Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-07-30
Some Bright Ones Snatch Sue
cess From Apparent Failure.
FAD IN LAMP SHADES
DODGES MADE A
FORTUNE FOR A GIRL.
How Two Artists Changed Their
Careers From Miniature
Painters.
Written for The Evening Star.

Many discouraging articles are written
about the failure of young women who go
to the large cities with big ambitions little
money and less experience. They are al
ways pictured as giving up the struggle
and returning to their native heath, eX-
perienced and more contented women. But
the history of women who snatch success
from apparent failure has never been writ
ten.
If the truth were told, in every large city
there are scores of successful women who
started out with very different plans for
their future. Failing in this ambition they
adopted the old English motto, DO Ye
Nexte Thynge." And at the next thing
they have succeeded beyond their expecta-
items.
Two bright western girls. having super
fetal knowledge of art, but unlimited hopes
and ambitions, arrived in New York with
the idea of opening a studio and painting
portraits and miniatures. They found the
market crowded with similar workers who
had what they Observation-Disclosures and
pull. For while they lived on next to
nothing and faced the prospect of utter
starvation without a murmur. They were
determined not to go back home.
Some one suggested to them that there
were decorative fields yet undeveloped, ana
one of these was the making OF artistic
lamp shades-not monstrosities in crepe
paper and fiuted silk. but the real Louis
and Marie Antoinette affairs. The two
artists searched museums and libraries for
designs. and invested their last money in
the most exquisite of satins and plushes,
beads and other materials, from which they
built lamp shades on artistic lines. which
they painted themselves. These were at
first sold through womans exchange. but
in time the girls were able to open studio
and work only on orders.
They make everything, from big shades
r 1ot y,fxy and
site designs for the dinner table candle, and
their patronage is from the very rich all
over the country.
Make Lamp Shades.
These two girls are largely responsible for
the vogue of the bead fringe in lamp
shades They are now studying archt-
lecture and furnishings Of the most artistic
periods and have long since buried their
ambitions for portrait painting in the more
remunerative one of lamp shades.
Another young artist from small coun-
try town came to a large city with the ex-
pectation of doing Illustrations. Editors
turned down her work with painful regular
ity, informing her that 1t was neither deco
rative nor pretty to look upon one eoit9r
bluntly told her that her work was so ugly
that 1t was funny. The girl. instead OF be-
ing discouraged at this remark, took heart.
1t would be better to be successful and
funny than starving and serious. she lack-
ed the keen humor peculiar to a cartoon;st
but she had a knack OF drawing absurd
angles. She made the acquaintance of an
advertising firm. and one of the best-knoWn
characters on the bill boards today was de-
signed by this girl, who also writes the ao-
surd little verses which accompany the adj
vertisement. She commands an income
which many a successful illustrator would
envy.
with the intention of practicing medicine
found the competition too strong for her
She had neither the acquaintance which
brings quick returns to the young physl-
clan nor the money with which to build up
the acquaintance. She was too proud to
return home and build up practice in her
native town; besides, she had entered upon
this career against the wishes Of her entire
family.
She Found Trade.
Things were looking rather bad for her.
when she became acquainted with the fam
lily of an undertaken. and one night, when
he was called out suddenly. more out of
curiosity than anything else, she accom-
panied him to the house Of mourning. She
proved a deft assistant, and when the OBJ
seouies were over and the head Of the fam
ily called to pay the undertaker's bill he
particularly thanked the latter for the
services Of the assistant. who had been 30
comforting to the women of his FAMILY.
This gave the undertaken an idea and the
struggling girl q trade. She became first
his assistant and then his partner, and 1t
Is a grave question whether she ever re-
turns to the profession which was her orig
inal ambition.
girl of more than ordinary knowledge
who had been employed in the small library
of her home town went to a larger city
with the expectation of securing posi-
ton in a library famous the country over,
but she faced q regulation OF which she
knew nothing All librarians employed at
this particular institution must have COL
lege degree. This the girl did not have,
but not for worlds would she have gone
back to her home town, acknowledging de-
feat, particularly when the position she
had formerly held was satisfactorily filled
by her successor.
Did Just the Right Thing.
While struggling with the problem she
heard a fellow-boarder remark that he
dreaded the mornings work in the refer
ence room at this same library where the
girl had hoped to secure a position The
young girl, longing for something to do to
temporarily Danish her anxieties, offered
to do the work for him, explaining that she
had held librarians position at home.
The man hesitated, but finally consented,
and gave her a list of subjects on which
he desired information
That afternoon the girl called at his Of
fee with her notes neatly arranged, the
very subject matter he wanted skillfully
tabulated. The man was assistant editor
many men who held more important posi-
lions. He spoke Of the girls work to his
acouaintances, and she received other
orders. Today this young woman has an
office in New York skyscraper with five
high school graduates in her employ, who
may be seen daily at the various libraries.
The young woman herself handles only the
more important and intricate work.