The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-04-28
CAN YOU TIE A BUNDLEP
II So, You Are Very Remarkable
Woman.


| Women are pretty much alike the world
over when it comes to tying bundles. The
man creature may have his shortcomings,
| but he is our lord and superior when It
comes to wrapping things in paper and
| bandaging it with strings. There is one
| young man in this city who knows how
| true it is, for he has experiences every
| day in the year. Here Is what happened
the other day to a newspaper woman who
| had spent one unhappy hour trying to
| corral dozen magazines. box OF candy,
| and another box containing a pair OF
| baby shoes. She had built them up in a
| Tower of Babel shape, when they very
promptly tunbled after she had wound
| them with about sixteen yards of cord.
| Then she divided the books into two
even heaps, with a box on top of each,
| and sheathed them in a bolt of white tape.
| A young niece offered finger to help
keep the string in place while the news
paper woman tied three different kinds
| of knots, and they had actually carried
| their bundle to the nearest car before the
candy fell out in the womanS lap. After
| tribulations of various kinds they man.
aged to lug the package to an express
company, near the railroad depot, and
present it to the young man in charge.
The woman looked apologize and the
girl giggled as he sized up the bundle and
gave it a contemptuous shove. Ii did not
exactly fall to pieces on the counter, but
it tottered and betrayed other demOralfz-
ing symptoms that caused one of the
guilty parties TO say humble things and
the other to change her giggle to an ir-
repressible smoker. The stony young
man looked as cold and hard as the stone
gods OF Israel and then with another
shove a tribe more contemptuous than
the first, dived~ under the counter and
fished up a tremendous sheet of heavy
brown paper and a ball of thick grey
Irvine. AS he gathered up the rocky COM
binatiou of books and boxes and sheathed
them in their wrapper the two women
N-ada nj her he oil
said something to the effect that she
would know how to do it next time. The
other said, in a sarcastic vein: Il can see
you doing II, right now The man said
nothing, but kept Keeling off Irvine.
Then a sympathetic sound came from the
dingy shadows of the dark little Office,
and a man who had been sitting on a
high stool before a counter writing things
in q ledger sauntered over and looked on.
BY that time the stony man, who had
almost finished, was beginning to lose his
petritied look and assume the expression
of a man and brother. The company
pays for the paper and twine," he re-
marked, at last, with noble attempt at
forglveness-in the direction of the girl
and her giggles-"and l don't mind the
extra work.
I'm afraid I made stupid botch of
1t" acknowledged the newspaper woman.
plaintively holding out s. bill. land Of
course l want to pay extra for the pack
ing"
The mans eye fell on the bill. and his
really Iilt COunItUdnCe began 10 grow
rigid again as he plunged into his pocket
and brought to the surface about change
enough for a dollar.
Thirty cents from five dollars" he
growled at the man standing by. The
woman, feeling something like thirty
cents herself, frantically burrowed into
her purse, but the other man had the
change all right. and the tyer of bundles
smiled. It's all right. he said genially,
as he paid over the money, II never saw
n woman yet that knew just how to tie
bundle for eXpressng-you see, it isn't in
your line"
That was all there was to the incident
but the newspaper woman knew lust as
well what was going on in that young
mans mind as he went through the proc
ess of fixing that package as if she had
been inside his head. First he was mad
and disguised. Then he began to make
allowances, and finally his good nature
all the same the woman
went away convinced that he believed
that the woman doesn't live who can tie
a bundle As to the girl-well, she just
kept on giggling.