The record-union., 1891-02-17
CLEVER AMERICAN WOMEN.
One Pretty Woman's Advent Into
Journalism.
She Wrote Well and Didn't Know It-A
Society Girl With Brafns-The Ven
cradle Mother of Stenography-The
Only Woman Author OF a System of
Shorthand int the World.

only Woman Author or system OF
Shorthand int the World.
Regular correspondence of the iREcoRD-
UNION. Copyright, 1891
Mrs. Julia Hayes Percy of the World,
a pretty and accomplished woman, is
-hereabout considered one of the best all
around newspaper workers on the met
ropolitan press. Every kind of work
from interviewing murderers in the
Tombs to doing the gowns of a Nc
Allister ball has been assigned her, or,
more to the point she has done every
thing that man or woman could do on
the paper. During the excitement at
tending the Giblin trial and reprieve,
letters frequently came to the World
office addressed to J. H. Percy, ESQ.,, the
writers thinking the reporter on the case
to be man. 1t was Mrs. Percy who did
all the work, and, with the editors of the
paper, was instrumental in having the
young mans sentence commuted to life
imprisonment. There were extenuatlng
circumstances in the case of Giblin, and
since the poor fellows incarceration Mrs.
Percy has frequently said: II have not
yet finished the work. She means
some time in the future, to exert her in
huence toward getting full pardon for
the unfortunate fellow.
In Chapter V. of General Booths
ticle from the World, by Mrs. Julia
Hayes Percy, on Cherry Hill Alleys" a
remarkably well written sketch of New
York's ''Whitechapel."
Some years ago Mrs. Percy went to
Europe, where she spent considerable
iciti md SIN fhn md
surroundings of the ''otf1er half.''
In practical charity about the city she
has on more than one oc casion manifested
her practicality and great exertive ability.
The doll show she got up last December
was the finest thing of the kind attempted
here. 1t took several weeks Of incessant
and arduous planning and work, but
when the doors were finally thrown open
the public beheld a wonderful panorama
of mute ladies and gentlemen fantastic
ally, quantity and exquisitely dressed by
people from all parts of the world. Those
readers who have helped to get up fairs
know something about the irritation and
veXation which such exhibitions beget,
and it is only those with. this experience
who will appreciate Mrs. Percy's saint
like patience and rare taste in getting up
this doll show, which ra for three weeks
and occupied two imme nse floors of the
Judge building, on Fifth avenue. The
400 Hocked to see it; yes, and so did the
1000, and the 10000. M RS. Percy did not
find much difficulty in making her way
as a journalist. This was partly due to a
charming personality, and partly to an
auspicious introduction to the editor of
the World by another well-known Jour-
naliSt.
terest in the Little amusement Gazette,
and, like certain men W ho buy interests
in papers, thought she would do some of
the writing, but, fearful of criticism. took
good care to conceal her identity.
One day she met her friend, Joseph
Howard, Jr., on the street.
Il hear" said Mr.. III oward, ''that you
nave purchased an int crest in the Little
Amusement Gazette. Is it ?''
Mrs. Percy admitted that she was
partner in the concern.
Perhaps then, y persisted Joseph, "you
can tell me who writes those reminiscent
sketches of the theaters. The one on the
Academy of Music is real clever. l cut it
out and pasted it in my scrap-book."
Mrs. Percy lmeekly)--'I write them"
You do? Why, you ought to write for
the World. Come down, and Pll intro
duce you.'
For time Mrs. Percy was the New
York correspondent of tn e. st. Louis Post
Dispatch.
Personally, she is a woman of most
charming and affable manners, a tall and
graceful figure, large, sof6, dark eyes, and
luXuriant dark hair, slightly tinged with
silver, which adds charm and piquancy
to the youthful face.
Mrs. Percy, who is a. born and bred
New Yorker, is something of an artist,
and Treasurer of the Women's Press
Club.
MISS NETTIE II ooPER.
Miss Nettie Hooper, -brainy and witty
society girl, with fresh English com
plexion and figure. sylph-like in it's
graces and proportions, is the daughter
of / II fhn
paper correspondent, and of Robert NJ .
Hooper, our Vice Consul to Paris. Miss
Hooper is spending the winter in New
York, as the guest of Mrs. Frank Leslie.
Although feted and fiattered for several
seasons by the beau-monde of London
and Paris, this charming girl retains all
the sterling qualities of Priscilla Prue''
and all the simplicity and freshness of a
debutante. She is SO well bred and sensi-
BILE that no amount of adulation and in
dulgence Will spoil her, and were she to
remain in society twenty seasons she
would never become tiresome or passe.
But it was last year that the young lady
evinced her business qualifications
by coming to this country and max
ing her debut in her mothers play
in order to show the people What
a good thing it was. This she did at a
matinee in the Madison Square Theater.
In selling the play to Maud Granger,
Miss Hooper transacted every detail of
lIlc DuslutSS ueISoll EolIe udS great IT,,
but disinclination and not
over-robust physique precludes all
hopes of stage career. She is a
pupil of Dupont-Vernon, of the Comedie
Francaise, and of Talien, of the Odeon.
She also studied English elocution with
her fathers old friend, Herman Vezinin,
of London. AS an actress of high comedy
parts and droll and humorous mono
logues she is inimitable. At every re-
ception she appears this winter the "Bos-
ton Grip is called for. This she recites
with look and gesture exceedingly droll
and funny. For the benefit of those who
cannot hear her recite it, here it is:
Where are you going, my pretty maid?p
Il am going to the lecture, SIR" She said
"What is your fortune, my pretty maid?u
MY learning Is my fortune, sir" she said
"Then can't marry you, my pretty maid,
'Boston girls don't marry, sir,' she said
Miss Hooper was born in Philadelphia.
but her mother was a Virginia heiress
and her father native of Maryland.
More than half of her life has been spent
abroad.
MRS. ELIZA B. BURNZ
Mrs. B. Eliza Burnz, the author of the
BurnZ system of shorthand, has probably
fitted more young men and women for
business careers than any other one
teacher in the country.
The Phonographic World places her in
the front rank of all women engaged in
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