The Washington herald., 1911-09-24
Strange Mixture of SpunkinesS and Infinite
Capacity for Work Is the Feminine
Clerk in Big Stores.

Behind the fancywork counter Names
fun-searching eyes were covered with
white lids, the black fringe almost touch
ing her cheek, her dimples suppressed,
her full fresh lips trembled in demure
effort to keep back the litter behind
them. while her slim white fingers drew
out yard after yard of filny feminine
stuff
Cheese it," she observed in an under
tone to a companion who grinned in
sympathy, as she turned her back on
the muoh-corseted woman with the real
Irish collar and the gold-rimmed lor-
Gnette, to draw out fresh bolt from the
shelf.
The customer who occupied the stool
before her was from that locality dis
tinguished as the Northwest" and she
was one of the class who believe in
personal contact" who presides at So
cial-service aggregations Of her kind,
and who collects and distributes duh
pIatitudes with about as much comfort
in them as a cold-boiled potato.
With the apparent purpose of express
ing her, interest in the girls life and its
problems, the woman was exuding SYM
pathy and running her fingers over the
soft stuff on the counter at the same
time.
Acts the Poor Girl"
Too disciplined to give vent to the fun
she was having, Name acted the part
of poor girl" assigned her, with his
trionic ability. for the general amuse-
ment of the girls"
Gould Sorr,,
anybody else after looking in her mir
ror, is more than l can manage" Name
observed later amid the unIoosed chatter
and giggles of the lunchroom of one of
Washington's big department stores.
Spirited, sufficient, cheerily competent,
sharp in her tongue as the conditions she
meets and solves, accepting her part of
the home burdens and generously shar-
ing the troubles of her fellow-wOrkers,
this slender girl of the shop is keen to
know and acknowledge genuineness and
ever ready to call bluff. Life has
taught her not to fool herself. A habit
TO which the unemployed are addicted.
With unfailing disCernment, she sizes
'em up" and dispOses of people. accord
ing to her experience, and Classifies them
with a vocabulary all her own, the
pawer,' or woman who handles the stock
Win never a nOJlOn 10 DuNr the IOuI-
husher," the penny-slotter," the ''9S-
cent-chaser," the "talkshooter," the
'make-shifter" and others more or less
To the unconscious packs of her POM
pous and self loving customers the de-
mure girl with the lowered lids mentally
pins these enEgntening tags. 1t is rare
that she makes an inaccurate classifca-
tion.
Sales Depend on Wits.
On her wits depend her sales, on her
sales her commission, and on her COM
mission, the dancing frock, which her
beauty-pinchcd little soul is hungry for,
and she's impatient with the pitiful little
make-shifts, with which people wrap up
their dull. tedious or mean selves. Her
first instinct is to clip the string and un-
wrap one. and this she does in the in
terim. when she Greets you CourteOusly,
Something"
From a small fiat, greEariOusly keep
ing company with a score more of its
own pattern in the southeast, Name let
herself out one morning of last week and
ran for the S o'clock car.
While she's extracting her nickel from
the palm of her glove, you may look into
her home out of which I came with her.
Names home is different from the
typical one of girl in her circumstances
only in the motherly comforts which per-
wade it.
Name lives at home with her father,
mother. three sisters. and one brother.
All Of them have good Jobs with the ex-
Ception Of the youngest girl who is ten.
Name is the eldest, nineteen, and she
has been in the store for three years.
Her two sisters, sixteen and seventeen,
are also employed in the store. Her
brother is a clerk in the shoe department
Of another store. Names father is
mechanic.
Names mother is the banker and into
her capacious lap the family pour a
weekly contribution, which, with that
lady's highly specialized talent, is suffi-
cient to make ends meet with the rent
man, the grocer, the butcher, and other
necessary evils.
Piano in Front Room.
There's the front room with piano
on which the whole family is paying the
set of mission furniture,
The kitchen, dining-room, and two bed |
-ooms.
But while Name hasn't all the re-
sponsibility of the home, her schem-
ng little head is ever busy to round out |
savings from a out OF her IS a week. |
until she can buy the pink chiffon dane |
ng dress. Because John is fond of pink |
Il only lacked a quarter of the $69S |
70 get the dress I was going to blow my |
self with" conffded Name when We |
we're fortunate enough 10 get a seat. and |
,he had placed her little bag on her lap |
and vas industriously pulling on her
gloves, when Sissy Howard's father |
lad to up and die. OF course, I'm sorry |
or Sissy but I was sorry. too, for my
self, when I had TO gu and put that
quarter into the collection we took up
It the store for her.
That's the way 1t is, you see, some
hing's always happening. Oh, gee. no
lse to turn on the cold spout, is there?
II US do. 1 guess we are just like any
Iody else, we get a good time II we are
hat kind, and If we amt, We don't"
Not accustomed to analytical discus
Sions, Names stock of philosophy soon
diminished as the car crowded to burst
ng with hundreds Of more like herself
and the greetings and jollity became
general.
It's the mefriest car ride OF the day,
these early morning girls.
Stopping IN F street, before the line
of stores, hundreds of girls, women, and
men flowed through the main openings.
Store Silent and Neat.
Have YOU ever, on a bargain scent,
waited for the first opening OF the doors
II big department store It's worth
while. even II the scent is no good, and
he silk hose you were expecting for Is
tents have a loose thread In them