The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-10-02

happened a great many years ago
yet there Is authority for the state
ment that il happened. There was a
good soul who was numbered among
the clerks of the state department
in Washington and whose sympathies
became aroused an behalf OF a neigh
Dor who needed, or merely wished.
pin money. I don't know whether this
good soul is today one of the time-hon-
pred contingent OF grap-haired women
or not, but that has nothing to do with
the story. Here is what she did. h
went TO her n~eighbor and said some
thing like this:
y have just thought what you can
do. You make good cake, don't your
Well, I have been talking with several
of the ladies at the office and they say
they Will be glad to give you orders.
Then had this thought. What we
can't sell outright, l a cut into
quarters and sell at 10 cents a piece. 1
. know there isn't a lady down there
who can refuse t., buy a piece Of fresh
cake il it is temptingly held up before
her.
The result of the confab was that
the woman out of office arranged with
the woman in office both TO create and
supply a demand for cake among gov
eminent employees, and on the day APP
pointed the first consignment OF goods
was delivered. a colored raid deliv-
cred it. With six round hat boxes pill
ed one on top of the Othe~ and secur-
ed by an abundance Of cord. she walk
ed ~undisturbed, into the most imposing
! Of all the departments in search Of the
woman clerk who was to superintend
the office end Of the industry, and
whom she promptly found. It was
the work of but a moment to dis
pose of such of the cakes as had been
ordered in their entirety. The remain
ing ones were quartered, the pieces
passed around among the clerks, the
money for the whole transaction col
! lected and given to the maid, who was
then dismissed.
The affairs of a great nation rested
while the woman clerks held their
feast.
This was before the days Of civil
service, do you say? Quite true, but
the eternal femme is still in play
among the fair daughters in service.
n your Uncle Sam, clever old chap
as he is, will nave to do a lot of sit
ting UP nights if he ever succeeds in
ruling it cut of office.
Generally, upon entering public life,
the ~wage-earning woman makes it her
aim to become quite as businesslike or
clerical as a man holding the same
position would be. In fact, if she is at
all ambitious, the purpose is apt to be-
come the dominant force of her life,
imposing far heavier eXactions than
any work she may be doing. OF course,
wherever a woman is employed, there
are certain indications that she is
around, such as a wet handkerchief
pasted smoothly on a toilet room win
dow or a powder puff tucked away in
a top desk drawer, which the expert
enced eye is not long in searching
out. But in the main, the girl herself
wears an air of official industry.
The girl in general, that is. Not the
woman government clerk, for she
seems to be in a class by herself, and
the conditions under which she earns
a comfortable Income, between the
leisurly hours of 9 n 4.3o are unique.
The jealousies and the rivalries for the
favor of chiefs, or other men, are Of
ten d~escanted upon, but to Offset this
condition there really does exist among
woman clerks a bon camaraaerie that
is delightful to behold. They them
selves and their individual lives are
Of so much more Importance han the
round of daily duties that brings them
together, rain or shine. that matters
UciI dlIlluS 10 TIE Io1IIleI "oul0 De at
tended to during office hours and the
latter done between times, were it not
for the growing exactions of the civil
service system.
Ever since that eventful day of the
informal entrance of axes into the
state department, the unwritten laws
Of office decorum have been gradually
more rigidly enforced. Yet, notwith-
standing, there has sprung n being
among woman clerks a sysem of inner
Industries that bids fair to Guido Uncle
Sans business activity.
\ treasury clerk who lives on a
Maryland farm and comes in to office
every day supplies a large number of
fellow clerks with butter M eggs.
which she brings in and delivers her
self. The number Of women who take
orders for caramels n other candies
is too numerous to mention. and
drawnwork is a commodity that finds
a ready and extensive sale. Usually II
is some one outside of office that make
the articles offered for sale. In the
case of older ONE the candidate for
the woman government clerks small
change is quite apt to be a daughter
whom the mother would keep out of
the service, but at the same time ar
range a means Of her earning pocket
money.
Nearly every department has a drug
! closet established by woman's ingenu-
ity in supplying the things she would
have at hand The one in the treasury
occupies ar unused cubbyhole i'm one
of the dim corridors. and is presided
owe by the matron of the toilet room.
For the purchase of drugs, the clerks
ever SO often are assessed small sums.
which allow a percentage of profit for
the matron in compensation for her
out-of-office hours work.
Tt is during the holidays. however,
that the inner industries are seen 70
best advantage and would play great
est havoc with the necessary routine
of governmental business If they were
permitted 10 do so. The proceeds re-
sulting from the sale OF fancy stock
collars, p~incushions, hand-embroider-
ed lingerie, etc. is a considerable one,
and doubtless brings due return fol-
work done out of office and canvass
1 fY- for ca1aG during nfSca hn.rr1