Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1899-06-01
AN UNPROFITABLE HURRY.
BY FRANK M. BfCKNELL.

bid for large contract-an unusual
ly large one, 1 infer-which they are
hoping to secure shortly. They asked
for bedrock figures, and I gave them
our very lowest. Now those castings
there, which l intended to quote at fif-
teen cents, they are going to want a
great many Of thousands, in fact-and
at fifteen cents we should make one
cent profit, while at thirteen we should
sustain corresponding loss. So you
see If they have gone ahead and put
in their bid on basis of thirteen
cents we naturally shall have to stand
back of our figures, and-well," )" he
concluded, significantly, sit will mako
difference to us.
eyes. sir" assented the girl, in faint
tones.
"That's wretchedly poor copy,
Miss Chad bourne" he remarked after
few seconds of uncomfortable silence
uncomfortable to her, at least. "You
must speak to George. He is getting
to be unpardonably careless. He's
thinking too much about his own con-
Germs, fear"
"Y-yes, SIR" stammered Mildred,
reddening furiously. 'I will mean
Mr.. Vaughn, to tell the truth,
George didn't take that copy. He
happened not to be about, and SO
took ii.
'Indeed" said her employer, with
an accent that caused her to flush still
more: but to her relief he made no fur
ther comments. "Well," he con-
cluded, shutting up the letter book,
II don't see what we can do about it
now. Thirteen is held to be an un-
lucky number, and it would be partic-
ularly so here. Let us hope this non
descript blotch stands for five."
Mildred went home that night al
most wishing she had never been
born. Nearly month now she had
been with Theophilus Vaughn & Co.
it was her first situation and she
had begun to fatter herself, with rea-
son, that she was giving satisfaction.
At the end of her first week Mr.. Vaughn
had gone so far as to tell her so.
81 rather think you will suit u.s."
he said. ''You are quick, accurate, and
you can spell.
''Thank you, sir; I hope know
something about spelling," was her
wondering response.
"The young lady who preceded you
knew something about spelling" pro-
ceeded Mr.. Vaughn, with queer shrug,
"and proved the truth of the familiar
assertion that little knowledge may
be dangerous thing. 'See herel'
and opening the letter book he showed
her the copy of letter of about
dozen lines in which he had under
scored with pencil three misspelled
words, and words not usually consid-
cred hard" ones, either.
81 shouldn't want to employ stem
ographer who was obliged to consult
the dictionary continually" he went
on, 'but one who didn't know enough
to look in it when she ought wouldn't
have at any price. A girl who can't
spell, or who can't learn to spell,
misses her vocation when she starts
out to become stenographer.
"You would perhaps be surprised at
the number of such cases there are,
Miss Chadbourne, he proceeded.
"Girls who have had only common
school education and have neglected
their opportunities at that, whose
knowledge of spelling and grammar is
wofully deficient, and who couldn't
write presentable letter to one of
their own friends to save their lives,
and yet who expect to do the corre-
in
rooml A stenographer who has to be
watched continually, lest she send out
something like this thing here-a let
ter that any reputable house would
blush for such stenographer -
well, I have no use for her.
Now, as she took her homeward
way, Mildred reflected upon these
words OF her employer, realizing with
shame and contrition that she had
been guilty of sending out on one of
Theophilus Vaughn 6 Co.'S letter
heads ''thing for which any repu-
table house would blush" There
were no misspelled words there, the
grammar was faultless, the sentences
properly constructed, and every figure
in it, with the possible exception OF
the blurred one, had been set down
correctly; yet to send off such letter
"a letter that looked as if it had been
left lying ont overnight in the rain
was discourtesy toward the firms
correspondents that barely fell short
of an insult
That evening occurred the party to