As a tribute to Women’s History Month, this story was provided by the Sherman Room of the Mansfield/Richland County Public Library and originally published by the Mansfield News on Aug. 28, 1921 on Page 5 of the Social Section. Those interested in more history should check out the Sherman Room at the Mansfield/Richland Public Library or visit this link.
MANSFIELD — Contrary to most precedent, Mrs. Florence R. Marquis, buyer at Maxwell’s, has achieved success without first having had years of experience and preparation for such work.
So unusual is such success that my belief that something else underlay it was justified when Mrs. Marquis said that she had always been particularly fond of scheming and planning clothes and that from a child she had had the knack of making a great deal out of almost nothing.
Along with this inherent trait, is the natural good taste and sound judgement that a successful buyer needs. Not the least of the qualities necessary is an inborn love of just such work as she is doing.
Not only is Mrs. Marquis a buyer, but she seems admirably to fill and want that may happen to appear. She fills the role, along with others of mediator for all the disturbances that arise. She is adviser to the bewildered, or councilor to the alien.
Indeed, it is not only as buyer of women’s apparel that she excels, but wherever there are problems that require good common sense, sympathetic listening to, or sound judgment, there she is summoned.
“One of the things,” says Mrs. Marquis, “that has helped the most, has been my interest in people, their likes and dislikes and their ideas. And it isn’t only the people of one particular class that I find the most delight in serving, it is people of all classes and just a little specially, I think, the foreign people. They are always so very grateful for anything you do for them, they never seem to forget any little favor. And they are very easy to wait on. They know instantly what they want and if they do notice it, they never think of asking a clerk to take down bolts of goods for them to just look.
“The most surprising things happen about people. I think sometimes, that I have different types classified but something entirely out of the ordinary is always happening to make me think I don’t know anything about people after all. Just this afternoon an incident occurred which surprised me very much.
“Several quite ordinary looking women came into the store and wanted to look at some Madeira embroidery pieces. A long scarf was shown them, and several other pieces. They made no fuss at all over the price and decided to take them, regardless of the fact that they were quite expensive. On the other hand, some one who is very prosperous looking, may come in and look around and not buy anything at all worth while. So that I never know just what people are going to do.”
“It may seem strange,” continued Mrs. Marquis, “that without any training I have been able to buy. But I should probably never have had the confidence to do the things that I have if my brother had not first had confidence in me. And then at first, of course, I bought under Mr. Roely’s direction. One of the hardest things for me to learn was to buy in quantities. And even yet I am over-cautious about that and always under-buy rather than over-buy. And too I had to learn not to buy particularly the things that I most wanted.
“I like clothing just a little out of the ordinary, but it would never do to buy large amounts of those kinds of clothing. It is the staple goods, the apparel that I often consider quite common looking that it is safe to select. And although unusual things will not sell, novelties will. And it is always the better fal-de-rals that take. You would imagine otherwise, but if there is a comparison of novelties, women will as a rule, pick out the best.”
So you see, although faddists to the contrary against all teachings of modern reformers, that efficiency must be backed up by training.
Here is a woman who had never worked a day in her life, yet who by just using her common, ordinary good sense, with her inherent characteristics, (and common sense would not do any good without these, of course,) has succeeded where probably other women with years of training might fail.
