Evening star., 1902-02-15
THE FORCE OF HABIT

| You'll have observed that most Of the
| quite new young men who come to Wash
ington in the capacity of correspondents for
| newspapers sit them down and write a 10.
| OF sweeping generalizations about the cler
| ical force of the government departments
| after they've spent whole week in look
| ing the situation over.' remarked ruddy
| faced, cheery-lookirg man who has put in
over quarter of century on one revolv
| ing chair in a downtown department. "One
or the features that these haphazar1
| youths dwell upon with great insistence IS
the deadly routine of the clerks lives,
| which they say converts the old-time en-
| ployes Of the government into mere autom-
| atoms or mannikns or marionettes or what
not and they go so far as to state that this
| hCTrlDle relteration of the Self-Same daily
| grind stamps a certain look Of pallor on
| me cotntenances of many of the clerks and
| causes lot of them to regret that they
| hadnt gone after jobs as hod-carriers or a.
performers Of PLAIN sewing before consent
ing to be transformed into machines by
| the government.
| All of which is tommyrot OF a sort so
| slnguiarly wide Of the mark as to be a
| source of amusement to the comfortably
| placed old-ttmers. men and women. in the
| service OF the government in Washington
The sc-ca1led deadly routine at length be-
comes SO much q part of the actual exist
| ence of the Old-time clerk that he--or She
| experiences certain mournful geneness or
| ahsentness, so to speak, when the grind s
| broken for even q day by sickness or by
| detention from the old familiar desk
| through any other cause. / speak not only
| OF my own case. but of those OF scores of
id-timers in the government service Of
Doth sexes, with whom | have compared
| notes on the subject. l have lost few days
| from my department since l first became
government clerk. but I don't hesitate to
say that every one Of these days a
fnr NnA
| am any more fond of working than my
| nelghbors, but that. somehow another, /
| seemed to have been thrown out Of gear or
| alignment, seemed to be outNide the breast
Works. seemed to be marooned on the little
| Island of Nothing Doing and felt as It
| were, as IL had lost name. mess number
| and hammock billet and didn't figure for
| shucks in the game Of life any more. Even
When I've gone away my annual leave
| We experienced certain sort of restless
| ness along toward the end of the vacation.
and have wondered what they were all do
| ing nack In the little old work room. When
| the scGeme was prominent for the pension
| lEg of of the old-time clerks / found my
| Sell wondering how on earth Id contrive to
get through the weekdays with comfort
ana content. should the pensioning- off prop
osltlon happen to go through, and the pros
| pect OF suddenly reliquishing the deadly
| grind was far from pleasant contempla-
tion for
"The regular and inevitable little old pro-
| gram OF my workaday existence as a gov
| efnment clerk has. / veritably believe be-
| cGme almost as important a part of my
| entity as my breakfast or my breathing
| apparatus. l like the walk down on fine
| mornings. or even the walk OF two blocks
70 the car on stormy mornings. l meet
! Just about the same kindy-nodding old
| friends every morning, and am so familiar
| with their countenances that can tell at
| glance whether they're feeling well or a
bit under the weather. l enjoy swinging
into the old building and the good morn
nf tha .f11,o,
There's certain distinctive aroma as Of
musty old records. permeating the corridor
leading to the room in which / work that
Ia miss more than l could say If I didn't
| sniff 1t every week day morning
| THE kinks Of the men and women in nv
| room are as Just as interesting to me to-
| day as ever they We're. and 1 don't know
what I'd do II the opportunity to look 'em
| taken from me.
| 1t seems to be a quite tangible and in
portant feature of my existence to watch
my old and somewhat querulous office mate,
| who has been In the same room with me
| for more than twenty years initiating his
| rubber cushion seat every morning. Ii by
| any chance he'd ever fail to do that some
| morning or other I'd take it for granted
that something allied him and that he was
| going down hill, but SO long as he keeps
| that pneumatic seat blown up to It's fullest
! capacity. and SO long as he absolutely and
| authOritatively declines to permit any win
! dow in the room to be lowered a sixteenth
| of an inch for air winter summer,
know that he's all right and in his normal
| state
1.-THE little old lady in our room who
/ spends twenty minutes every morning in
| fixing her white friZzes before d tiny look
ing glass which she keeps in her desk, ana
| who also at the same time powders her
| nose with a Wad Of chamois with an en-
| tire belief that nobody ever sees her while
she's engaged in thus getting in readiness
/ Tor the duties OF the day. is another part of
| the daily routine that I'd sorely Mss just
| as I'd miss the inevitable daily scrap which
| she has with the aforesaid sporty young
| stenographer because he declines to lift
| ton or Of books for her when size i'm
periousy demands him to do So
| ITS an interesting part Of the routine
| to me- at any rate-to judge from the
| pouches under the eyes of the old-tme
| chief of division whether his dyspepsia is
he's going to be normally easy or difficult
to get on with. I've got him charted down
to such nicely that l know the minute
when ea1, he's he's e going to register a prolonged
II he's feeling badly, and when he's feel
| Ing just right; can gauge almost the pre-
else minute when he's going to walk into
the room with cheerful smile and con-
gatulate the force upon the dispatch with
which we're accomplishing our little daily
allotments Of labor in the vineyard.
1.-The whole daily scheme just as 1t Is
framed up has come to seem to me as some
thing that I was born to participate in.
enjoy the little stroll around the square
during the lunch hour, and like to mingle
up with the same crowd at the knock off
hour of O'clock and see them go their
various ways on the various lines of cars
I ought to add that l experience a semi
| monthly sensation of peculiar relish In
standing in line before the counter Of the
disbursing officer, and I've become so ac-
customed to having my wife and daughters
! drop down on pay days to hold me up for
my wages that I'd miss that part of the
| routine too SOrely
| Were all right, us old timers OF the
| deadly routine, and / don't believe there's
| one in twenty of us who'd feel like taking
| the pay and abandoning the grind tomor-
| row If we had the chance
SHE LOST NOTHING.