"Have you any stuff like this?" I asked.
"No," said the salesman, "we haven't. Is it for furniture?"
"Yes," I replied.
"Then Turkey red is what you want."
"Is Turkey red just like this?" I asked.
"No," said he, "but it's much better."
"That makes no difference to me," I replied. "I want something just
like this."
"But they don't use that for furniture," he said.
"I should think people could use anything they wanted for furniture," I
remarked, somewhat sharply.
"They can, but they don't," he said quite calmly. "They don't use red
like that. They use Turkey red."
I said no more, but left. The next place I visited was a very large
dry-goods store. Of the first salesman I saw I inquired if they kept
red calico like my sample.
"You'll find that on the second story," said he.