The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1886-05-21

ago : package q 9l10. 900 was brought
here BY the Adams Express Company
which, by the burning of q railway train,
had been reduced to a charred, coal
black mass Three days afterward &c.,
600 was identified and redeemed by the
women experts of this division. In an
other case, after man had been buried
many months. a will was lound which
stated that in the inner pocket of a coat
the same he had been buried in-would
be found large sum of money in bank
notes. The body was exhumed, and
the Shiny, discolored money, with
the odor of the grave about it, was sent
her for identification. Another in
stance. illustrating how cupidity some
miser who had buried his savings, to
the amount of nearly $4,000. in an
earthern jar. After an interval of sew
eral months he went one day to add a
few hundred dollars to his treasure, and
found the whole an indistinguishable
heap of moldering paper. Although
living in the far West, he had heard Of
the skill of the women of the Redemp-
ton Agency, and lost no time in as
signing his precious jar to their care.
The money, with the. exception of about
$500, was identified and returned to him
in fresh new bank notes, to his infinite
satisfaction.
Another conspicuous example of
ability, and also in quite a new line, is
that Of . woman employed in the Law
Division of this bureau, and who pre-
pares the briefs for the Solicitor of In
ternal Revenue in the various cases
arising out of violation of internal reve-
nue. laws. She is considered one of the
best law clerks in the bureau. and is
engaged upon the most difficult and
complicated compromise cases. Her
remarkable power of grasping impor-
tant points of a case and presenting
them in clear and concise language is
shown by the fact that she prepares her
briefs from first notice; that is, the first
abstract is the one submitted to the So
licitor, no other copy being made. In
order to do this she thoroughly studies
the case before putting her pen to pa
per. In an important case five days
are often spent in careful, laborious
study of it. The result is clearness of
statement and a logical presentment of
the evidence which is Justly considered
remarkable. The briefs in the case of
the whisky frauds in Grants time were
prepared BY her, and it is satisfaction
to add that she receives the same salary
Is men doing the same work.
The Interior Department employs 618
women as examiners Of applications for
patents, clerks, stenographers, type
writer's, accountants, tracers of draw
ings. copyists. pastors, etc. The work
of women as examiners of applications
for patents deserves the highest COM
mendation, since it requires q knowl-
edge Of physics, mathematics, chemistry
and NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. of study with
which at present women have only
limited opportunities to become thor
oughly acquainted, the smattering of
science taught at the average girls school
being Of little value for any practical
uses. Consequently, the women who
have qualified themselves to fill posi-
tons IN this department of the Govern
ment service have done so by persever-
ing private study, under the disadvan-
tage of lack of proper direction, and
often after > hard days work 1t the
desk. The work OF an examiner III the
Patent Office can best be shown by Civ
ing an instance of the duties of wom-
an filing the place of assistant examiner
to the electric division, and whose de-
partment is that of electric lighting.
The number of applications for patents
this