The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-10-29
PUBLIC sTENoaRAPHER.
Confessions Of . Young Woman Who
Served N 0nA.

Served 10 One.
There Is no class that has better
opportunity to see the diversity of the
masculine mind and the peculiarities
OF man in general than the women
designated as public stenographers.' u
This is especially true of the profess
sion In Washington. for here gather
all sorts and condidtions of men and
on every variety of errand.
\ man in town for perhaps one day
desires the services of an expert
stenogvapher, and Is directed by the
hotel clerk to certain building,
where he will find Miss So-and-So. He
enters Il neat. artistic office and is
confronted by businesslike young
woman sitting in front of her type
writer He dictates the letter and re-
ceives sheets of carefully written,
correctly spelled copy. Or, perhaps,
the document is lengthy, legal affair,
and Is taken down in shorthand. As
each sheet on the stenographer's pad
Is filled with pothoOks and dots 1t is
turned over to another woman, who
transcribes quickly and accurately,
and by the time the last page of notes
Is taken the typewriter document is
ready for the courts.
But the life of public stenographer
Is many sided-sometimes pathetic,
sometimes ridiculous, always interest
ing.
n Washington woman who has been
in the business for fifteen years-in
fact. the pioneer among the women
OF the profession who have public
ofices-was commenting on her ex-
periences recently.
II have done every imaginable
variety of work, and have done many
things which never could have
imagined" she said.
From Novels to Love Letters.
Il have written proceedings of
ecclesiastical bodies and rules for
procedure for cockfights; descriptions
of prizeffghts and endless battles of
the tongue. l have written applica-
lions for every office under the sun
at least, every Office within the Gift
of the president-and have written,
though not often, designations from
office. l have written business con-
tracts of every description, poetry by
the yard. statistics galore, newspaper
jokes, comic operas, novels, plays,
sermons. obituary notices, descriptions
of weddings and proceedings for d.
vorce; tiresome tariff documents I'M
numbered. and arguments on both
sides of every question under the sun
until. as to my own belief, l hadn't
the faintest idea where l was at. /
have written pages in many languages
German. French, Italian, Spanish,
and dialect stories which were not in
any known or unknown language;
ghost stories, love stories, and blood
and-thunder stories by the ream. Yea,
all these have l written and more,
too. 81.
Love letters? Lots of them, and I
don't mean my own. either, And
three separate times l have written
letters for men breaking engagements
OF marriage. And what is more, tifey
were all dictated by educated men
who presumably considered them
selves gentlemen. Every one of them
unhesitatingly gave me the name and
address of the lady in question.
The first was an editor of a paper.
He dictated lot of editorials and
business letters and then one to his
lady love, releasing her from her
promise of marriage and assuring her
of the highest sentiments of love and
esteem and hopes for her future
happiness.
THE next case more thrilling. A
wild eyed man came rushing into my
office and said he had some very
private work. He walked up and down
the floor and poured out his soul in
bitter anguish to the fair and false
one. 1t was deeply touching, 1 assure
yOu-the terms of affection and re.
proach interspersed with the click of
the typewriter and the sound of the
bell at the end of each line. I be-
lieve he said this was the ninety
seventh letter he had written, and If
she did not answer this one he would
consider all as over between them.
Number three was a rosy checked
college boy, wroth with his lady-fair.
There were several pages of cutting
sarcasm at her conduct. and when the
letter was finished said, of course,
you wish to sign this yourself?"
No. he replied. ':Sign it on the
machine, and then there's a postscript
on the other side.' And this was the
postscript: I could not write this
letter myself, so l have dictated It to
stenographer over the telephone In
case she survived the fact of being
Tilted by typewriter, there was the
added sting that the telephone girl
had an ear in the transaction!
I've had some awful funny ex-
periences with foreigners who could
not understand me much better than
l could them.
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