The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1895-01-16
A Business Woman.

She devotes much of her personal time and
large sums Of money to charitable and
philanthropio movements. She has made
thorough study of the business interests
intrusted to her as executrix at the death
of her husband She is at the same time
fully informed in regard to the smallest
household item.
This necessarily involves an immense
amount of real hard work, so that in this
instance the life of rich woman is not
the easy, rose padded existence which
many women of limited means imagine.
Even in giving away her money Mrs.
Hearst regards it a matter of principal to
investigate the appeals for aid, which
come to her in vast nunb ers, lest by Civ
ing indiscriminately she may foster idle
ness and vice rather than relieve real need.
This, of course, necessitates seeing a great
many persons, writing letters of investi-
cation and the granting or refusing of the
various requests. This latter duty draws
in no little degree upon Mrs. Hearst's
strength because her sympathies are easily
touched. She never refuses to see any one
who may call unless she is actually indis-
posed. She also insists upon opening her
own letters although she has two private
secretaries.
When her friends demonstrated with her
in regard to this, she replied: ut is a duty
which l owe to my friends. How can l
tell what they may wish to write me of
the grief and sorrow which may have crept
into their lives, and which they would not
have any one else see except myself No
AS long as 1 can see 1 shall read my own
letters"
Mrs. Hearst as business woman is
i,,to in bo
ment of the condition of working women
in this country. When the subject was
brought up before her recently, she said:
II wish some one would impress upon the
minds of women who desire to or are
forced to earn their own living the neces-
sity of doing their work well-of prepar-
ing themselves to render excellent service,
no matter where they are employed. be-
come very much discouraged sometimes in
trying to aid women who wish to work.
Not long ago young woman applied to
me as q seamstress. l told her that had
nothing except plain sewing, but that l
would pay her fair wages for that. When
the work came home, it was so poorly done
that every bit of it had to be ripped apart
and remade in the house before it could
be used at all
II had the same trouble in finding
good stenographer. l tried Is before l
! could find one who was really capable of
/ filling the position of private secretary.
Young ladies who came to me with high
recommendations were unable to form com
| plete sentences. In some cases their gram
mar was execrable and their spelling
worse They may have considered their
| deficiencies in those respects unimportant,
| yet they cannot deny but that they are
certainly very noticeable
"Then, again, l receive great many
| letters which require substantially the
same form of answer. l wanted a secre-
tary to whom 1 could say Answer this in
| the negative or affirmative, as the case
demanded. They would either be brusque
in saying No'-a thing which l will not
pcrmit--or give wrong impressions as to
my intentions. One young woman was
capable in every respect, but she had one
fault which every business woman ought
to avoid She talked about the business
transactions which took place in the office.
found that everybody else knew as much
or more about my business than did. l
did succeed at last in finding a secretary
who understood her business and is dis
Greet. She has been with me some time
now and appreciate her I do wish that
young women could be made to feel very
keenly that if they would succeed they
| must learn their business thoroughly"
Mrs. Hearst believes in applying bust
ness methods to housekeeping as well.
Her house account books are as carefully
kept as her ledgers in the office Every
piece of linen that goes to the laundry, ev-
cry cent expended, is carefully noted, so
that she knows exactly what she has in
the house. She experienced as much diff
Guilty in securing good housekeeper as in
finding a good secretary. She binds her
argument upon systematic housekeeping
with the remark, IF you have good
things, you should take care of them"
She never asks from others what she
does not practice herself. AS a business
woman she is very methodical and pains
taking In selecting the books for the
libraries which she put in at Leads City,
S. d., and at Anaconda she looked over
volume after volume, spending hours at
the book stores
mo matter how much or how little a
book costs, she said, lit is important to
know that the print is good and that the
book is complete"
She had helped her husband in his bust
ness correspondence, so that at his death
she had general knowledge of his affairs,
That, however, did not satisfy her. She
felt that she must become conversant with
all the details. She spent certain mum
Der of hours each day in the Office receiv-
ing instructions from her business man
ager and her lawyer. Then she visited the
different parts of her vast estate. She spent
days going through the great mines at
Anaconda, descending to the thousand
foot level passing through tunnels, visit
ing the stamp mills, the shelters, learn
ing the different terms used in mining, Sc
that she could understand the report,
which were sent in. She did the SAINT
thing at the other mines, especially hel
gold mines in the Black Hills. She went
to her fruit ranch and her great dairy
farm, where she controls seven diaries
with 100 cows each. She consulted with
farmers about pruning and grating trees
inspected cheese, butter and milk ant
looked after the cattle with the same in
terest She has two beautiful homes on,
in Washington, the other in California
but her busy life leaves her but little TIM
, to enjoy them now. Her only periods o
I real rest are when she is on the cars or OF