The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1908-09-18

self, where a high and mighty" at
titude will lose friends for the man
who put you where you are.
It is highly essential that a secre-
tary should have the common sense
not to be ''stuck on himself or on his
position. No one on earth will sense
this quicker than the politicians, and
no one will resent it and treat it with
contempt any more readily. To begin
with, there are some angles of the
job which a three-dollar-a-weeko Office
boy could attend to with perfect
ease. To sit in revolving chair and
say 'the mayor isn't in" or the
mayors in, but he's busy just now"
does not require very massive intel
lect. But when it comes to the finer
points of the game, when it comes to
the gradations where a man must
make good" and do 1t without any
flourishes.
l certainly took a keen interest in
my position. No finer place in the
world to study human nature than
there. All day long there was the
constant influx of men, women and
children to see the mayor" to "speak
with his HONOR and with about 40 or
so nationalities to choose from, and
with all grades and kinds of these diff
ferent races to meet, it was a study in
mankind which was not attainable in
any other position save in that of the
mayoralty itself.
A secretary in this position ought tc
be fair speaker, for it may be that
his chief will be busy when some dele
CATION from an outside city must be
met and welcomed. and the secretary
ought to be able to represent the
mayor with some. decent amount Of
ability. He ought to be a writer Of
some force. also, for some of the
mayors mail is turned over to him tt
answer, and he should be able to han
die all correspondence turned over tt
him in an acceptable manner. He
| ought to have some knowledge of hu
man nature, and he should be pos
sessed of an iron constitution physic
| ally, for the wear and tear outside the
door is one which will send frai
man to the hospitals.
Part of the time he may find tina
| he can sit in his chair and take i
easy. But that is only very brie
experience. And as for patience, h,
| ought to be able to give Job a 40-yart
handicap and running start and the,
beat the patriarch in walk. The mos
sanguinely ridiculous propositions will
be handed up to him that were eve
dreamed Of, and he must conside
these, and not lose his temper, evel
though he knows they must be ruth
lessly turned down."
And then there are the 'cranks' an,
the absolute maniacs to conten,
with besides. There are many de
partments in city hall, and yet tn
average citizen rushes to the mayor
office if he finds anything amiss in tn,
district he lives in. For instance,
dead animal may be lying in tn,
streets, and some wrathy citizel
posts to the mayors Office, presumabl,
to have the mayor come out and TAX
it away. A little pleasant questionin,
reveals the object of his visit He i
most politely informed that the matte
is one for the health department, an
he can be escorted personally to tina
department or a note given him TO
use there, and he can be very fairl
commended for his public spirit, an
sent away feeling that the matter will
be looked after and that he has re
ceived fair treatment. Isn't that bel
ter than saying: "Ah! G'wan, you lot
ster, don't you know enough to go t.
the health department with that?''
AS for the men and women who ar
actually crazy, nothing but diplomac
with them. I remember one day Will
I was particularly. busy with some
thing which had been intrusted to m
by my chief, and was carefully mar
ping out my action with pen and inl
that was suddenly surprised by tn
apparition Of 9 richly-dressed woma
who sat down in a chair close besid
! me and began hurriedly: Il must Sc