Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-02-01

Not getting to Athens was a great dis
appointment to me. Every day salo
that If the weather got any better L sure
" would go, but every morning the doc
tor said that l could not take the risk.
Ny cold is much better, and / must con-
TESS that it's my own fault that 1t is not
entirely gone. This has been such busy
year. there has been so much going on
at the association that it has taken all the
time of all the secretaries, and couldn't
miss a day sick or well.
The very first hull that comes in the
affairs up there 1 am going to slip off to
Florida I am planning to begin with
some dear Cousins in Quincy, and from
there to Tampa. 1 will stop about every
hundred miles. I hope that my mother
wall meet me in the upper part of the
state, and you who have read the book
"Penelope's Progress" can add a vol
ume as I write of our progress.
And you who have not read "Pene-
lope's Progress" can't get a more inter-
esting companion for the evenings. i
haven't written to you about the books
that | have read this winter for two
reasons One has been the disappoint-
ment some of the books have been to
me, and another has been the fact that
my reading has been so ''scrappy' |
haven't had the time to read many
books carefully. The BobbsMerrill Pub
fishing company sent me novel called
when a Man Marries,'' by Mary Rob
erts Rhinehart Some of you remember
my writing of 1.-The Circular Staircase,
by the same author l enjoyed her first
book so much that 1 was afraid to read
another and must confess that THE Man
in Lower Ten," was disappointment;
but when a Man Marries," lifts her
away up. From the first sentence to
the very end there is a clean, wholesome
humor that lifts one out of mundane
things THE girl who tells the story is
delightful and my advice to all of you is
to buy or borrow it. Another book from
the Bobbs- Merrill Publishing company
is 1.-The Diamond Master" by jacques
Futrene This is a wonderful story of
man who discovered the process of max
ing diamonds. He sent a magnificent
one to each of the biggest diamond
merchants in New York. The experts
pronounced them absolutely fiawless and
being ignorant of the others having
fac-simile said that any price would be
paid for IT, When the diamond master
had them all meet and showed them du-
plicates OF the famous diamonds In
France, Russia and England, their eyes
nearly popped out. They did not know
where they came from, and the various
theories advanced are all plausible. There
is a girl in the story and much hinges
on her, but I am not going to tell you
all, you must read It.
I have had innumerable letters from
girls and boys. men and women who want
to borrow money. 1t makes my heart
ache to have to refuse some of the re-
quests, but my letter was misread. There
was a college that offered to take certain
girls and educate them with a loan fund
that rich man had put there, the money
to be returned as soon after graduation
as il could be earned. Certain girls who
wrote me / would mot take away from
their homes were I a millionaire; they are
needed there, and God never blesses Jo-
nah.
There are two other things that / wish
that couldd impress on the minds of all
who write to me. The first is fact that
1 have often written about ineXperiencH
in any line of work. Don't try to make
a living in Atlanta until you have tried
your powers in a smaller place. Four dol
lars a week is a good price for an mex
perienced girl, and she can't live honestly
on il unless she is with relatives who help
her. One would better work in a smaller
place a year for her board than struggle
here as inexperienced help.
And please don't write and ask me to
get you place IL ] have never seen you.
How can tell what you are capable. of
doing, and how long you will be faithful?
Not meaning to be unkind, but simply
from common-sense view, the question
is asked: do you know her?' l confess
do not, and invariably the reply is I've
must see the girls we employ" This does
not mean that a pretty girl is taken in
preference. but we who have been in pub
lie life can, as rule. size up man or
woman I'm a very few minutes and decide
on the fitness for the place.
A month ago a certain manager OF
very important work asked me to get him
a stenographer. He told me all about
the work and the Importance of accuracy.
He confessed that ten had tried the place
I'm two months time. / said: 81 know
the woman for the place; she Mas had
seven years experience and is quitting
her present position this week on account
of a change of managers" l sent her to
see him and he, too, was impressed with
her capable looks. She tried the work
one day. and did well. Next morning the
rate-book was handed her and she lost
her nerve. She then and there resigned
said she knew she never could learn all
those regulations and prices and it