, 1889-11-08
pRgIrY eIRls An woRk.
Something About the Fair Clerk. in the
Treasury Department.

! coHitNhHpE ABOUT the falr Nlerkn IN Nlc
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 a class, they
represent the beauty of about the whole
country. They are blondes and brunettes,
short, tall and medium; some plump,
some queenly, some of 1.-the and willowy
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, is TO be found more
beauty than a hunt through many large
cities might discover. A large proper
ton OF the female clerks are young, or
at least on the minus side of the line be-
yond which lies old m%aidhood. Office
life is not promotive of longevity, and
many Of he elderly women nave died
off or reached an age beyond usefulness.
Those who have come into the depart
mont within the last 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 m
In many cases it is, perhaps, that they
are the prettiest girls of the family,
which inspires them with an ambition
beyond the drudgery of homework 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 a preponderance Of
good looks.
They are not, as a rule, gaudy beauties
frescoed and decorated by art, though of
course there are some of that type.
They are usually of a refined type of
good, sensible, pretty girls-a little be-
yond girlhood. They always dress in
good taste, though not generally in an
expensive style. A designer of fashions
might get many valuable points from the
female treasury clerk.
During the ordinary working hours
the visitor 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 step ladder.
The desks are usually provided with these
screens, otherwise they would be an
noyed by the gaze of the visitors passing
through the corridors, who would prob
ably be numerous if the screens were not
there.
But during the half hour allowed for
lunch a swarm of pretty female clerks
rush about the corridors to exchange
bits of gossips or to get their tea. Wash
lngton may get her reputation for her
beautiful ONE from the throng that
appear on the avenue on the way home
from the departments after 4 o'clock.
Whenever there are any number of
people on a visit to Washington the treas
ury is generally 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 num-
Der of these visitors some young women
of the department have beer designated
regularly to act as guides through the
redemption agency, where the old notes
are counted and -destroyed.-Washingtor
Star.