The evening times., 1898-07-02
PLHINT OF a
WEARY WOMAN
Wants People to Attend to
Their Own Affairs.
Seenan q Simple Thing to Do. But
She Finds That Ii IL Be. Ond
Some People.

~ lduy Who HdS a 6iSdt uSai ~ w.
and does 1t well. asked me to voice her
woes. And do it in her own words. as
nearly as / can:
~ do not ask for ease and idleness.
nor do / expect others to do my work.
But what do want is that people should
know and accomplish their own duties.
and leave me time to attend to mine. A
busy woman has enough to occupy ali
her time with the responsibilities which
concern her alone. But because other
people do not take the same pains with
theirs, her work is doubled.
This morning l started out to do sew
en- errands Five of them were superffu-
aus. One was to tell the grocer that out
of twenty-four eggs twenty-five were
bad. Another ftO have some corrections
made in a cab bill, In which / was charg-
ed for several cabs I had never had. A
third was to return some lace. which was
not what I had bought. The other two
were 10 correct similar mistakes. II
the grocer. the cabman. the dry goods
house and the other merchants had at
tended to their own business. 1t would
not have been necessary for me to neg
lect my own to look after their mis-
takes. A woman is supposed to know
her own duties. and all her trades peo-
pies. too.
IAN institution which takes more time
than it saves is the messenger service.
One would think that the boys are en-
ployed to do errands quickly. One was
summoned the other day to take book
to a sick woman who wanted II at once.
Her nurse was waiting to read to her. In
about half an hour boy slouched lazily
in. 4 want you to take this book at once
to lO3 Beach Street. Where's your card?
a ,.,lr Iax a faIPnhOneI
Why do you want a telephone? Where's
your book?' L didn't bring no book.
Well. the telephone is at the end OF
the hall. the maid will show you Six
minutes later the boy was still standing
in the hall. looking lazily for the tele-
phone. Ten minutes more and he had
succeeded in calling up the office and as
certaining the amount due for the dis
tance. But not before he had brought
some one to the instrument. forgotten
the street and number given him. rung
off, came back for the address, and call
ed up the office all over again. And yet
messenger boys are supposed TO be en-
ployed for their celerity. If that boy had
known his business he would have ap-
peared in ten minutes. not thirty. his
book would have been in his pocket. and
he would have returned to his messenger
office at exactly the moment when he
really left il TO answer the call
.It is the same way with every hing
else A contractor takes charge of the
repapering and vanishing of your house.
He is paid TO spare You the trouble OF
ordering the workmen yourself. On a
sheet of paper you write down every
thing that is to be done. and 90 your
way rejoicing. AT noon you come in eN-
pecting to find one room papered. Not
IT all. nothing has beeen done-the men
hal hot
then has to be wasted in telephoninS
the man into whose hands you had put
the affair The men will be there at
o'clock ready to start work at once. he
promises. In order that no mistakes
will be made. although you have an i'm
portant engagement at 2:31. you wait
until the men appear-after O'Clock
and behold. The workman bring with
them the pots and brushes for varnish-
ing the floor. The paperers are busy to-
day. They will come tomorrow they
gaily explain. But how can they work
on a newly Vanished door, You in
quire with freezing sarcasm. Another
hour at the telephone. and your whole
afternoon is gone. The next day the
paper hangers arrive and scrape the old
paper of the wall of the room which Is
to have the new pink paper. Then they
start to put on the green paper which
whole roll has been put on when you
drop in. distrusting them on principe.
A whole afternoons work wasted. be-
cause all the green paper has been cut
to go in the bedroom. and can't possibly
be used in the hall. The afternoon gone.
to say nothing of the paper.
There seems to be no remedy for this
sort of thing. Houses never are built
on time, and never will be. In the exact
business each man has his own work.
which must be performed to the minute.
No running over time or making mistakes
there, Suppose each performer in an or
chestra had a smattering only of his own
part, and needed prompting at that! The
conductor would wave his baton. and no
one would begin. each musician waiting
for another to start, and finally all cIang
ing at once. The first violin scrambing
over a difficult trill on F sharp. while the
trombone insisted upon believing on G
natural. and all the other instruments
stumbling over difficult portions of the
symphony before them. 1t would sound like
the clowns band in the circus. And sup
pose none of the actors in play knew
their lines well enough to give the cues
to the other players or to recognize their
own cues when they heard them. The
prompter would have to read the play
all the way through. with bitches every
time an actor had to begin sentence.
Soldiers and sailors are less left to
their own discretion than any other men.
All they are requested to do is TO obey
orders. And yet what would happen If
they dawClled over the reloading of can
non or Of halting or moving when they
were ordered? Suppose soldier were
ted TO clean his gun. The next morning
the gun would be dirty again. why
liaven't you cleaned your rifie?' I did IT
yesterday. You didn't tell me this MORN
ing And how could soldier ever be
promoted If he knew only his own small
duties and nothing more? He has to keep
his eyes and ears open and learn all he
can about other peoples work. and not
contine himself to counter-marching and
keeping his arms and accoutrements in
order. To point my moral with real
case. there are the seven men who went
with Hobson on his gallant mission. All
of them have been promoted. Two of the
number-ma chinists-have been made
chief machinists. Think in what peril the
ships and sailors in them would be il
these new chiefs did not know their bus
mess perfectly, and needed some higher
authority to order their movements
when they themselves were the highest
authority on account of their promotions!'