Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-11-09
TYPEWRITER TRIALS.
Vexations Which Usually Accompany
aHunt for Competency.
POINTS In WHICH GIRLS FAIL,
Amusing Experience Of New York Attor-
ney and His Failures.
YOUNG MEN OUT OF THE QUESTIO,
CORRESPONDENCE OF THE DISPATCH

NEW YORK, November 8.-"Come up
and I'll introduce you to my typewriter"
remarked one gentleman to another as they
came out of a downtown restaurant about
lunch time.
SIS she pretty?"
'Not particularly-but she is as sweet a
little lady as you'll meet in whole season
of McAllister's society. And want you to
understand that allude to her in no con-
ventional or fippant way, but just as 1
would introduce gentleman to my sister,"
''Flattered, I an sure" was the rather
cynical re;oiner. "Does your wife approve
of her? Yes? Then she must be homely."
"There's " here you mistake. She is not
pretty-she is not homely-she is not young
she is not old. She is simply a sweet
faced, bright, well-educated, respectable
lady and competent stenographer and
typewriter earning her own living and not
ashamed ot the fact.
HIS FIRST EXPERIENCE.
"Speaking OF women stenographers," he
went on with curious smile, 81 think 1
have been through the most annoying ex-
perience in that line that a business man
could find without hunting for it. Perhaps
II.
At any rate it is story worth telling. Now
that it has ended happily, as all good stories
should END, it is decidedly amusing to look
back upon.
"You know I am an office lawyer. and in
the course of the last year or two have had a
good deal of office work. At first my briefs
were few, but in time the routine labor ap-
parently justified clerk-then a stenogra-
pher and typewriter. With a temerity born
Of ignorance, advertised. think every
woman out of a job must have been looking
for me, because the very morning the ad.
appeared had about 200 extra letters from
women applying for information as to the
situation ana asking for the job. Worse
than that, though I had expressly requested
application by letter only, 15 or 20 called
on me at the office before noon. Most of the
applicants who called were of the school
girl age; young girls with their hair down
their back predominated.
A PANIC IN THE OFFICE.
ITO say was astouished and embarrassed
is putting 1t mildly. I was absolutely thunder
struck. My clerk could scarcely conceal his
amusement-my office boy ran up and down
the corridor occasionally to prevent convul-
sions. 1t happened that 7 was very busy
that day, and L went into the ante-room,
where the first early dozen were gathered,
and told them to call agaln-to- morrow or
next day-and thus got rid of them.
"Well, my clerk and looked over the
pile of letters, some of which were from
Brooklyn, Jersey City, and even Philadel-
phia. Most of these letters showed on the
face that the writer's were inexperienced,
and knew comparatively nothing OF business
forms. Selecting few Of the most promis-
ing / shifted the matter to the shoulders of
my clerk, and had nothing more to do with
it for the time being. The next day he told
me that he thought he had one that was all
right-she was good typewriter at least
and had had some experience in law Office
wanted steady job-salary no object.
And on the morning following that found
her there pegging merrily away at my ma
chine.
SHE WAS A BEAUTY.
"Well, sir, she was as pretty as a pink.
took in her brown eyes, blonde hair. creamy
complexion, neat dress and modest manners
at glance and inwardly commended my
clerks taste. Some of her work lay on my
desk and saw that it was very we'll done.
I tried her on some dictated correspondence
and she did 1t well-at least we'll enough
for me to conclude permanent arrange
ment. She was reserved in her manners
and did not invite condolences. My clerk
nice fellow, you know-perfect gentleman
tried in vain to scrape up better aequaint-
ance, but she politely declined. He soon
observed that a very respectable-looking
young man met Susie one day at lunch time.
Then he discovered that the same young
man got to coming down to the office with
her and usually met her promptly in the
afternoon on Saturday half holidays. On
my alluding to this young man once she
blushed iuriously and, thought, guiltily.
L got somewhat concerned about the girl
and resolved to notify her mother. The girl
had been with ME about six weeks and I
felt that was in a manner responsible for
her morals.
GETTING INTO HOT WATER.
''I wrote to her mother and intimated in
an otherwise diplomatic letter that L didn't
like the looks of the young man. To this 1
received an indignant reply that it was none
of nv business-that the young man was an
excellent young man, and was to be her
daughters husband shortly. Susie didn't
come to work that morning. nor did she
ever come again, not even to ask for the
balance of her weeks salary, which I sent
her by mail with my written apology and
congratulations, aud the mental resolution
to hereafter attend to my own business.
1.-THE next girl we got was pert little
snip OF II, who spelled philosopher like
Joe Medill-with an ~ instead of the phi
and other words accordingly. We let her
down gently at the end of the first week. 1
had been so annoyed by the last girl that
followed the advice of my clerk and took
on a high priced one in the hope of getting
better article. She was not young or
pretty, but she was highly competent. She
was a Western college-bred girl, and was too
awfully smart for me- She found fault with
my style of expressing my thoughts. and
would substitute her own every now and
then.
PREFERRED HIS OWN STYLE.
"This habit in a stenographer is lncurable.
In ordinary correspondence it doesn't hurt
much, but in legal matters prefer my own
words and my own way OF putting things.
At the close of three weeks / found that 1
must be made over by my stenographer or
else give her a chance at somebody else-so
we parted in bad humor.
'dThen came little girl with her hair
down her back. I had made some inquiry
about her of her last employer, retailing my
then existing grievance. Strangely enough
he had parted with her for exactly the op-
posite reasons. 1 gave him the address of
the smart girl and took that of his He
wanted stenographer who could supply
his own deficiencies OF language and SPELL
ing. The one he wished to trade for her
was too literal-was sure to write every
word down just as she got it. That was the
kind of girl wanted, and sent for her
with great satisfaction. I was somewhat
surprised to see child in short dresses. She
assured me with confidence that was cut to
fit woman of 30; that there was no mistake
about il.