Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-10-15
CAUSE FOR ANGER

The maddest business man in Washing
ton was getting little Of it OF his mind
"A week ago last Thursday. he saio'
through clenched teeth, II had to nre my
stenographer - good man when ne
work-for sneaking away from the once
every little while during the afternoon TO
get the results Of the races he had played
in the handbook. put an ad. in the next
days papers for a stenorgrapher and type
writer. Didn't specifyrwhether I wanteo
| a man or woman-jast a stenographer
and typewriter.
Il took on the first 9oae that came along
on Friday forenoon ANA emic-looking GIRL
with myopic eyes: but was too busy TO
do any picking and choosing, and when she
| assured me that She could do the work l
told her to report on Monday. TWO OF three
dozen of them came along during Friday
and Saturday, men and women. look the
| names and addresses of half dozen OF
them, and had my Office boy dispose OF the
rest.
Il let my correspondence slide on Friday
| in a bunch when my new shorthand sr1
| reported on Monday morning. Sne ~.
along on time all right, and Immediately
heaped my letters together ana went a'
| EN-.
THE girl appeared to get on all right
with the dictation, slapping down her notes
! in the book in way that struck me as
| being mighty workmanlike. Several times,
| though when 1 thought l might nave on
| too much steam, 1 checked myself ana
asked her if was going too fast :.
mo. indeed!' she replied every time II,
tone clearly meant to imply that II Woua1 10
| take a pretty swift talker to get ahead VI
| her.
Her notebook was full up, forward and
| backward when 1 got through WIN th .
dictation just before noon, ana II was
| ,i<rI,t ,ffr ind IN got
| respondence. . chm
| sat down at the typewriter, full OF pusl-
| ness, and 1 thought that she was just go
ing TO eat up those letters But she didn't.
She got away haltingly, scratched heI noss
| a lot looked up at the ceiling ana stuoieu
| considerable and then she began running
| to my desk to ask me what ner moees
| meant After about an hour ana quar-
| ter she had one ten-line letter nnisneo.
| and it was all balled up and Impossible, al
| that. 1 was noticing her moves out OF tne
| tail of my eye, and the convic,lon grew
| upon me that she couldn't read her notes:
| To try her out, asked her to read alouo
| to me letter about in the middle OF the
| dictation. Well, she only got through tne
| Your favor of the I'd received ana con-
| tents noted and then she broke down.
Her notebook was just q Sanskrit tome 70
| her. She flushed when she came 10 tne
| dead halt in trying to read that letter, aho
said that she thought perhaps she hao
talking so rapidly. 1 paid her for DAY :
| work and let her go, and she left thai
| stuffed notebook on my handS-1t was just
as much Greek to her as it was to me
II wired to one of the applicants whose
| name I had taken to report for duty at my
| Office on the following mprping-Tuesday-
| and then l dug into that stack or letters
| that had thought was all off my hands
| and wrote brief answers to the important
ones myself with a pen. It. was the tough
est afternoons work I'd put in In long
! time.
turns ss yoong mR x1m Id w wlzes
somewhat seedy-lookng chap, with puffy
| face and pouchy eyes, but I soon found
| that he knew hOWzrto write shorthand all
right. I was determined not to~get stuck
| with another notebook full of useless notes
| and So after I'd dictated three long let
| ters to him. l asked him to read them
over to me. He ratified them off as if he
was reading long primer type 1 re-dic-
| tated most of the letters that the girl who
/ couldn't read her spothooks had left on
/ my hands, besides a big pile of Monday
morning mail. and from the scientific way
that young man slung his pencil I figured
| that I'd at length got in right as to a
| stenographer.
/ HE went out for lu.seh,at 1890. but be-
| fore he went he braced- me for some lunch
money-said he'd been out. Of work for
| handed him a dollar. He got back to the
/ Office at quartersto 2,rwithI asvacant look
| on his face. He sat down at the machine
and began hitting three keys at once. He
| had just one dollars worth of rum in him,
| and was dollars worth drunk. which was
| a-plenty. I gave him athe quick sack OF
| course. and there was three days business
| correspondence tied up in, shorthand notes
| notes interpreted ~ -.#
| Il telegraphed to another of the ap-
| plicants. This time it was.a young woman
| She arrived about half an hour after bust
| dow
was pretty girl but she didn't look we'll
| There was a panied look on her face and
| circles beneath her eyes. She explained her
hardness by saying she'd had violen.
| headache all the morning. I told her
| didn't think she'd be equal to a hard days
| work, but she assured me that she would
be-.
| well. she was all right, and could read
| her notes after taking them, but just when
l was coming down the homestretch Of the
| dictation, shortly before noon, she collapsed
and tainted l paid her off for a day and
sent her home in carriage. Then l wired
| for another.
/ This one was staid-looking man OF
thirty-five or SO, who knew his business
| all right and we pitched in as soon as he d
| hung his hat up, and did a fierce morning s
| work. In the afternoon 1 had the satisfac-
| ton of seeing that staid-looking man begin
| to pile the sheets into the typewriter as If
| it was a hopper. and the work that he
| turned out was clean and letter-perfect
1
| and was perhaps half done with his book
| full of notes, when timd little girl of ten
years or SO appeared in the doorway of my
| office and beckoned to my new Shorthand
man, calling him papa He hurried OF:
| into the hall to talk with the child and
when he returned to the office abouS a
minute later he was looking fiustered
| Guess I'll have to be trotting along
| home and stay there for a day or so, sir,
| he said to me-
That's gloomy news for me, the way
the work is piling up around this plant
! said to him. What's the trouble?'
"'Oh. no trouble he replied, looking still
| more fiustered as he went for his hat but
| er-Ive got three little girls now, and m
| hoping this one'll be a boy
| Say fiercely wound up the maddes:
business man in Washington. "have got a
| crouch a-coming or not?'
A Cowboys Battle With Steer.
! From Harper's Weekly.