"costing," but in a simpler form. Miss Murray merely marked,
sometimes at cost, sometimes at an advance, those articles that were
"B. O." or "bought out," not carried in Hunter, Baxter & Hunter's
regular stock. Candy, postal-cards, cameras, sporting-goods, stamps,
cigars, stationery, fruit-sirups, all the things in fact, that the
firm's customers, all over the state, carried in their little
country stores, were "B. O." Miss Murray had invoices for them all,
and checked them off as fast as she could find their places on the
duplicates.

Then Miss Cottle and Susan Brown got the duplicates and "extended"
them. So many cases of cold cream at so much per case, so many
ounces of this or that at so much the pound, so many pounds at so
much per ounce, and forty and ten and ten off. Two-thirds of a
dozen, one hundredweight, one eighth of a gross, twelve per cent,
off, and twenty-three per cent. on for freight charges; the
"extenders" had to keep their wits about them.

After that the duplicates went to Miss Sherman, who set down the
difference between cost and selling price. So that eventually every
article was marked five times, its original selling price, extended
by the salesman, its cost price, separately extended, and the
difference between the two.

From Miss Sherman the bills went to the Misses Kirk, who gave every
item a red number that marked it in its proper department, drugs or
rubber goods or soaps and creams and colognes. The entire stock was
divided into ten of these departments, and there were ten great
ledgers in which to make entries for each one.