Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1890-10-26
PENCILAND MACHINE
USE or ONE IN sTENocaAoHY AND
THE OTHER IN TvPeWRiTlNot
Nssriy Three Hundred Operators Here,
Including Many Espcrts--Attributcs
Of Eaiciency and Speed.

business metnodS OF recent years as
stcnography and shorthand.
In former days tho partners in large
commercial houses and chief clerks in
railroad offices spent hours daily answer
ting letters and "gotting off their
mail "a duty that by no means made
their positions "beds Of rosess'
There was no avoiding this task in the
days Of Eve olden time but now all
s changed, and in almost every Office
there sits pretty girl or smart young
man who hammers merrily away on the
typewriter, relieving the boss" OF the
odious labor of former times.
THEY HAVE CHANGED.
Ladies' OF the South, however reduced
In circumstances they may have been
heretofore. always had peculiar abhor.
renee TO taking positions in commercial
houses, and when poverty stared them
in the face they have invariably resorted
10 teaching rs means of support but
the money CLEANED from this source has
become less and less in consequence OF
the many fair mentors who have under
taken to guide the infant mind.
But since the invention of the type
writer and the progress made In the
science of photography this empafrass-
ment has been removed, and now IN al
most every large establishment one or
more ladies' are employed. Work oil TINS
character is exactly suited for them, and
hour after hour their def fingers glide
over the KEYS Of the typewriter, and the
amount OF work they accomplish IN one
day is marvellous.
TWO PURPOSES SUBsERvED.
In many instances the fair manipu-
iators OF the complicated machines have
combined their future hopes with their
daily ayocations, and chosen associates
for life from their fellow masculine
clerks to dictate to them, or perhaps
70 be dictated to IN turn.
There is no question about tho fact
that ladies all make more rapid speed
upon the writing-machines than men.
Their fingers. which have in many IN
stances become supple from piano-play-
ing, can move much more rapidly than
those Of men. which generally carry the
scars and sprains of former base ball
games or other youthful hardshiPs. An
average female typewriter can keep up
n regular speed of from twenty to thirty
words uer minute for hour after. hour.
and the work turned ont by them is al
most invariably neatand correct, though
II must be confessed that sometimes the
dear creatures do make the most ridicu-
IoM mistakes IN orthogrnphy and pune
tuation.
SHE WROTE POETRY.
A stenogapher of this city obtained
the services Of a young lady few days
ago and read from his notes to her
while she took down the matter. Her
slender fingers SKINNED swiftly over the
keys, and page after page was finished
but 10 when he went to look at her
work he was amazed and Mortified to
find that she had commenced every line
with n capital letter, just as If 1t had
been poetry.
SOME FAST WRITER'S HERE.
While the average man can never |
acquire any marked rapidity as a type |
writer. it IS a singular fact that nearly all |
The champion writers of the world have
been men. Some of these have reached |
rs high speed as 125 words a minute, !
Or even over that, though these are OF |
course exceptional cases. In this city |
Messrs. Harry Jacobs, William Justis,
Thomas S. Wheelwright, John Culpeper,
Timothy West, ". Mex. Fisher, John
Powers. James Patterson, q. L. Shafer,
Clarence Wyatt, and Tom Owen. OF
are among the fastest
writer's on typewriters, and it is astonish-
Ing with what rspldity they can move
their fingers.
NEARLY 800 IN RICHMOND.
The number OF stenographers and
typewriters in this city at present is be-
tween $50 and 800, aud there are also a
great many so-called shorthand writers,
who, however. do not deserve the name.
At the large publishing house of b. Z.
johnson Il Co. between sixty and eighty
lady stenogrGphers are employed
throughout the year, and it is an inter
esting sight to glance down the long
hall, which is filed with copyists, and to
hear the merry clicking OF the machines
and the silvery tingling OF the little
bells attached to them which ring every
time the end of line is reached. These
girls write from 5000 to 10000 words "a
DAY, according to their skill and ex
perience. Their salaries range from $50
20 s52 month, and they are furnished
with every convenience, while their
working hours are very light. The
average pay Of the shorthand girls is
from SIS to $50.
SPELLING Is HARD FOR THEM.
Mr.. johnson, in conversation with a
representative OF the Dispatch yester-
day, said that the main difficulty expe-
rienced in training the girls in his es-
Enlistment is to teach them to spell and
punctuate correctly. This takes several
months, and sometimes they never learn
perfectly. He finds it more satisfactory
to train his operators than to engage
those who consider themselves proficient
TIE FIRST THING TO DO IN LEARNING.
The craze TO learn stenography has
the last year or so. and at the present
tune hundreds of ladies and youths are
studying to fit themselves for positions
in the commercial world. Many of them
make the great mistake of attempting to
learn before they have acquired the ru-
diments of good English education,
and consequently. even if they learn
shorthand. they are constantly harasssd
with the difficulties of spelling and pune
tua.ion. This is one OF the reasons that
90 many who have acquired good know.
ledge OF steDogrsphy give it up after they
have gotten tolerably well advanced.
1T TAKES PERSEVERANCE.
The principles OF shorthand are not
hard. Any one who has studied it viii
admit that but to acquire speed one
must have an unlimited amount of per-
severance and energy, otherwise they will
be as nought
Some students have gone to work and
by hard study have learned to write
from dictstion in as short time as three