The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-11-05
The EVENING STORY
A Permanent Appointment.
(By Nancy Brent.)

Mrs. Darnley looked up eagerly
when her niece came in.
WAS it hard?" she asked. letting
her magazine slide to the floor.
Eleanor Wynn unpinned her nobby
little sailor hat. and leaned back on
the couch pillows with a sigh of relief.
"All examinations are narrowing,
she said. her eyes still dilated with re-
cent mental strain. 81 never saw such
long columns of figures in my life.
Auntiei I shall dream about them
for weeks. 1t seems almost impossi-
BILE to hope that added them correct
ly. The rough draft letter writing and
arithmetic didn't bother me a bit, but
those pages of rapid addition were
awful. I shall be-so-ashamed-
fail to pass after all the interest and
kindness you have shown"
Mrs. Darnley saw tears rush to the
girls eyes, and picked up her maya
zine with seeming Inconsistencies.
run and take a nice bath, my dear.
There is half an hour before dinner.
You needn't dress-come in your
kimono I wouldn't worry II fail on
civil service examination. Lots of
well educated people have gotten so
ratified they wanted to spell cat with
two t's."
The girl wiped her eyes furtively as
she started from the room.
There was a horrid woman sitting
next to me during the exam. She-she
added ever blessed one of those hg-
ures-in aloud whisper" and
Eleanor ashamed of her tears, made
rush for the door of her own little
hall bedroom.
When her father, after an attack of
pneumonia, had been left with a lung
trouble that his physician said would
be fatal unless he at once left for
southern climate. the girl had reso-
lutely insisted upon his using the
greater part of their small bank ac-
count to start for Arizona a. Then de-
prived of her fathers salary. she had
been forced to leave college with the
aunt's letter. advising her to come to
Washington to try the examination
advertised by the civil ser ice to Sc
cure a hundred and fifty clerks for
years work on an extra rush, had
caused the motherless girl to invest
her little money in the chance that
she might be one of the fortunate
ones. She settled down in her aunts
tiny fiat to await in suspense the two
or three months necessary to hear the
result of her examination.
Mrs. Darnley came home one after
noon much elated.
ct met John Dabney on the street,
my dear. You don't know who John is,
of course-but that doesn't make any
difference. He's the incest man in town.
He's been out west for three months
and just got back. He's dear, and he
knows one of the powers that be-or
sion. He offered to go down and find
out just where you stand on the list
of eligibles.''
When John Dabney arrived that ev-
ening he looked at the slender girl in
amazement.
Miss Wynn, I have to congratulate
you. Eighteen hundred people took
that examination, and only ten of them
made higher: average than you. There
is no doubt about your getting an ap-
pointment. But" turning to her
aunt. sit seems pity for a mere girl
to be shut up in an office, adding fig
ures all day."
but it's only for a year" the girl
said with the youthful enthusiasm of
one who never worked for a living and
knew nothing of how long and tedious
a year may seem.
When that official appointment final |
ly arrived it was John Dabney who ac-
companied the girl when she reported
to take the oath of office. Later he |
often made the excuse that she was a |
and needed plotting home after |
office.
One hot afternoon in August he met |
her on the stone steps near the main
entrance of the large government build |
ing.
Your aunt is waiting for us at the |
junction" he said, raising her red |
parasol and, after the manner of men. |
holding it at an angle that let in all the |
sun and gave occasional digs at her |
to Chesapeake Beach for dinner and a |
cool breeze. We will get back by IL |
o'clock tonight"
After dinner they left Mrs Darnley |
with a book and strolled down the |
beach until they came to an old pier, |
used only occasionally by small boys
with their fishing tackle.
Lets walk to the end of this. 1t |
gives feeling of being in the middle |
Of the ocean. Except for the narrow
strip of boards reaching back to the
beach, we can imagine we are stranded
on a desert island"
He settled her comfortably in an old
sill lying across the end of the pier and
took out his cigar case. Now tell me
how you like Office life. and if you
want permanent appointment"
She shrugged her shoulders in the
darkness.
I'D rather stay home and wash
dishes all my life than accept a per-
eane1 s M shs SAID thin, i
that it's only for short time-father |
Is getting well rapidly, you know-but
could not be brave enough to face the
thought that 1 was there for life. There
are more brave, discontinued women in
than / ever dreamed Of
All ages-from twenty to seventy. Did
you ever hear of the office face?'''
'I don't think L ever did," laughed
1t worth looking at %
Its pitiful," she said, watching tho
waves, f1ecked with moonlight, dash
ma Dreak against the logs OF the pier.
Whenever new girl comes in-fresh
rom the outside world, she creates a
Her fresh complexion, her
hopeful ambition. are interesting and
to the clerks who have been !
here for years, but they also watch h er
With a pathetic tenderness. Not one I
Who stays in service five years fails to i
ret that look which Washingtonians
all the Office face. There is set ex- I
,ression of apathy-the expression of I
he eyes change don't know exactly I
What 1t is-but the woman who has the
Iesk next to mine told me that she /
ould walk down F street in the after /
Loon. look into people's faces. and nick G