The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1907-03-30
COSTUME NOT APPROPRIATE
FOR BUSINESS GIRL.
Uncovered Arms Are a Mistake in
the Counting Room or at the
Typewriter-Simple Dress
Should Rule. ..
BY MARGARET e. sANGsTER:


When the girl in society wears el-
bow sleeves, the girl in business is
very likely to wear them, too. No
possible objection can be made to
this if the latter will only confine
herself to the pretty fashion during
the hours in which she is not occu-
pied in the counting room or at the
typewriter, but is entertaining friends
in her own home.
The girl behind the counter, the
girl who in any degree serves the
great world of business, should wear
trim business dress and leaves frills
and furbelows, short sleeves and
V-shaped necks for her evening tot
lette. Woman's arm bare to the ell
bow, with it's dainty curves and pretty
dimples, is always lovely, but unless
she is either standing at the wash
tub or rolling pastry or else is pour
ing tea for her friends at five o'clock,
the arm should be covered. Uncov-
cred arms in a place where many
people are coming and going, where a
woman sits at her desk in the same
office with men, young and old, and
where the essential is that no atten-
ton be directed to her personal
charms, are a great mistake.
1t has been observed that the fash
ion, creeping in with the early spring,
gained in general favor during the
terribly hot summer that has just
passed away. Autumn days are here,
and the elbow sleeves linger. Girls
seem reluctant to conceal the delicate
arms and wrists that once, as a mat
ter OF course, were never seen except
when full dress was worn. The ex-
cuse that the short sleeves were cool
er and that the fashion was conven-
lent, was offered in the summer. A
sleeve to the wrist is not necessarily
uncomfortable, even on snltry days,
and If it be severely plain, it is never
in the way.
The girl who is conspicuously neat
wears some sort Of shielding cuffs cas-
lily removed when she leaves her
work. She is thus enabled to pre-
sent an appearance of perfect fresh
ness when she enters and leaves her
office.
An error often made by young wom-
en- in business is based on the assump-
ton that some extra indulgence is due
them on account of sex. They forget
that in the business world a girl
stands in relation to her employers
on precisely the same footing that
a man does. She is to be paid for
value received and must render serv-
ice accordingly. For her own protec-
ton she must be simple, straight-for-
ward and dignifed, and must, so far
as she can, be entirely impersonal.
Whatever the grade of work for which
she is fitted, and which she under
takes, she should be above silly flirt-
atoms and absurd vanities.
In former days, frequent theme of
romance was the factory girl who was
welded by the son of the great mill
owner, or the stenographer whose
beauty and wit captivated the grave
man of affairs from whom she took
dictation. These heroines are drawn
from imagination, and not from real
ity. While there is no reason whv a
rich man should not marry working
girl, and be the more fortunate nart-
ner in the transaction, yet, all things
considered, both girl and man have
a better outlook for happiness if