The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-09-03

! The operations Of the firm Of ltooke
/ feller. andrews & FlaEler. John n,
! Rockefeller managed affairs at head
quarters and looked after Tho finances
( Mr.. Andrews supervised everything at
/ the factories Henry " Flagler wa-
! treasurer and man Of detail Each of
! these men soon cot to have a higher
/ respect for the ability Of the girl at
! the key. She made no mistakes
! She hadn't been In the ONCE month
! before she knew the business. so far
as it was within any outsiders power
/ to know 1t she was alert. always
| willing and ALWAYS dependable. Every
| morning she was az her desk not on
| time, hut little ahead or time Everv
evening she left the once not when
! the clock struck >. but usually nfteer
( or twenty minutes later If there was
a rush Q: business she never was VIII
cleared ~ She meyer was obtrusive
but the business of the FIRM was her
business, and she gave Il her earn
est attention. When one ~ the mem
/ heys OF the firm was looking with eaE-
, erness for an answer 10 any particular
message, the girl was on the qul vive
to get IL the instant the operator
at the other end opened his key. She
VAS alert. bright clever. keen, and
ever willing
The business Of the concern grew
rapidly. The private line 20 the fac
tories spread out TO the oil fields More
operators had to re employed The
girl In the Cleveland c-foe practically
heoamA chief operator. Every re
cruit had TO pas; her scrutiny None
but good teleeraphers were employed
Five excellent ones We're obtained.
bur none was her equal in ability She
tested each applicant Just p they test
them in the Western Union or the
Postal TODAY
Mr.. Rockefeller and Mr Flagler were
close students OF character The glrl
telegrapher had not been with the firm
many months before they kner they
hal an unusual young woman on their
hands. They paid her a good salary,
and by all ordinary rules she should
have been content But she wasn't.
She wanted to broaden her sphere Of
operation. so she took M the study of
s;enosraphy Within a year she was
almost as good stanosrapher as She
was a telegram operator She had a
genius for teleEraphy and genius
for pot-hooks
One day Mr. Rockefeller brought
telegram to her 10 transmit and saw
some stenographic characters in
notebook she had before her. He
asked nor how many words a minute
she could take from d!ctation. she
told him. Apparently his question was
an idle one. but a few months later.
when his regular stenoEra pher failed
to report for duty. he called Matte
skinner into his once and asked II
she could spare enough tima from her
telegraph desk to take mis- letters
from dlctation. and If She could re-
main after hours AMI get the CORE
spondence of She said she could
AR Rockefeller knows how 10 d.
tate He onunciates clearly. has fun
command Of the subject before he
starts 10 talk. and goes ahead AZ an
even speed But he talks faster than
u seems. and it requires a good steno-
s-apher "a keep up with hm and not
get Illustrated His own stenocraphar
had dimcUltv in following him. but
Matte skinner didn't. She got the
letters out that night, and when MIR
found no mistakes They didn't have
tyHewriters in those dnys. hut they
Ind better penmen than they have to-
dan. as a general rule The letters
that girl wrote were me specimens
Of Chi-oGraphv.
There was no eN'ra remuneration in
IN" PEI envelope Of Matte skinner at
the end o: that week for The extra
work. Within two or three months
however Mr. Rockefeller asked her
II sh. would like 10 he his stenogra-
pher. She got good pay as = telegra-
pher She would get 4 fair increase
as stenoErapher so She accepted it
Any person who has read the his
to'y Of standard 81. knows somethii.
Of the activity, the picturesGucues the
desperate OF the h-rt wa=ed 70,
many years between tae tSandard OIL
in It's youth and It's r.ve!s The SRI
VINO a. the Kew rad .snIfed the NEE