The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1909-05-14
ETIoUETTE FOR THE OFFICE.

ouu Ouc 1OI CASA pHlNdIc AlAS, oHu onaS
very inability to become machines
when at work Is one of their greatest
handicaps. For what employer can so
adjust his work that 1t may wait on
headaches, fatigue, and the tears that
women are so prone to?
The woman who goes to work In
an Office must accustom herself to an
absolutely impersonal relationship
with those about her. She must not
only cease to demand the special
courtesies and privileges usually
granted to her sex, but she must hide
her coquetries, her ailments, her tenn
pers, her grievances, and every other
quality which is not strictly bust
ness Nor is this self-abnegation,
this refusal to clog the wheels of the
daily round with self-interests. alone
sufficient. The business woman must
oil the machinery with patience here,
enthusiasm there, and everywhere
tactful courtesy. Nor should she stop
at the mere appearance of these es-
Unable qualities.
Unless girl. really feels that the
brusQueness of her employers is in
tended as time saver, not a brutal
ty, she will be apt to go about with
that suppressed air Of injured inno-
cence than which nothing can be more
Irritating. Better to weep outright
and be done with it, though scenes,
as might be imagined, are even more
hateful to men in an Office than at
home.
"This last we admit" / hear you
expostulating. 'tBut what of the i'll
nesses that sometimes assail the best
of us? Can we will away neuralgia,
toothache and the exhaustion that
comes with rush work."
No; am not saying that one can
always avoid feeling unfit; but one
can nearly always hide the signs OF
that unfitness. Where this is impos-
sible. betake your frailties out of the
way, and that on the briefest excuse
you can put into words, until you are
again able to do your work.
It may sound heartless, but the only
feature of your malady that interests
an employer is the fact that he must
find a substitute to do your work. And
If you show too many signs of physl.
cal unfitness, you cannot hope to sur
vive in the business world.
One point mere. All communica-
tions demanded by business career,
where time is money. must be brief
and to the point. Whether you apply
in person or by letter, for instance,
for the position of stenographer, you
should come to the point at once and
express yourself in the fewest words
possible. A man with pile of let
tiers a foot high on his desk does not
want to wade through several pages
of application. He wants to unfold a
legible typewriter document that is
in itself an Illustration of what the
applicant can do, and to read thereon
first the brief fact that here is some
nne who wishes the position, and that
there is the list of her qualifications.
The letter should, moreover, be
typewriter on plain. businesslike sta
uonery, with first the writer's address,
then a salutation consisting of the
name and address of the recipient and
the formal. my Dear Mr.. Blank"
and finally the writer's penned sigma
ture after the Yours truly"-New
t.ayens Register.
LOVED FELINE ARISTOCRACY.
The greatest painter of cattle AMI
cat-character who ever lived was Ma
dame Henriette Ronner, whose death,
at the age Of SS, occurred at Brus.
sells. Only Eugene Lambert. the
Frenchman, was to be compared with
her. and though his technique now
and chen might be considered little
superior. from the painters point OF
view. his brush little more delicate
but that only in rare instances-his
understanding of the cat and kitten,
his insight into their nature. and SYM
pathy with their feelings. were hard
ly on a level with those of Madame
Eonner.
AS Ruskin puts it, you must know
kitten nature down to the most ap-
palling depths thereof" and be seu-
sitive to "the finest gradations of
kittenly meditation and motion" Ger.
icault. Barge and Delacroix all painted
or modelled the cat, but they usually
gave us tigers in little-thus bring
ing home to us the saying of Merry,
Louis XIV's surgeon; God created
the cat that man might caress a
tiger
have seen studies by Madame
Ronner of helplessly. doing kittens
that positively seem to drop their
heads in little spasmodic mods; cats
and kittens. too. that seem to be alive
on the canvas. and their fur Infinitely
difficult to paint like the very thing.
When she would paint one or more
of her mercurial pets, she would
place them in a gorgeous Louis XIV
glass case. made comfortable and
beautiful with gorgeous cushions and