Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-12-01

invitation to dine, he began Il letter to
woman to whom he was engaged, re-
riage. He wound up by assuring the lady
of his highest regard and his earnest
hopes for her future happiness. l felt
like slapping him.
THE next case was more thrilling. 4
wild-eyed man came rushing in and said
he had some very private work. When
L had assured him he had come to the
proper place he began to pace up and
down the floor. debating he walked.
pouring out his soul in the most melo-
dramatic terms You ever heard in Your
life to the one who. he declared. was fair.
but false. 1t was deeply touching,
assure yOu-the terms of affection and
reproach interspersed with the click Of
the typewriter and the sound of the bell
at the end of each line. / believe he said
this was the ninety-seventh time he had
written. and that If she did not answer
this one he would consider that all be-
tween them was over.
::
Number three was different from both
the other two. He was a rosy checked
college boy, wroth with his lady fair. He
dictated several pages of cutting sar-
casm. OF course, YOU wish to sign this
yourself. [ said when 1 had finished.
No. he replied. sign it on the type
i want you to put down And this was
the postscript: L could not write this
letter myself, so / have dictated il to a
public stenOgrapher over the telephone.
Il thought that rather cruel. In case
the girl survived the fact of being Tilted
through a public stenOgrapher, there was
the added sting that a telephone girl had
an ear in the transaction.
But I've had lot of other funny
experiences I've had some screaming
ones. for instance. with foreigners. some
of whom cou'd not understand me any
better than | could understand them.
One particularly amusing case was when
two of the UNDERGRADUATES of the
Chinese legation paid me Il call Just
previously | had been sent 10 get the
views of the Chinese minister on an i'm
pOrtant matter. Mr. WI was minister
at the time. He did not wish to commit
himself on the subject in which 1 was
concerned. but the business woman was
a type to him, and following his
celebrated custom he began an interview
on his own account. 1t is probable that
the visit of the two secretaries was the
result of this trip. They explained that
they wanted to find out the mOdus
operandi of the Monograph. which had
mentioned in my talk with Minister WI.
/ explained as best I could. They asked
at least hundred questions. Finally
they departed. but ] am morally certain
j have not Yet made those Chinese Of
ficials undo rstand more than one-half the
things j was talking about.
:: x
Another funny incident with a for
eigner was that of German patron who
was debating a business letter to me We
got along fairly we'll for while and then
came this astonishing sentence: I hat
see Mr.. Brown an t'ink he will John in
the sheep Politely as / could, 1 asked
him to repeat. Same thing. / asked him
to repeat again and again. until at last
he was literally screaming the sentence
at me- Still 1 was in the dark. and final
~. in despair. he changed his wording
and said Embark i'm the sheep-in the
enterprise Then | had it. He had mere
ly said. in his tigurative way. that Mr..
Brown had been seen and would join the
ship.
''All sorts of people come to the public
stenographer to be served. We have all
types. without regard to sex, age or pre-
vious condition of servitude, until through
experience We get to be able to size them
up almost before they have opened their
mouths to say what they want. Always