The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-12-17

l(VXy ANT to get job as a demon- M strator?" the manager of the
 publicity department of the
 big jewelry house turned to the applicant
 before him. The applicant was tall and shapely She was gowned to within a sec ond of fashion, her complexion was a work
 of art, and her hair naturally was the
 brown that shines and glistens, and which
 the hope of acquiring prompts the less l fortunate girl to spend her bonbon money in writing to the beauty experts for hair dyes. Her hat had come out of the morn ings creations at some exclusive millin- cry establishment and taken from toe to
 the last plume, the entire effect was al
 most too good to be true in real life, says
 the Washington Post.
 l The manager looked her over as she told
 him that it was for the uprpose of se-
 curing a position as a demonstrator that
 she had called upon him. They were ad- vertising for demonstrators, were they
 not? Well, then she would be pleased to
 be considered as an applicant. The man.
 ager humbly gave her a chair.
 l He had fifty female stenographers un- der him, but this young woman was diff ], ferent. A queen would have acknowledged that she had met her mistress in the gentle air of putting on the naughty at titude if she had come face to face with
 the applicant. Turned into marble she
 stood. she might well have been mod
 ern incarnation of imperturbability and
 assurance So it is not to be wondered that the manager got her chair
 | Ever had any experience as a demon l strator?' he began, weakly. The appli- | cant opened her snakeskin chatelaine | She drew forth a bundle of letters and | handed them to the manager one by one,
 reading the headings of them as she did | SO Letter from firm in New York that
 once showed jewelry for, another from a l St. Louis firm in the same line. Held
 down a booth at the last worlds fair for | them Buffalo firm wrote this one-show- ! ed a new skirt holder for them; Philadel-
 phia pure food company, both at a pure 1 food show Minneapolis flour mills, the | best in the world Letter from Raisin 1 Growers association in California;; and l the last one from a soap company, whose stuff I demonstrated at the Portland ex- 1 position this summer. I've got lot more
 at home; didn't bring them with me l today" The manager held up his hand. | ''These are enough he said. We will | pay you $25 a week, if you want the job. ''
 And the imperious applicant allowed that
 she did.
 The style of the demonstrator is va | ried as is her or his occupation and pay. l Three are demonstrators who earn no l more than the salary of an ordinary sales woman In a department store; there are
 others who command s100 a week when | there is a need of their services. There
 are those who are only saleswomen pro-
 noted for a short period, and then there are specialists who make demonstrating l a profession and who do nothing else. or necessity the latter class Is in the minor | ity yet there are several hundreds of 1 them scattered around the country.
 1 Since the sole object of the demonstra- l tor is to attract attention to the goods
 being demonstrated, it follows that at 1 tractiveness is the chief stock in trade of 1 the average demonstrator. In the ranks l of female demonstrators this is more | true than in any line save the isolated eX- I cepton of the stage. A pretty girl will attract the attention of most men in a store exposition or on the street. If she is well dressed, If her hair is done up in stylish fashion, she will attract the attention of most of the women. This, without mattering what kind of goods she is demonstrating. The firms who make use of demonstrators know this, and act accordingly. The would-be demonstrator whose physical appearance Is not what may he termed attractive is persona non prata with the men who engage demon- strators. Hence. the professional demon strator is apt to be a we'll dressed per son when applying for a position. She ia ant to resemble a chorus girl on par