Huntsville gazette., 1893-07-29
IN WOMAN'S BEHALF.
woMAN'S INEFFlCIENCY.
Her Employers Are Usually to Blame
For If.

For 1t.
''It strikes me- said philanthropic
woman who has had great opportun-
tiles for observation and who, it may
be said, always makes good use of it,
'.that there is good deal of very short
sighted criticism in the talk about the
airs of superiority that women type
writers and clerks in offices take upon
themselves. That they do assume these
airs | am perfectly willing to admit,
but when this statement is made l
would like to see honest treatment of
the case and the true reason why this
is so.
lone morning not long since / had
occasion to wait for lawyer eminent
in his profession, middle-aged man
and one who has for years had num-
bers of men and women in his employ.
while sat in the room occupied by
the young woman who filled the posi-
ton of typewriter, | had, as it happen
ed, seated myself in such location
that could not be seen from the en-
trancedoor. When, therefore, the
proprietor of the Office entered, no one
was visible but an exceptionally inter
esting young woman in an exceedingly
becoming dress of dark blue with trim
mings of white and the daintiest of
linen collar and cuffs. An intelligent
face, bands of glossy brown hair with
little soft curls around the forehead,
no ornaments except an exquisite
bunch of flowers at her belt, all max
ing up picture as pleasing as rather
blase middle-aged man would care to
look upon. This man came in, closed
the door, walked up to the desk and in
an exceedingly gentle and carefully
modulated tone said:
"'Good morning, dearie. You are
looking as sweet as peach this morn
ing; hope you feel better than you did
yesterday
'''Yes, thank you she said, with an
upward turn of her eyes, most ex-
pressive pair, by the way.
Nothing more was said, the man
passed into the inner office, removed
his hat and coat and put on his Of
flee jacket, and prepared for the
days work The Office filled up rapidly
with clients, and it would have been
difficult to reconcile the somewhat i'm
perious and peremptory tone of the
man of business with the cooling ca
dence of that good morning dearie. ;
Shortly after the lawyer and | were
guests at the same house During the
evening the conversation turned upon
woman-clerks, and this man delivered
himself of an opinion that amused me.
He said that women were all very well,
indeed did quite as well as could be ex-
pected but that they seemed to de-
mand more or less petting, coddling
and favors; they liked to be waited upon
and took advantage of circumstances
to shirk their duties and slight their
work. He had employed them, indeed
had number of them in his Office at
the time, and that was his experience
with them. They were less prompt
and business-like in their methods than
men AMI altogether in some respects
not as Pleasant employees; of course they
were pretty and agreeable to have
around, much more so than men, but
when one came right down to business
there were objections to them.
Il couldn't rcpress a smile as | won
dered what sort of man-clerks that gen.
tleman would have had if he had petted
them and 'dearied' them and compli-
mented them as he did that twenty
year-old typewriter that heard him
talking to that morning. Now, the gist
of the whsle matter is this: These men
employ woman clerks and typewriters,
ffirt with them, make pretty speeches
to them, and in some cases, act ex-
tremely silly over them, then criticise
them because they take advantage, as
they claim of the fact that they are
women. Now, what / want to know
is who's to blame for it all? Certainly,
no person with common sense could
say that the girl is, for from the very
beginning She is made a pet and a
plaything of-by spells. Any one who
knows the least bit about human ma
ture is well aware that you can not dis
cipline one minute and relax rules the
next and have any regularity of con-
duct. ! do not say that all men do
these things. l do not know whether
they do or not, neither do / care; but
do know thaJ the women who take the
most liberty with their employers are
those with whom the employers make
most free, AID inefficient service is just
as inevitably the result of this as that
the sun rises and SETS There are a
good many other things that may be
said in justice to woman employees, but
this one instance aptly illustrates one
of the most Elaring of the abSurdities
that are apparent in the talk about
women in business. IN. Y. Ledger.