Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1892-01-14
A TYPEWRITER'S LIFE.
4 Matter-of-Fact Calling, Varied by an
Occasional Romance.

4 Matter-of-Fact Calling, Varied by an
Occasional Romance.
"Many people suppose that we type
writer's write letters only from dicta-
tion," said fair manipulation of the
type keys at one of the big downtown
hotels. "but that is mistake. A
large proportion of my patrons are
business men who are accustomed to
debating letters, and who rattle off
their work in very matter-of- fact
way; but not small percentage of
them cannot dictate an intelligent,
readable letter at all and | am forced
to compose as well as write. Very
often people drop in here and say:
Just dash off a note to James Brown,
Russell House, Detroit, making some
sort of an excuse for not meeting him
in Cleveland last week-anything
will do, so it will $50" with him. or,
Drop a line to my house-Blank &
Co., Pittsburg giving them my
regular monthly report. Tell 'em
business is good and outlook tiptop;
make it strong, you know; work in a
little boom for yours truly that will
leave me solid. Now this leaves me
a very wide latitude, as you see. But |
often go further than this and answer
letters without having any guide
whatever. A man simply hands me
letter from his wife and says: AN
swer that for me. Put in lots of
sugar and say whatever you like or
he gives me an address and says:
Get me up bright, readable letter;
/ don't care what you say.
Nov, this may be satisfactory to
those who send such letters and those
who receive them, but | do not like
to do such work and never do it if [
can avoid it. But it is all matter
of business with me, ! assure you,
without a trace of sentiment mixed
up in it.
"The newspapers have great deal
to say about the conquests of the
typewriter girl but they do not
know what they are talking about,
that's all. l have been here nearly
three years now, and / have just one
solitary bit of sentiment to break the
monotony Of business.
about year ago a gOOd-natured
Irishman who is employed at the
hotel here came to me and said he
could neither read nor write, but
wanted me to write letter for him,
inviting one of the chambermaids to
attend a dance on the West Side.
1t was done in short order and the
Door fellow was SO pleased with it
that [ refused to accept any pay for
the work, and offered to read the an
swer just as soon as he should bring
it to me. The next day one of the
chambermaids came to me and asked
me to write letter accepting an in
yitation to a dance. She had been
able to spell out the precious message
that the postman had unexpectedly
brought her, and wanted to send an
equally neat and polite reply. So l
answered my own letter by proxy.
after that an epistolary lombard
ment was commenced, and | furnish
ed the ammunition for both sides. /
| will confess that [ grew greatly inter
ested in the contest. Both of my
patrons were desperately in love with
each other, and as the management
of their amours devolved upon me [
handled the matter as delicately and
automatically as [ could. Can you
blame me if [ occasionally gave them
a chance to learn from experience
that the course of true love never
runs SmOOthly?'
well, right or wrong, did it; and
after mixing into the case about as
many lovers quarrels as l thought
would add Zest to the wooing, and
untangling all the snarls | had pur-
posely made, l brought the play to an
end by writing proposal and it's ac-
ceptance, and was rewarded for my
work as a matchmaker by an invita-
ton to the wedding. 1t was all the
pay | deserved practice is worth
something in such matters, you
know. New York Journal.