The Kansas blackman., 1894-06-01
TYPE-WRiTERS' NERVES.
There is a New Disease Among the Girls
Who Pound the Key-Board,

There is a New Disease Among the Girls
Who Pound the keyboard.
A woman typewriter sat at that
drear1est of ali tasks, officiating a
| stereotyped letter to be mailed to
various Mayors over the United
States remarks the Ch cago Tribune.
Ihere were 800 letters to be written,
and the young lady had already
finished 300. For one week she had
plodded patiently over the same copy
until she was now a mach Inc herself
moving in the same groove as the
printing apparatus before her.
'Click, P" click, " 'clck," with tiring
but rapid mOnotony her fingers had
gone over the kegs. while IL her
brain went running: "Dear Sir: Find
inclOse copies of our," etc, and Dear
Sir: Fine inclose copies Of our" etc,
and so on to the end. Period, comma,
space. Would she never finish? "Let
me see"-then she counted the num-
Der written that day. "tOrty-nine,
she said, 'and must get so to-day.
Oh, can't | get something eIse?"
Just then her employer pressed the
little alarm at his desk and the
mut1ied sound came like, locust in
May. 1t was welcome noise to the
worker. Her fingers dropped from
the keys with a relief akin to joy
She arose and went into the man
| ayers room.
Miss Grace" he said, II want
another 500 Of those letters written
at once. How long will it take
yOu?"
"The same letter l am now copy
ing?" she asked.
"YeS, exactly the same-onIy to
another list of names"
"'Well, | cannot do them. It is
impossible. l value my health too
much for that l shall have them
done outside any pay for them my
Self-but l cannot-cannOt attempt
such work again"
"But it is necessary that you do
the work. You are familiar with the
copy, you are a rapid worker, and be-
sides do not care to trust my busi-
~esS to outsiders What il the
;rOubIe?"
just this: This letter goes ring
ing through my head from morning
! till night. Gong home | think of
nothing else; coming down 20 the
Office it keeps my brain in a giddy
Whirl, while at night it is a night
mare. I have seen Clara Morris 90
mad on the stage, telling how some
thing or somebody has something to
say to you something to say to you,
until her brain spins around like a
top ard she loses her reason. That is
acting; this is a living reality. / have
scarcely slept tor week thinking OF
that letter to the Mayors, for it is
with me at every thought. EXhaus-
tiGn only augmentS my,torture; read
ing a paper will not rid me of my
specter no matter how interesting
the topic, and find, Dear Sir: in
closed copies, as plainly visible on
the paper as if it were before me on
the machine. lam haunted. literally
haunted by that letter and I would
sacrifice my position rather than even
continue the work have at hand. /
had determined to finish ii copies
more to-day, but your request now
forces me to even decline to do that
much. DON'T ask me please. sirn
And the poor girl drew her apron to
her eyes and sobbed like a child.
The above scene coming to the
knowledge of reporter of the Trl-
bune from the gentleman in question
| himself. tour of inquire was made
among a number Of type writers en-
ployed by some of the leading Offices
in the city and what was learned
only confirmed the story. A gentle
man connected with the Ferris
Wheel Company in the Rookery
| Building, when told about the nerv-
Gus excitement produced on type
writer's by this constant duplication
of the same letter said
Yes, / know it is true Some
months ago we had about 5000 let
tiers to>send out to the leading news
papers all over the country. Now do
you know" the gentleman continued,
''that simple letter was more than
once given up? Yes. sir, and we
| had hard time TO get the number
finished. Two young ladies gave it
up entirely and went away completely
wrought up to a pitch of intense
nervous excitement / shall never
give another type writer work of that
character. Besides, it is of no special
value, anyway. The art OF printing
the sc days has reached such perfec-
! tion that all the standard type
writer's are so closely initiated that
it is only necessary'to Ell in the names
and addresses on the printed letters,
and it's just as good"
At one OF the big type-writing
bureaus the manager said: "The
matter is not new TO Us. Of course
we have agreat deal Of copying to do.
and we keep from 20 to so young
women engaged all the time, but we
never allow any one of them to make
more than % copies Of the same let
ter. Then we take her off of that
work. give it to another, relieving
each in turn until the circle is com
| pleteIY finished"
Continuing, this same manager
said: Many of my employed have
left me on account of the monotOny
of their tasks They made all kinds
of excuses, none of VIII ch / was will
| ing 10 accept so | let those go.
| Then | thought the matter over one
| day when we were nvercrowded. and
/ sat down to run off about 20 copies
of a very pressing order. The mat
ter covered about threc-fOurths Of a
| full-sized letter sheet, and tnat day
though | have speed / nnished about