The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1913-12-16
THE GLORY OF WINNING
Pretty Margaret Owen, New Worlds
Champion Typist, Tells How She
Won Her LaurelS.

How does it feel to be the great
est typist in the world?" Miss Mar
garet Benedict Owen, who holds the
worlds championship for speed and
accuracy, was asked the other day.
Il never hoped to shatter records"
she answered.
when l enrolled with a business
college it was with the intention of
qualifying for earning a livelihood
as business girl. l felt, as many
young women feel, that l ought to
be able to go out into the world, in
case of emergency, and fight the
hard battle of existence. l wanted
to be self-supporting, Independent.
Therefore l took up a full CONNER
cial course-bookkeepi stenogra-
ply, typewriting, and other things.
"In 1910. l was entered in a big
school contest, being one of twenty
contestants. l was a trifle nervous,
but when the gong sounded l settled
down to fifteen-minute grind which
seemed an eternity. My nervousness
fled. The school record at that time
stood at 73 words minute. l often
had beaten that record in practice.
So l went after it. l won the con-
test establishing a record of SO alb
solutely correct words a minute.
THAT was, of course, but the be-
ginning; but the winning of that con-
test gave me the confidence in my
self that l needed for future events.
Never again was l a victim of nerves
In 1911 l entered the International
Amateur Championship. l tied with
another operator on that occasion,
both of us writing SO words minute
for half an hour.
THE following year l contested in
the same championship. For a year
| had diligently copied from morn
ing till/night. My fingers became
more supple, my nerves more set
tied, my method more daring. 1t
was at this time that 1 discovered
wrote mechanically. Page after page
| copied, my fingers virtually reading
the copy mechanically. The minute
l took my place before my Under
wood l forgot the great crowd, the
| cheering. My machine responded to
| my touch-a very light one, inciden-
tally-with almost human intelli-
gence. If ever an inanimate object
came to life it was my typewriter on
| this night. 1t defied me to operate it
at the speed which it was capable of
attaining.
"And the result? One hundred
and sixteen words minute for thirty
consecutive minutes? The profess
sional record at that time stood at
112 words for an hour. A cash prize
of $1,000 for the person who could
shatter 1T was hung up. l captured
it. And yet l felt l had not vet
reached my own limit.
This year, at the Sixty-ninth Reg
iment Armory, l went into the
worlds professional championship
competition with nothing but conf
dence. What l did on that night now
is known to the world. My own rec
ords of preceding battles went glim-
merlng, and new one of 125 words
minute was established Once 1
had determined upon becoming the
greatest typewriter operator in the
worlds l was ever unflagging in my
practice, for it is only through ag-
gressiveness and application that one
may achieve this distinction. 1t is
not, as many often claim, SO per cent.
operator and per cent. machine. To
my way of thinking, it is lst the re-
verse-and, We're / possessed of ex-
act percentages would say that it,
99 per cent. machine and 1 per cent.
operator. You can't write $500
words an hour on a machine whose
speed is limited to half that"
The coming year promises to be