of you to help me." So Bunny and Sue, taking the things they had bought, started out of the store. "If she could only sell more things she'd have more money and then she could pay that grocery bill," said Bunny to his sister. "Yes," agreed Sue. "We'll tell daddy about it and see what he says. Daddy has lots of money." "But maybe he needs it," suggested Bunny. And very likely Mr. Brown did. However, children of the ages of Bunny and Sue are not unhappy for very long at a time, and trouble seems to roll away from them like water off a duck's back. On the way home they met some of their playmates, and in talking over a picnic that was to be held in a few days Bunny and Sue forgot about Mrs. Golden for a while. "You stayed rather a long time," said Mrs. Brown, when Bunny and Sue finally reached home with the groceries she had sent them for. "You said we could stay," said Bunny. "And we helped Mrs. Golden by tending store," added Sue. "Did you really tend store?" Uncle Tad asked, and he was much surprised when the children told what they had done. "I guess she doesn't do much business," remarked Uncle Tad. "She has a store on a corner, which is the best place for one, as people on two streets pass it. But I'm afraid she isn't enough of a hustler." "What's a hustler?" asked Bunny, wondering if Mrs. Golden might be made into one. "A hustler," said Uncle Tad, "is a person that does things in a hurry. Some storekeepers are hustlers for business. If business doesn't come to them they go after it. That's how they sell things." "How could Mrs. Golden sell more things?" Bunny questioned. "She's got lots of things in her store--heaps and packs of 'em--but she doesn't sell much." "That's the trouble!" said Uncle Tad. "She doesn't advertise, and she doesn't make any window display." "What's a window display?" Sue inquired. "I saw you looking at one the other day," replied the old soldier. "Do you remember when I passed you and Bunny while you were looking in the drug store window on Main Street?" "Oh, yes! Where the rubber bags were!" cried Bunny. "A little doll was making believe swim in a rubber bag," said Sue, "and there was a big crowd looking at it." "That's it!" exclaimed Uncle Tad. "That drug store man got a big crowd in front of his store by putting something in the window that made people stop and look. That's advertising." "Maybe Mrs. Golden could fix up her windows so a crowd would stop in front!" exclaimed Sue. "What good would that do?" Bunny asked. "She wants people to come inside her store and buy things." "That's it," agreed Uncle Tad. "But if you get a crowd _outside_ a store, because there's something to look at in the windows, some of that crowd will go _inside_ and buy something." "Only Mrs. Golden hasn't any rubber bags," went on Bunny. "But I guess Sue could lend her a doll if she wanted it to take a swim." "Mrs. Golden doesn't need to put rubber bags in her window," said Uncle Tad. "That wouldn't be the thing for a grocery and notion store. She should put in something that people would stop to look at, or have a special sale or something like that. And another thing I've noticed, when I've been past her place is that the windows are very dirty. You can hardly see what's inside. If her windows were cleaned and she had something in them, a crowd would stop and more people would go in and buy than go in now. Mrs. Golden needs to advertise in that way." Uncle Tad went out. Mrs. Brown busied herself about the house, and Bunny Brown motioned to his sister Sue to come to the side porch. "What you want?" asked Sue. Bunny put his finger over his lips. "I've got an idea!" he said. "I know how we can help Mrs. Golden get a crowd in front of her store." _ |
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