Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1885-08-06
The Type Writing Girl.

Brooklyn Eagle
The stenographer is rapidly being
succeeded by the typewriter. Men
who have devoted years of work, and
have brought considerable intellis
gence to the art of stenography, are
pushed out of the field by nimble~
fingered girls, who apparently have
special aptitude for this sort of work.
There are now several schools in New
York where type-writlng is taught,
and almost every pretentious law
Office IN town has its own operator.
Men are too clumsy to acquire great
facility at this sort of work, aud it
seems especially adapted to women.
The advantages which is possesses
over the old fashion Is that the work is
finished when the operator has reaCh>
ed the end. A large element of un,
certainty enters into life when one
employs a stenographer. / nave had
some experience that way myself, and
it has not been of character to pre-
dispose me strongly IN their favor.
The average stenographer, after you
have dictated your work to him,
will assure you with an unblush-
ing countenance and an honest eve
that it will be written out for you
by three o'clock # you dictate
six columns and finish by 2:3O you
will receive the same placid assurance
about three o'clock, as though there
were ten hours to spare. And the
peculiar thing about it is that the
stenographer believes what he saws.
| don' t know what is the cause of this
peculiar fancy, but it is apparently
rooted IN every stenographer's brain
OF course you never get the stuff by
three 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
dignfied, and you receive the same
cast-iron assurance as you did before
that it will be through by "three
o'clock" With the type writing girls
it is different. AS a rule they are
basy 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 contempt upon the supreme
court, and begin at once to prepare
for work, The preparation is the
longest part of it. After a few gen
eral remarks about the weather, she
removes her rings, one after the
other. looks at them carefully, places
them in an orderly row beside the
type writer, pulls hairpin out
of the forwrrd part of her bang,
examines it, and then thrusts
it with with un9uesti0ned beliger-
ence into the back of her head. Then
she yawns prodigiously, leans back on
her chair, and says she is ready When
you begin she suddenly remembers,
rises from the machine, goes to the
washstand toys with the faucets for
few moments, touches the tips of her
fingers TO the towel, then comes back
by the way of the mirror. | have be-
come convinced, by long experience
that the average female type writer
never really cares to wash her hauds.
Itls strategic subterfuge for the pur-
pose of affording her an opportunity to
look in the mirror. She returEs, throws
herself carelessly into the chair, and
briskly puts a sheet of paper into the
machine.
Having done this, she withdraws the
paper turns 1t around. aud puts it in
that way. This is a system they never
depart from under any circumstances.
She Is not ready yet, however At
this point 1t becomes necessary to
open small dra wer at the right hand
side of the type Writer, fsh out more
or less snowy purse glance somewhat
sadly within, throwing the purse
back again, and bring forth an
ink-eraser, a rubber, fruit knife, and
a half-eaten apple or peach. Some
one will proSably interrupt her for a
quiet chat, and after that, il you are
still there, you will be thoroughly
started. Once uHder WY, an expert
type- writer is fully as fast as the aver.
age stenographer and when you have
finished debating you may take the
manuscript away with you. | have
deserved one popularity about the fe
male Typewriter; she never makes q
mistake. 1t is always the machine.
If she nuts sixteen voTels in the word
through" she first hits the key board
violently, and then raises the roof of
the structure, pokes at the type with
her first finger, iAdulges in some airy
criticisms of the manufacturer, brings
the whole thing together again, and
continues to make nost grevious and
absurd errors with face of utter
satisfaction and unrufiled hign spirits.
She eventually marries the managing
clerk of the law office.