Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1894-06-25
THERE ARE NEARLY 1000 FETzALE
CLERKS IN WASHINGTON.
They Are Scattered All Through the
Dcpartmcnts-Thc Varied Work
They Do-Cupid Also at Work.

rs 10 aIl CluSSGS Ol "OFh WHICH Uley
can possibly do, reserving only the
harder places for the men. As it is,
however, there are two men to every
woman i'll the departments, and the
number of women all told amounts to
less than 1000. These women are of
all ages, from eighteen to eighty, and
there is, by the way, one woman in
the Treasury Department vino has
now reached ninety years. There are
many women over sixty and hundreds
of sweet young maidens of twenty
five. These women do all sorts of
work. Starting in as counters in the
Treasury about generation ago, they
have extended their work to all sorts
of clerkships, and they now pass upon
questions of law, examine patents,
translate foreign languages, and do
everything under the sun. Some of
the most expert counters of the Gov
ernment are women, and several of
the very best bookkeepers of the
Treasury wear petticoats. Women are
fast making their way as typewriters
and stcnographers, and the chief
trouble to the outside employer of
labor Mt Washington is that as soon as
he trains u woman thoroughly into his
work as typewriter or stenographer
she makes an application to Uncle
Sam and gets Il place at q higher salary
in one OF the departments. ] have
had this experience happen to me n
half dozen times, and | have come to
look upon my Office here as kind OF
training school for the Government
service. In the dead letter Office the
most expert translators of bad writing
are women, and it would surprise you
10 know that the Treasury Depart
ment has woman lawyer who pre-
parcs the briefs for internal revenue
mltters and who could probably make
more outside of the department by
practicing law than she gets by acting
rs law clerk within it. There are II
number OF women editors in the SER
vice ut Washington. The official rec
ords Of the Civil War are to certain
extent gotten up by women, and in
tie Navy Depa ,tment you find women
who are making maps and tracing
charts for our ships in different parts
OF the world, and in the Government
printing Office there are women type
settlers, women stitchers. press feeders
and compositors.
Everyone has heard OF the pretty
girls Of the Treasury, but you find
beautiful maiiens in all of these Gov
ernment departments. Hoke Smith
directs the hGndiwork of 1900 girls,
and Secretary Lamont has q company
OF ia in his department OF war. Post
master-General Bissell has hundreds of
maidens under him, and i'll the Gov
ernmcnt printing office there are more
than 1000 women. Many of these
come Of the best families of the coun-
try. Not few are the daughters of
noted Generals, Governors OF States,
Senators and Representatives and now
and then you find relative Of Presi-
dent or Cabinet Minister. The ma
iority OF them are women of good edu-
cation, and with but few exceptions
they are educated and refined ladies'.
Ihey receive salaries ranging from
S12O to $500 year, and n large num-
Der of them support families. Many
OF them are widows, not few are old
maids, and thousands are sweet mar
riageable young women, who have too
much sense to change sure living un-
der Uncle Sam TO q prospective one in
company with some good-Gor-nothing
man. The best of them are, however,
open to engagements, and not few
OF the most notable marriages OF Wash
ington in the past have been IN con-
nection with Govern nient clerks. At
torney-Geaerll Brewster got his wife,
whose features were Fenus-like IN their
beauty, in II Government department
here. She was the daughter Of Robert
J. Walker, IL former Secretary of the
Treasury, and us she sat Mt her desk
one day in the Treasury department
the future Attorney-General walked
through the room. She made some
remark about his LONELINESS. [ do not
know whether Brewster overheard it
N not, but he snw her, and with him
1t was II case Of love at first sight He
SOUGHT an Introduction and shortly Gf
terward offered her his hand and his
wealth. and his name for herself and
her chl!dren. II is said that he pro-
posed to her in words something like
this: "My dear, you are beautiful
and am hideous, but If you will marry
ne it will not be the first Instance o.
he mating of beauty and the beast,
and | assure you you will never regret
marrving me. Ills proposition was
accepted, and the next time Mrs Brew
ster came to Washington il WAS rs the
wife Of the Attorney-Gencral of the
United States. Stephen A. Douglas
,ot his wife in one Of the departments
of Washington.
1t is Il wonder TO me that there are
not moro marriages among clerks.
Young men and young women OF mar
riageable age work side by side in the
departments. They come in contact
with each other hourly and sometimes
fall in love with one another, but not
often. In the bureau CT engraving
and printing, where the money is
made, there is one man and one wo-
man at every DrintinU Drpsg and thnrn