The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1904-02-13
KNEW TT WAS MOLLIE
HER TOUCH ON KEYS OF TYPE
WRITER RECOGNIZED.
CHICAGO Man Points Out How Differ
emily Operators Strike the Keys
Seem to Have Grudoe Against Some
of the Letters. s-..-.-

Six letters from the home Office
were awaiting the Chicago represents
tive when he called at the New York
branch Wednesday morning. When he
had read them he said. well, see
they've got Molly back again.
How can you tell that asked the
New York manager.
How can I help telling" was the
reply. I'D know Mollie's letters i
/ saw them at the north pole"
The Eastern manager unfolded one
page of manuscript and looked at it
upside down and crosswise and dag
onally in his efforts to discover the
distinguishing features. Finally he
gave it up. 1T isn't in her own hand
writing" he said, land know the
boss well enough to know that she
was not allowed to compose the let
tiers herself
"Oh, I don't mean those earmarks,"
said the Chicago man. There is an
individuality even in Mollle's type
writing. In that respect she is no
different from many other operators.
The work of most OF them can be rec
ognized by an expert who has made a
study of their peculiarities. Different
writer's have a different way of strik-
ing the letters. Certain keys they in
variably strike with the gentleness OF
a falling snowflake, while others they
pound as If on vengeance bent.
That's the way with Mollie: She
has a partially for his and ms in par
ticular, and lets them off so. easily
that they scarcely make an impress
sion. On the other hand, she has it
in for the g's and rs and strikes them
so hard that she fairly knocks holes in
the paper. Then there are certain
combinations Of letters that come in
for special attention while other COM
binations just as important are slight
ed shameful1y. Take the syllables
CON and conn., for, instance. Mollie
goes at them as if she were afraid Of
the results, while innocent termina-
lions like 'er' and or she hammers
numerically. Those are only a few
of her tricks, but they are apparent in
those letters. Here, for example. is
the word convenience Molly has let
the first syllable off with hardly a
touch. but the rest of the word is SO
blue that it gives you chills to look at
it. - a -. ie : &.
"A funny point in the situation is
that no matter what machine the girl
uses, the results are the same. The
arrangement of the letters seem to
make no differnce. Certain keys are
bound to come in for heavy stroke
and others for no stroke at all. When
we fellows in the Office first noticed
the splotched appearance of her manu-
script, we thought there was some
thing wrong with the type-that it
was worn out or needed cleaning But
the machine expert disposed of that
error. The type, he said, was all
right; it was Mollie that was out OF
gear. .Afterward he soothed her ruf.
fled feelings by telling her that if she
wasn't chock full of character her
typewriting habits would not be SO
pronounced. All operators, he explain
ed that are blessed with character
of their own are liable unconsciOusly
to work out similar stunts on the key.
board Of course, I can't swear that
he was right. I haven't had chance
to verify his statement in many in
stances, but I can take oath that he
knew what he was talking about in
the case of Mollie. New York Times,