Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-14
of the elements of punctuation IN

L
generally understate rather than exaggerate
their stenographic ability. When young
| fellow tells me that he's 1ol-words-a-min-
ute man 1 know that he can take notes
much faster than that, but that he doesn't
| care to subject himself to the humiliation
of falling down In case should steal ahead
of him in the dfctation. When L am trying
1 out the male stenographer at the speed ne
| has informed me he Is capable OF following
| he often toits me to a greater speed by
breaking in with the word Faster The
/ chaps who tell me that they're lop-words-
| a-minute men often prove themselves capa-
| Bile of doing $50 or even 100 words without
any bother at all, and l rate them on my
| lists accordingly.
| The male stenoRrapher who is inca pable
of going at the rate OF speed he names
| doesn't try to bluff his trial through II
| he can't follow me he'll give a 'Whewr
| and mop his forehead and tell me to back
up. that Pm giving them court stenography
! TO handle. Very few Of them. however, as
l say. drop behind the speed they name.
| when 1t comes to transcribing their
| notes In good shape / am bound to say
| that the male stenographers even the
| tyros from the schools who are willing to
| go to work for small wages for a beginning.
| have got the female stenographers beat to
a standstil. They have a better natural
! Idea of the form of letters and other busi-
| ness papers, they better spoilers. they
| have an Instructive idea of the place where
| to begin a new paragraph. and / have
| said, they are vastly better I'm the matter
| of punctuation than the women.
/ AS to the other reasons why female ste
| nographers seem to be so rapidly falling
| out of favor, there many. I-often ask
| employers who discussing their young
women stenographers and calling upon me
| for male stenographer to take their places
| why they are making this shift. .7-
Male and Female Stenographers.
1.-THE reasons given by most of the en-
ployers about the same. They say
and 1t sounds paradoxical until it is eluci-
I
| nographers are seemingly trustworthy. they
| are not trustworthy. They mean that the
young women are not so punctual or 50
conscientious. perhaps. as the male stenog-
raphers. and that they in time begin to
| act too many privileges as matter OF
| right. For example. put young woman
| stenographer into an office where there are
| lot of male clerks, and she Is often capa-
| Bile of making all sort of a Robbery.
! eff she Is bright and pretty and just
| wee bit fiirtatious the young fellows in the
office are more than apt to neglect their
work In order to chat with her and to make
| furtive googoo eyes at her. If, on the other
| hand the female stenographer thus placed
| IS neither bright nor pretty. and somewhat
| inclined, too. to be austere and crochetty,
the men kick about the restraint which her
| presence in the office puts upon them. IN
| either case her presence In the Office has
disturbing effect.
Men who have been allowed TO smoke in
|
| ly. when q. female stenographer comes along
| who coughs and sneezes and makes all sorts
| of agonized demonstrations over the smoke
| issuing from their pipes or cigars, and they
| don't attempt either, to make 1t a little bit
| pleasant for such a female stenographer.
! Again. women stenographers are not
| nearly so punctual as male stenographers-
| They begin all right as a rule, but after
| they have held their billets for a while they
begin to slump, and. from coming 1--WE or
| ten minutes late many of them eventually
acquire such feeling of security In their
| places that they'll come trotting along at
| any old hour before noon. They seem to
| imagine that because the boss. who dictates
| letters to them, doesn't as a rule drift along
| until along toward 10 IL O'Clock, they
| ought to be entitled to the same privilege.
| When the boss, however. gets down for a
few mornings at a stretch at an unusually
early hour for him and finds his shorthand
| writer still absent. he is apt to look around
and see all of his male employees bending
over their desks and then get to wondering
as to the relative merits of male and fe-
| male Office employees.
| 1.-THE female stenographer who falls into
the habit of neglecting punctuaiity always
| has some plausible sort of an excuse where
! with to attempt to palliate her delinquency,
| but when a lot of these excuses come along
| in row the employer is liable 10 do some
| thinking. f-s-s
Object to Working Overtime.
| again, not many women stenographers
| are able to refrain from exhibiting the in
| ward soreness they feel when they are
| asked to work overtime They like to get
away on the stroke of the minute of the
quitting hour. 1t often happens that an
employer is busily engaged during the
day that he has to postpone the dictauon OF
| some of his letters until after office hours.
The male stenographer is liable TO take TINS
as part of the game, but the young woman
| stenographer doesn't like 1t a little bit, nor
| he belr showing that
| "When the days become short, OF course,
she has the excuse that she Is afraid TO go
| home after dark, which is all right and nat
ural, and no employer wants to have any
thing happen to her when she Is on her
way home from his office. But when In
| Difference to her fears. he postpones the
dctation of his letters for a few times. and
| lets her go home at the regular ONCE CLOS
| ing hour, he is likely to conclude That ne
| will hire male stenographer, who will not
! be afraid of the bogie man catching him II
| he's out the streets after the sun mas
gone down.
There is yet another reason for the
| growing unpopularity of the woman stenog-
| rapher-and L don't believe you'd ever guess
what that reason is.
sWell. it's the stock newspaper joke about
the young woman stenographer and type
| writer. Fact, l assure you. The newspaper
| Joke about the female stenographer ana
| typewriter invariably portrays her as
somewhat flirtatious young person of great
!
toward her employer. and this newspaper
Joke has stamped itself on the minds Of
| women whose husbands employ women
stenographers--it certainly has!
These wives either josh their husbands
l so much about their female stenographers
or exhibit such actual jealousy OF them.
that their husbands fall into the habit of
employing male stenographers Just 10 Keep
peace in the family.
| mo matter how utterly unfounded OF I'M
| worthy her suspicious may be, any woman,
and especially any young woman, just nat
| urally hates to drop in upon her husband
| at his office and find him debating away to
a pretty girl with nice fresh complexion
| and wavy hair and trim figure, whose
shorthand book rests upon her employer 8
| desk and who seems TO the wife to be on
nice easy, conversational terms with him.
| You may think l am exaggerating in this,
| but am not. Many of my clients on the
| employers lists have sheepishly told me OF
| their difficulties. through their wives. with
| young women stenographers.
| Woods Family Death on Snakes