The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-07-08

There goes the father Of the typewriter
girl. Don't you see him-that little old
gentleman with the twinkling blue eyes
and the gray beard?"
This is the remark that is buZzed
about almost every time Thomas G.
Shearman the Wall street lawyer, steps
into crowded elevator or walks through
the corridors of the big Wall street Of
flee buildings or passes along the street
at the luncheon hour, for every stenog-
rapher and typewriter girl In that sec
ton of the town knows Father Shear
man." as he is often called.
Eyes, l am the father of the feminine
typewriter" said Mr. Sherman to a New
York Herald reporter, land 1 am mighty
proud of the distinction, as l am like
wise proud of MY big family of girls
Haven't the least idea how many there
are of them now, but they number tens
and tens of thousands, know, and they
are scattered all over the globe, from
New York to Manila, and from Cape
Nome to South Africa. Twenty five
years ago there was none anywhere in
the world.
I'm 1876 the typewriter woman was
born. In that year a young woman, the
died but a short time before, came to
me with the information that she was
going to go out into the world and earn
her own living She asked my advice.
and l told her to STUDY shorthand. This
she did Immediately, and while doing so
l instructed her in the use of the type
writing machine at my own home.
when she had completed her course
at a business college she announced her
intention of trying to get employment IN
a lawyers office. Thinking it would be
better to begin business life with
strangers, 1 applied TO several Of my
friends here In Wall street, including
some of the best known lawyers in the
city, but, without exception, they posi-
lively refused to entertain the Idea. In
fact, they were horror stricken at the
very suggestion of such a thing.
"Then, as 1 had been the one to ad-
wise the young woman to take the ster
that she had, there was nothing left for
me to do but make a place for her in my
own Office. advising her to obtain another
position as soon as she could. At that
time no woman was employed in any
law Office in any capacity, but after one
example had been set 1t was followed
within two years by few other law
yers, and one of the very law firms that
had originally refused, with positive ter
ror to employ the young woman, now
sent for her and gave her very liberal
salary for those times. She became pri-
vate secretary of the head of the firm,
and was employed In much confidential
and important work.
'1t was in this capacity that the young
woman showed the superiority Of one of
her sex as confidential secretary to a
Wall street man. Despite all the jokes
that are being everlastingly made about
woman's inability to keep a secret, 1t Is
a patent fact to all Wall street that its
secrets are sacred when intrusted to its
women stenographers and secretaries.
The woman typewriter never utilizes her
knowledge of the markets to make
money for herself, and she never sells
information on Wall street. When a
Wall street broker employs young
woman to do his correspondence he has
the satisfaction of believing that she will
carry no uncomfortable secrets about
with her, FOR she has the valuable fac
ulty of Immediately forgetting all that
she is not supposed to know.
when the lawyer with whom this
young woman worked for many years
retired from practice she removed TO
Chicago, where she speedily obtained en-
ployment, earning $40 a week for the first
year, and afterward, by working in two
places, one in the day and the other In