Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-04-21
Che Hrgus Daily Short 8 tory
THE Junior Partner."-By Madeline Lewis
copyrighted. 1908. by Associated

you will be worth $40 week to start
on. Good morning, Miss Burnham.
About S:45 in the morning, please"'
Five minutes later she was on her
way home to tell her mother the good
news. and five minutes later Mr.. Gray
was saying to the head clerk in the
outer Office:
''Mr. Benson. have a new stenogra-
pher coming in the morning-Miss
Burnham."
Eyes, SIR
ct is her first place."
Yes, SIR
''She is to be treated as lady. Please
see to it that there is no fishing for in
Productions by the young men. If she
does not bring her lunch with her she
will go out alone. Should l encounter
her in the elevator or on the street
shall lift my hat to her." flH9sif see
Il understand. sir"
Mr.. Benson returned to the outer
Office and communicated the news.
The young men of the bookkeeping
staff winked at each other and smiled.
They were made up of the average
young man. no better or no worse One
of them went beyond winking and
smiling. He said to the mat at his
elbow:
Listen to that. will you, The old
mans got a private stenog and n
good locker. and we must not even
wish her good morning Got to just
raise our hats and look down at our
toes"
The "old man. had come into the
house years and years before as n hum
BILE employee and worked his way up
| to junior partnership. He had never
| married. and so far as any one at the
store knew he had no near relatives
| His home had always been boarding
house or a hotel. When he had come
INTO the firm it was predicted that he
would marry within Il year. out he had
made no change whatever. The boys
| had winked and smiled over the mes
sage from the inner Office, but all of
them knew that the junior partner had
deep seated respect for womanhood.
and in turn they respected him for it.
| For weeks and weeks after Kitty
Burnham had taken her place it might
have been said of the ''old man" that
he hardly knew that she was in the
Office. The work was done quietly and
| without mistakes. There was hardly
any conversation outside of business
matters. When the first month was up
he quietly Informed her that her salary
was raised to $12 per week, and her
simple Thank you, SIR" seemed to
cover the occasion. There were no in
Productions to the cIerk1 and no invita-
lions to lunch. In one cas- 4Nut of a
hundred the girl was being given a
fair show. She instinctivcly recogniz-
ed the fact and was grateful for it.
One night after a hard days work
the "old man" sat alone in his room
in family hotel and INDUCED in a
reverie for the first time In years. He
found himself thinking Of a home. of
wife and children, of some one to kiss
him goodby in the morning and vel
come him home at night And present
~ there came creeping into that reverie
a face that startled him. 1t was the
face of his stenographer.
He rose like guilty man and waved
the vision away. with laugh. But II
would not depart for good. He went
out on the street and walked about
but he seemed to see that face. He
fought to put away the idea of wife
and home, but when it still chung be
said to himself that he was getting
nervous from everwork and ought te
take week on. Next day when he
i dictated his letter Kitty noticed q
/ change in his voice, and she marked
that he avoided looking her in the face
4 There was some subtle change In him
! andit worried her little.
4 That reyerie came back to the junior
partner and that face came back II
connection with wife and home. apt