St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-12-30
THE TEPE-wKIrING GIRL.
She SWpercedes the Sre1IoOrapI,er aud, Like
Him Has Tdrious Eceenfrieisfes.
brooklyn Eagle.)


The stenographer is rapidly being succeed
ed by the typewriter. Men who have devot
ed years OF work and have brought consider
able Intelligence TO the art OF stenograpb,
are pushed out Of the field by nim6le -fngereC
girls. who apparently have Il special aptind,
for this sort OF work, There are now severa
schools in New YORK where type-writing /,
taught, aud almost every preIeutious Law
Office in town has its own operator. Men ar,
too clumsy to acquire great facility at this
sort of work, and it seems especially SUITED
10 women. The advants ges which it posses $
es over the older fashion is that the work 1:
finished when tine operator has reached the
end. A large clement OF uncertainty enter:
into life when one employs a stenographer.
have had some experience that way myself
and il has not been OF character to predis-
pose me strongly in their favor. The aver
age stenOgrapher, after you have dictated
your work 10 him, will assure YOU with an
unbiushing cOuntenance aud an honest eve
tina; 1t will be written oat for sou by ''three
o'clock" II you dictate six columns and
finish by 1880 you will receive the some
placid assurance about ''three O'clock As
though there were ten hours TO spare. And
the peculiar thing about II is that the steno-
grapher believes what he says. do I know
what is the cause OF this peculiar fancy, bul
il is apparently rooted, in every stenograpner's
brain. o. course you never get the tuh by
"three o'clock"
II you have luck when YOU look for him in
heat aud anger the following day you will
FIND him ink stained but digninei, aud you
receive the same east iron assurance as YOU
did before, that Il viii be- through By .sthree
O'elock." With the type-wriiing girls il is
different AS rule they are busy copying
supreme court papers which, by the way, they
lay aside without the slightest regret, and
they are apparently the only people who look
with eontemp; upon TIE supreme court. and
begin at once 10 prepare for work. The pre-
paratiOn is the longest part of H. After n
few general remarks about the weather, she
removes her rings one after the other, looks
at them carefully, places them in an orderly
row beside the typewriter, pulls hairpin
out OF the forward part OF her bang, examines
il, and then thrusts il Vith unquestioned bel
lgerrnee into the back OF her head. Then
she yawns prodigiousIy, leans back in her
chair, and says she Is ready. When you be-
Gin she suddenly remembers, rises from the
machine, COTS to-the Washstand, toys with
ends OF her singers TO the towel, then comes
back by the way Of the mirror have be-
come convinced, by long experience, that the
average female typewriter never really cares
10 wash her hands. Il is a strategic subter-
fuge for the purpose Of sforling her an op-
pOriunltv To look in the mirror. she returns,
throws herself carelessly into the chair, aud
bFiskly puts asheet Of paper into the machine
Having done this she Witniraxs the pa
per, turns il around and puts Il in in that
way. This Is a system they never depart
from under any circumstances. She Is not
ready yet. however. AT this poirt4tbecomes
necessary 10 open a small drawer at the right
hand side Of the type-wrter, fish out a more
or less SNOWY purse, glance critically aud
somewhat sadly within, throwing the purse
baek.again, and bring forth an ink eraser, a
rubber, fruit knife, and half eaten apple
or peach Some one viii probably interrupt
her for quiet chat, and after that If YOU are
still there you VIII be thoroughly started.
Once under way, an expert typewriter Is
fully as fast As the average stenoxrapher, and
when you have finished debating YOU NAV
take the manuscript away with YOU I have
observed one peculiarly about the female
typewriter. She never makes mistake II
IS always the machine. III she puts sixteen
vowels in the word Through she first hits
the keyboard violently, and then raises the
ROOF Of the structure, pokes al the type with
her first hnger,. INDUCES IN some airy criti-
cisms OF the manufacturer, brings the whole
thing together again, aud continues to make
the most grieyous aud absurd errors with'a
face OF utter satisfaction and unruffled high
spirits She eventually marries the mana =
ing clerk Of the law Office