Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1885-08-21
Women as Candidates.
By q Civil-Service Examiner.

Women as Candidates.
BY Civil-Service Examiner
AS I have mentioned the fair Sex, I
will add (under shelter Of anonymity
that I did not at all like the task Of ex-
amining them. I deeply regret to say
it, but / certainly found them much
more troublesome than the competitive
males. It is very difficult to maintain
discipline among them, or to arouse III
them any keen sense of the virtue of
scrupulousness. I shall never forget
being intrusted with the examination OF
certain eight young ladies. The first
thing that struck me was that they had
evidently arrayed themselves in their
most exaggerated costumes, no doubt
with the view of insinuating themselves
into the favor of their judges. Though
somewhat nervous and jerky in manner
it was clear that they fully meant to
fascinate. Poor things! they little
knew the iron sternness of the De-
partment. 1t was with difficulty that
+ got them to sit down, and with
still greater difficulty that I indnced
them not to crowd together. Il should
mention that the room in which We
were was furnished, not with isolated
desks, but with the old-fashioned con-
tlnuous desks and forms When I
had distributed the papers and deliv-
cred a Smithsonian harangue On the
necessity of silence and the enornlity Of
copying, I resumed my own work. AL
most Immediately ! became aware OF a
rustling sound, and, looking up, beheld,
to my CONSERVATION, my eight fair pro
tegees all close together like the colored
beads upon frame, taking sweet conn
sci together on the subject of the paper.
ladies'" I said sternly, ''this will
never do. Unjust ask you once for all to
keep your places"
Nothing could have been clearer than
my meaning, Or, rs I think, more inn
pressive than my manner; but one very
unfinished" damsel had the pertness to
answer:
''Mustn't we go back to them first ?"
Hereupon there was an audible litter,
which I pretended not to hear. More
over, following the noble example set
at the army examination by the Chief
Commissioner himself, I ignored any
thing disrespectful in the question, and
replied:
eyes, you must go back to your
places, if you please. You ought not
to have left them"
Imay Us we'll allow at once, however,
that all my efforts to infuse lefty Off
cial sense Of duty into these wilful
maidens were utterly unsuccessful. The
way in which they copied from one an
other was simply appalling. I dil not
look over their paper afterward but the
family likeness between them must have
been surprising.
When the paper-work was over, it ap-
peared that no less than five of the
eight young ladies wished to speak to
ME privately. I did not know whether
to feel fattered Or embarrassed by this
desire. However. feeling bound to
hear what candidate had to say, [ re-
quested No. / to favor me with her COM
munication. It was very lengthy, and
was delivered with great volubility in
an extraordinary high key. I will not
attempt to reproduce it exactly-that
would be quite beyond my powers; but
it was to the general effect that she (tho
speaker) would have done her papers a
great deal would, in fact. have
triumphed over them completely
but for the circumstances that
her maiden aunt, Miss Cox, who
lived at No. 5 Laburnum Villas, Ber-
modosey, and who had brought her up
since the death Of her poor father OF
| typhoid fever in the year 1867, was un-
fortunately very deaf, though otherwise
highly talented and accomplished, and
that in consequence Miss Tibbits (she
had at the very beginning utterly re-
fused to yield to my entreaty and speak
| Of herself as o number. but mad per
sisted in introducing herself as Miss
Tibbits) had not derived all the advan'
| tages from her aunt's instruction which
she would most certainly have derived
under different circumstances. And
she desired nee, as the examiner, tc
take this into account, as WAS only fan
and right, in looking over her papers
BY this time I had learnt the official
formula for answering the questions OF
candidates. I consider that, as a ple:e
of simple verbal mechanism readily ad-
| Unstable to occasion, it deserves patent.
It runs thus: 1.-THE Commissioners
| alone decide on the papers, but l ar
quite sure that they will allow due
weight to any circumstances that
deserve consideration" Isn't it beau
tiful? First You state an incontrover
| tible fact about the Commissioners
which relieves you personally Of
all further annoyances. And as th<
| Commissioners are not as rule &C
cessible to candidates, they are not in
convenienced. Then you proceed tt
convey little temporary consolation
to the wounded spirit of the candidate
without committing yourself in tn
least. That keeps him or her quiet
and hopeful, which of course is grea
! advantage in an examination.
This was the magic formula that
now offered to Miss Tibbits, in the con
fident expectation that it would NEE
her requirements, as it had met the re
quirements of so many others. NO
vas disappointed. Miss Tibbits tool
it eagerly, and seemed much the bette
for it. It was not my fault that thu
good thus done was not likely to be per
manent.
The four other young ladies who de
sired to speak to me had all something
similar to say. There were specia
circumstances in each case which de
served consideration, and which Ger
tainly required very lengthy exposi
ton. In each case applied the for
mula, and always with success. Corn
hill Magazine. .*.
~ %sfe j..