The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-10-28
WOMEN SECRETARIES,
 SOCIAL AND OTHERWISE

so a woman for her private secre- tary, business as well as social. Miss Gould's secretary is Elizabeth Att
 man. yong woman whom it would be
 hard for her employer to do without. Miss Altman is New York city born and bred She knows the great town by the sea, its humbugs and it's pov- erty stricken thou snds. A principal part of her duties is to keep beggars and cranks away from her employer. large benefactions and all the world, perhaps as consequence. seems after her for money trying to get 1t out of her by means fair or foul. It would take half Miss Gould's time to see the beggars and read the begging letters she receives. Miss Altman relieves her of these heavy tasks.
 Five years this accomplished secre- tary has been with Miss Gould. Her pay Is said to be SS,000 a year, and sine is undoubtedly worth 1t or the daughter of Jay Gould would not give 1t to her. Previous to accepting her present post Miss Altman was chief
 manager of the New York Margaret Louise Home. q temporary stopping place established by Mrs. Eliot F. Shepard for women travellers.
 Varied are the duties of Miss Flor ence M Rhett. the $10.o00 a year so- ciat secretary of J. Pierpont Morgan. She is a Southern woman and 8 rel- ative of Mrs Morgan. Part Of her task Is to superintend athe putting in order of each of the half dozen Mor- gan homes previous to temporary residence of the family therein. This includes refitting and decoration. Miss Rhett also has charge of Mir. MorEan's social and charitable affairs and corre- spondence.
 The head of prominent banking and brokers firm said not long ago that he preferred women clerks to men in his office because women are more loyal to their employers in large financial deals and also keep secrets better than men do. Men clerks he said. in business houses where vast fi- nancial interests are at stake are apt to become conceited and blab private matters just to show they know them
 Therefore, perhaps. the Standard OlI Company selected as private business secretary to H. H. Rogers, It's chief "ofiice man." a woman. Miss Katherine l.. Harrison, and pays her $l0,0O0 a year. It Is said Miss Harrison knows more about Mir. Rogers's bushes af- fairs than he himself does Knows. but never tells Miss Harrison is near ly six feet tall, strong. broad shoul- dered and noble looking. She lives in handsome home in Brooklyn with her mother and two sisters.
 There. too, is Miss Anna Amendt. prf- vate business secretary to the second vice president of a great life insurance company. When Anna Amendt, d Lo- gan, Ohio. girl, sixteen years ago be- gan life as stenographer at SIs a week in a Cincinnati insurance office shs probably did not dreaHn--or maybe sha did. after all--of a time when she would be drawing $1,000 a month aa private secretary and obtaining s10.- 600 year more as commission for ts- suing life insurance policies. S22,0Oo a year in all. perhaps more money than an other working woman ip the world gets.
 Both Miss Harrison and Miss Amendt add to their other admirable business qualities the power to keep their shut. making them invaluabla
 And the sum of it all Is that the iu- crative profession of private secretarv may now be considered thorouKhly "a. abolished for woman.
 Lucy M. Irwin.