The Thibodaux sentinel. (Thibodaux, La.) 1905-1912, 1912-01-20

other one of dozen tasks common to every com
munity in this busy age On the other hand
however, Uncle Sam has on his payroll number
of women who have odd duties. Some Of the
tasks, indeed are so novel, that Uncle Sam had
to train his own workers for their performance
and there are. scattered here and there in the
ranks Of the army of feminine workers, women
experts specialists who have absolutely unique
vocations-m istresses Of their crafts who have no
rivals anywhere in the world.
For instance there is a woman in the employ
of the department Of state who stands pre-emi-
nent manuscript Doctor manuscript
surgeon" Never heard of such thing did you?
Well. 1t Is very important line of work for all
that there Is not a wide market for her services
~And 80 10 q form of endeavor that IL almost inva
liable to Uncle Sam. who likes to preserve intact
all the historical manuscripts and documents
which have had bearing upon the history of
our nation. Before the government had recourse
to the services of this "restorer" many of the
most valuable documents CREATES. presidential
prociamations. etc. were fast going to ruin. Age.
handling. and frequent foldngs that broke the
paper had. indeed already played havoc with
many precious relic. After this ingenious WON
an took hold she accomplished wonders in mend.
ing the ravages Of time. She patched and pasted
and smoothed out wrinkles and the result is that
many OF these treasured mementoes are. to all
appearances. literally as good as new.
very interesting line Of work In which Uncle
Sam has recruited corps of especially adept
women workers is fine book binding In ordi.
nary practice most bookbinding nowadays is done
by machinery. That Ia the way II Is done at
the government printing office where there is
maintained one of the biggest bookbnding plants
In the country. However. the government has
some books that t desires to have bound with
the costlest materials and with greater care
than can be bestowed upon the machine-made
product. This hand-work Is performed for the
most part by women and some of the morocco
n1pYA yF,1,1 IfDh Lz,.~
recent years woul arouse all sorts Of enthusiasm
were they to be exhibited at any of those expo
sittons OF women's handicraft which are held
from time to time
The whole process Of making Uncle Sans pa.
per money and postage stamps is full Of odd
tasks and many Of them are performed by WON.
en- The women-hundreds of them-assist IN
printing the precious product and they have an
ideal field In which to develop their superior
deftness OF lingering in the counting and recount.
Ing OF the money In the making The newly.
printed currency counted no less han half
hundred times Uncle Sam sends out to the
people. and women do most Of this enumeration
They also examine the sheets of money and
stamps for the tin defects Of printing and this
requires a keenness OF vision almost unbelievable
IN Its accuracy
When the soiled currency tattered and torn
fs sent back to Uncle Sam as unfit for further
usefulness 1t is other women at the treasury
uepaT tMent VINO I'VE TO count It and check up
the returns Connected with this offce-the re-
demption division. are few women whose work
Is perhaps The most miraculous of al the won.
oertasks performed by the women a, Washing.
ton Tfeir forte is to identify the denomination
OF partially destroyed bills which ordinary
individual would regard anything more than
waste paper Currency that has been chewed
ny dogs, notes that have been torn into bits and
even charred ri money that has been all bu,
consumed by III ames Ia taken In hand by these
wizards and In aety-nne cases out OF a hun
dred they manage to ascertain the denomination
OF the damaged bit of pulp or paper and Uncle
Sam reimbnrses the unfortunate owner
In line With the detective work Of these money
sieuths Is the Intuition tyou can2ot call it any.