The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-02-20

of the office fire and an hours dalliance with the broom and duster, and termi- mated, after a days discipline, enforced with much invective, when the lights were turned out. Now he has a set hour for luncheon, wears high collars buys his morning paper, and Is withal & "clerk, ' not an "ofice boy" The disappearance of the "office boy'' proper is to be com pensated for. we are told, by the creation of the "office girl" She is to do her work better, quicker, and more intell- gently. is to be tidier, more honest. and conscientious. She is. in fact, to be ev- erything her much-abused predecessor was not. Business men are cheered at the prospect, and outsiders and office boys will be interested to watch the re- suit of her installation.
 The office girl.' however. declines to accept a title which she considers derog- atory to her dignity. A girl engaged in an office will either be a girl clerk or a messenger girl. In dozens of city houses today girls are told off to attend to bus mess callers. to arrange correspondence, and do all that can strictly be considered under the head of office routine, but most, if not all, would scorn the appellation of office girl" The messenger girl has been with us now for some time, and the two YedTS OI neT eXISIenCG nave been sufficient to prove her efficiency. The manager of one of the latest news agen- cies gave 1t as his opinion that as mes sengers girls are more reliable, quicker, and certainly more tidy than boys. This particular firm employs about 100 boys and 24 girls, the hours of the latter be- ing limited to eight daily, with, of course, exemption from night duty, at a salary of los. a week. Uniform Is provided free. It was found practically impossible to engage capable, reliable boys for the work, and the experience of this firm, at any rate, has proved that the girls are more expeditions and more obllging. They are retained afterward for office work at higher wage, which prospect naturally acts as an incentive. The idea was first suggested by success, of a north country postmaster, who discharged his entire staff of telegraph boys and substituted in their places girls, who undertook the same duties and discharged them more satisfactory.
 Quite recently a London shipping firm adopted the same course, and it must be confessed they would not now care to return to the old regime Girls are occa- sionally employed in a like capacity by the District Messenger Company, but only in times of great pressure. On the rare occasions when their assistance was re- quired they proved their efficiency, and, according to an authority, were more cas- fly managed and certainly more obedient than the boys. For the most part they were older than the lads and received higher rate of pay. It is not improbably due to the establishment of companies such as the District Messengers that the report of the death of the office boy has been circulated. Business men have only to telephone to specified call offices, and at a very low rate they can command the services of well-0Cained youths for odd messages and errands. Consequently they are now no longer dependent on the ser vices of office boys in this connection and staffs are reduced accordingly