"The iniquitous prices of the goods?"
"Oh, no; I didn't mean that. I mean the dropped letters. Where they have
glass letters stuck on, you know, and some have gone. Surely you must
have noticed?"
"Yes, of course," I replied; "but I thought the shop-keepers were too
lazy or careless to bother. The War has increased carelessness, you
know."
"No, it isn't that," she said. "The poor fellows are so understaffed and
overworked that they can't find time. My idea is to raise a fund so
that it can be done for them. My heart aches. Only this morning I saw a
barber's with ASH AND RUSH UP on it; and a confectioner's"--she referred
to her notebook--"with ICE REAMS, and an undertaker's with PINKING ONE
ERE."
"What is pinking?" I asked. "I always wanted to know."
"And," she continued, again consulting her book, "a tobacconist's with
BEST OLDEN VIRGIN , and a dentist's with PA LESS EXTRACTION. Something
really must be done. Don't you agree?"
I murmured that there were other abuses that were possibly more in need
of immediate redress, but Mrs.
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