Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-09-14
PRETTY GIRLS AT WORK.
About the Fair Clerks in the
Treasury Department

Some Of the prettiest women in the country
are right here in the Treasury department. A
great many Of them are Washingtonians, but,
as q class, they represent the beauty Of about
the whole country. They are blondes and
brunettes; short and tall and medium; some
plump, some queenly, some Of lythe and viii
lowy form-they are fairly the types OF the
several great cities and about all the states OF
the Union. In that one building, covering
four blocks, 10 to be found more beauty than a
hunt through many large cities might discover.
large proportion Of the female clerks are
young, or at least on the minus side of the line
beyond which lies old maidhood. Office life
Is not promotive Of longevity. and many
of the elderly women have died off or reached
an age beyond usefulness. Those who have
come into the department within the past four
or five years are mostly young women. who
have Just passed through the normal schools
and have entered the government service
through the civil service examination. They
are a bright lot Of young women. In many
cases 1t is, perhaps, that they are the prettiest
girls OF the family, which inspires them with
an ambition beyond the drudgery OF house
work or the trials of a schoolmarm and induces
them to strive for the more agreeable work and
better pay under the civil service. And this
may account for there being such o preponder
auCc VI SOOu lOOhb.
REFINED. SENSIBLE GIRLS.
They are not, as rule, gaudy beauties fres-
coed and decorated by art, though Of course
there are some of that type. They are usually
OF refined type Of good, sensible pretty girls
q little beyond girlhood. They always dress in
good taste though not generally in an expen-
sive style. A designer Of fashions might get
many valuable points from the female Treasury
clerk
During the ordinary working hours the visi-
tor to the Treasury will not see many of these
young women. They are apt to be hard at
work behind closed doors or Just shut from
view by green baize screens, over which one
cannot see without the aid of a chair or a step
ladder. The desks are usually provided with
these screens, otherwise they would be annoyed
by the gaze of the visitors passing through the
Corridors, who would probably be numerous If
the screens were not there.
DURING THE LUNCH HOUR.
But during the half hour allowed for lunch
a swarm Of pretty female clerks rush about the
corridors to exchange bits Of gossip or to get
their tea. Washington may get her reputation
for her beautiful women from the throng that
appear on the avenue on the way home from
the departments after o'clock.
Whenever there any number of people
on visit TO Washington the Treasury is gener-
ally the center OF curiosity, on account of the
popular interest in money. Visitors are always
interested in the places where the money is
handled, and some one must be delegated to
take charge of them. In view of the great
number of these visitors and the prospect of
great many more when the Knights Templar
come here for their convention a number of
young women of the department have been
designated regularly to act as guides through
the redemption agency where the old notes
are counted and destroyed.