The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-10-11
THE TYPE-wRITING GIRL.
She Supersedes the StenOgrapher and, Like
Him, Has Various Eccentricities.


Him. Has Various Eccentricities.
Brooklyn Eagle.
The stenographer is rapidly being succeeded
by the typewriter Men who have devoted years
of work ana have brought considerable intelli-
gence to the art of stenography are pushed out
of the field by boards of nimble fingered girls.
who apparently have a special aptitude for this
sort OF work There are now several schools IN
New York where type writing is taught, and
almost every pretentious law Office III town has
its own operator. Men are too clumsy to acquire
great facility at this sort of work, and 1t seems
especially suited to women. The advantages
which it possesses over the older fashion is that
the work IS finished when the operator has
reached the end. A large element of uncertainty
enters into life when one employs a stenogra-
pher. 1 have had some experience that way
myself and it has not been of char
acter to predispose me strongly in their favor.
The average stenographer, after you have
dictated your work to him, will assure you with
an unblushing countenance and an honest eye
that It will be written out for you by - clock
1t you dictate six columns and finish by 80
you will receive the same placid assurance about
% o'clock, as though there were ten hours to
spare. And the peculiar thing about it is that
the stenographer invariably believes what he
says l don't know what is the
cause of this peculiar fancy, but
it is apparently rooted in every stem
stuff by 80 O'clock" If you have luck when you
look for him in heat and anger the following day
you will find him ink stained but dignifed, and
you will receive the same cast iron assurance as
you did before, that it will be through by 80
o'clock" With the type writing girls it is diff
ferent As a rule they are busy copying Su-
preme Court papers which. by the way, they lay
aside without the slightest regret, and they
are apparently the only people who look
with contempt upon the Supreme Court,
and begin at once to prepare for work. The
preparation is the longest part of it. After
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 it, and then
thrusts it with unquestioned belligerence into the
back of her head. Then she yawns prodigiously,
leans back in her chair, and says she is ready.
When you begin she suddenly remembers rises
from the machine, goes to the wash stand, toys
with the faucets for a few moments, touches the
ends of her fingers to the towel, then comes
back by way of the mirror. have become con
WINGED, by long experience, that the average fe-
male typewriter never really cares to wash her
hands. 1t is strategic subterfuge for the pur
pose of affording her an opportunity to look in
the mirror. She returns, throws herself care
lessly into the chair, and briskly puts a sheet of
paper into the machine. Having done this, she
withdraws the paper, turns it around and puts it
in in that way. This is a system they never de-
part from under any circumstances. She is not
ready yet, however. AT this point it becomes
necessary to open a small drawer at the right
hand side of the typewriter, fish out more or
less Snowy purse, glance critically and some
what sadly within, throwing the purse back
again, and bring forth an ink eraser, rubber,
a fruit knife, and half eaten apple peach
Some will probably interrupt her for quiet
chat and after that if you still there you
will be thoroughly started. Once under way, an
expert type writer is fully as fast as the average
stenographer, and when you have flushed die
tating you may take the manuscript away with
you L have observed popularity about
the female typewriter. She.never makes mis-
take 1t is always the machine. If she puts
sixteen vowes in the word Through" she first
hits the keyboard violently, and then raises the
roof of the structure, pokes at the type with her
first finger, INDUCES in some airy criticisms of
the manufacture, brings the whole thing to-
gether violently again, and continues to make
the most grievous and absurd errors with face
of utter satisfaction and unruffled high spirits.
She eventually marres the managing clerk of
the law Office