Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1911-03-24
BEING
BUSINESSLIKE


When the delivery man had peck.
eted his bullying book and gone pound.
ing on his way, the oldest daughter Of
the house shrugged her pretty shout.
ders and returned to her guest In the
parlor.
Business Is great fraud" she de-
clared.
I've always said So" responded her
friend with some emphasis.
i've just signed an expressman's
book to show that I've received some.
thing" the daughter of the house ex-
planned. Now. why sign? don't
know what's in that box. It's large
and heavy, but 1t may be empty. And
yet a delivery man would drop dead
II you stopped to look inside before
you signed. No one ever does"
Certainly not" said her friend.
warmly. That would be quite un.
professional. What that box contains
In small matter, after all. The
point is. did 1t come? When you are
as old as l am. my dear. you will be-
gin to understand how many yards of
red tape men need to be truly bust.
nesslike. They put up an appearance
Of great caution"
And do the saddest things ever
heard Oft"
Exactly, Leses that everybody
breaks"
Checks that any one can cash"
Contracts that no one pays any at.
tention to"
Deposit slips that you always
De" f..
Passes for the bearer only-but
any one may be the bearer-and cards
not transferable"
adele, I'm so glad to hear you
speak So" cried the hostess i've al
ways believed that business was SO
much pretense."
"A most cursory knowledge Of bust.
ness methods-improperly so called
shows how shallow they are
I'm SO glad you feel as do, Adele.
It's such comfort to hear you ex.
press those convictions. Father has
always scolded us girls for not being
businesslike. and I've always tried to
conceal my ignorance more or less. 1t
seemed such matter for scorn."
"Scorn? My dear" said her friend
in tone of finality. business Is in.
compatible with high thinking
adele" said the girl suddenly. how
do you send money"
Seal 1t up" snapped her friend
How else?" .a
you darling! OF course how else!
But as long as can remember. when
ever we sealed up money in an envel
ope and father found 1t out he would
throw up his hands and implore the
fates to help us. Then he has gone
about for days after. uttering instruc
tons about money orders and regis
tered letters! But neither Ethel nor
| had ever paid any attention to him
until last summer when went to the
country. 1t was very funny.
Il had been away only short time
when Ethel wrote in a rather superior
tone that she had sent me registered
letter for $40. Just as II she had been
in the habit of doing those things .ev
cry day of her life! The money didn't
surprise me. you know, because she
owed it to me. But registered letter
sounded entirely too ambitious for our
little Ethel.
We'll, went down to the postofilce
every day for week, insisting that
there was registered letter for me-
The rostoffice there was poor excuse
of place. and it had lot Of suspi
cious looking clerks. So when my let
ter was overdue just drew myself UP
and insisted that the letter was there
and so was the money. But they did
not seem greatly excited.
1.-THE people Of the town began to
interest themselves in my financial
condition. 1t was rumored that was
expecting lot Of money that hadn't
come, so had to spend money lavish.
ly to show that didn't really need it
Then | wrote Ethel that something
was wrong. And didn't hint that /,
served her right. r..
Her next letter was suitably hum
BILE She couldn't understand what
was the matter. but she inclosed lit
tie paper, which, she said. the man al
the postoff1ce had given her as a re-
ceipt for her money. She said she had
given my name and address quite
plainly and she suggested that II
showed the receipt they might be able
to trace the letter. So down went to
the postoff1ce with the little paper.
Here's the receipt said. Then
Adele, you never heard such noise as
those crazy men made. You'd have
thought they had been saving up that
guffaw for the best part of their lives
LAS soon as they could frame words
they asked me in sort of chorus wha,
wanted. Naturally. told them. when
my sister had given my address and
paid her money she expected that II
would be sent to me. can't tell you
all they said. They showed me all the
reading matter on that paper, which
was enough to drive any one insane.
But it seems. Adele. that after Civ
Ing your money to the clerk at the
| postoffice you have TO send on the lit
! tie receipts yourself and put the per
son that gets 1t to the trouble Of hav
Ing it made back into money again
Could anything be more roundabout
'Then you haven't seen the new
iorns for money orders?"
Don't tell me"
II won't. Only they've added some
other kind OF ticket-which makes
three"