The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1891-03-18
TALKS OVER THE TEACUPS.
BUSINESS WOMEN HERE AT HOME.
The Domestic Life of Mrs. Potter Palmei
OF Chicago-Hsr Personal APPEARANCE
Are Men ynin-The Duchesse Dress
ing Table-Postscripts, Etc.

The business women OF Indianapolis!
What volume their lives would make if
written upl How many stories of hope
less struggles and hardships would come
to light if each one were called upon to
write her honest experience. Slowly, and
one by one, the various professions have
opened their doors and allowed woman to
enter until very few arts and trades now
remain closed TO her. Is she successful?
Yes, when she is possessed of ability and
perseverance and the many other qualiti-
cations necessary in the battle for daily
bread. Some OF these qualifications are
inherent and others she has TO cultivate.
Women are naturally accurate, consclen
tious and trustworthy. They are Obliged
to cultivate punctuality, perfect control
of their feelings and tongues and a GER
tain amount OF callousness in regard to
the praise or blame of persons outside OF
their immediate employers.
Women have been particularly success
full behind the cashiers desk and vast
amount OF coin daily slips between fair
fingers. Nearly every restaurant has a
bright faced girl who takes your money as
you settle for your luncheon. To be q
successful cashier requires O cool head
and quick fingers, ability to make change
rapidly and to keep ones wits about her
during rush. A dozen impatient men
standing with checks should not cause the
fair cashier to lose her reckonings. The
woman cashier seldom makes mistakes in
changing money; she always has pleas
ant smile for you, and if you pause to ad-
dress a remark to her she will floor" you
by calling you by your name.
You can not imagine how
she found it out, but she
knows it, and she also knows within s. OF
your salary and what you eat. How does
she find it out? That is a mystery, but
she knows il all.
In most of the large dry goods stores
women are at the cashiers desks. One
of the strongest reasons for her employ
ment is that she can always be obtained
for less wages than a man can. She Is
just as accurate as q man and is less liable
to temptation. She does not spend her
nights dissipa.ing and does not come
down late with bad headache in the
morning. She does not yield to the
temptation of walking off with some
of the cash as often as the
sterner sex do, for various reasons. In
the first place her conscience Ia the
strongest safeguard against temptation (;
In the second, she could not board the
first train en- route for Canada and escape
detection il she did. Thirdly, she would
never enjoy the money If she did take 1t.
Women who steal large sums of money
generally do it at tue instlgation OF some
man, whose tool they are. AS q general
thing dry goods firms. in other cities, pre-
fer men in the laces departments, and men
are preferred here in the dress goods de-
partments. These classes OF goods, for some
unknown reason, men sell the most sue
cessfuly. They can handle the heavy bolts
OF goods and display them advantageously.
Men are in the linen depart ;.ents and as
rule in the cloak departments. They are
successful in the shoe departments, Tor
they will assure you unblushingly that a
"No. G i'll this sty lie of shoe runs very
narrow" II you are alter q No. 8 b
last and object, he will urge you to take
No. A because they run wide, or 80 b
as they run short in fact be will make the
same shoe size sma Ter, larger, wider or
narrower TO fit your foot. Women
far outnumber men in the dry
goods stores. There are no women
who follow the profession of
trimming windows. Every large business
house employs professional window
trimmer, whose sole business it is to make
the windows attractive. Some Of these
trimmers travel from place TO place with
their outfits consisting of forms, pulleys,
rods, etc. 1t is no easy task TO invent an
attractive display of goods day after day
There are three styles OF windows--the
art window, wherein goods are symmetric-
ally arranged with regard to color and
form. The art window gives pleasure to
few people, but not to the general
public. Then there is the moving win
dow, wherein tableaux ami living
figures are represented-this window al
ways draws crowd. Then there is the
window which sells the goods, wherein
materials are so displayed that the femi-
nine eye cannot get beyond them. A
woman might direct the trimming of these
windows but she could not do the lifting
that is required
The professions which are oyercrowded
with women are teaching aud slenOgraphy.
In our public schools alone nearly 400
women are enrolled, and all the various
private schools, kindergartens, ETC.,
are taught by women. Women
are employed in the public library be-
cause they are found to do the work much
better than men, making fewer mistakes.
Teaching has long been considered the
only thing which woman could do, and
half the graduates of the city schools eX-
peCI 10 ledCl. III tue bCuOOiS IllS HIcdtcI
number of the supervisors and principals
are women and they are said to be more
exacting in regard to detail and in the
requiring of extra and sometimes unnec-
essary labor than men.
Nearly every Office has hts
stepographers. A girl sets out
with the idea that anybody
can learn shorthand in three months and
earn salary of $50 or $75 month. She
does not enter high school, but goes to
business college and learns rapid system
of shorthand. Then she obtains a posi-
ton in some office to write letters. The
first week convinces her that she needs a
great many things besides shorthand.
She must have a thorough knowledge of
photography, punctuation, grammar, and
a vast amount of general knowledge in
addition to technical terms, of which she
knows nothing. Then she finds that the
SIS and 500 month that looked so large
on the pages of the business college circu-
lar will dwindle down to S. a week be-
cause she is girl. Some of
our young lady stenographers have
been notably successful, among them
Miss Alice Sanger, President Harrison's
stenographer, who Is pointed out as the
woman who can keep secret.
India nolie has ahnut aioht rauu1or