The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-10-25

myself and marched boldly up to the
door that corresponded with the paper
in my shaking hand.
An office boy preceded me into n
handsomely furnished room. where a
grave. courteous man asked me what
experience | had had In law work, and
when | told him year in a little coun-
try village he smiiinEy bowed me out
with the informa lion that for a big city
law Office my experience was equiva-
lent to zero. 1t was all over so quickly
that | was back in the street before |
realized that l had been turned down.
and then | was so relieved to be out
in the bright daylight again that I only
smiled sangunely and consulted my
list.
made two other calls that day in the
downtown office district. and in each
case found the vacancy had been filled
kccnly alive TO my surroundings. l was
conscious of nothing worse than admir-
ing stares from occupants Of the various
offices, which on the whole was rather
eXhlarating.
The next day my route lay in a totally
different direction--to a big factory
building in Washington street. in the
timidly felt my way up three flights
Of dark, dirty stairs in the great bar
racks | was glad the agency man had
told me not 10 be frightened. as the
place was all right. Crossing a long,
narrow room full Of speeding pulleys.
opened a door marked coffee" and
came into large, rather bare but clean
light room containing three desks and
two men, the younger of whom rose
and met me.
He was short and dark and slightly
| conscious of his good looks and good
| clothes. When | told him my errand he
called the older man, and learned that
they were the secretaries of two differ
| ent companies of which one man was
president. They employed one stenog-
rapher for both companies and wanted
10 engage me temporarily while the
| regular stenographer was Ill. The pay
was better than had expected and my
funds We're low, so | consented to stay
as long as they needed me.
At the end of six weeks they dis
missed me, expressing regret and ask
| ing me to keep them informed Of my
address. They hoped to get rid of their
present stenographer, they said, when
| they would be glad to engage me per-
| manently / shall have something fur
| ther To say of them later.
I went back to the agency man, who
| gave me the address of a naval en-
ginecr in a building near Bowling
| Green, and | hurried Batteryward The
man was "A Swede who had been about
ten years in this country. He spoke five
| languages and had the most perfect
manners of any man | have ever met.
The salary was small, and | took the
place with the understanding that l
would stay until something better Of
| fcred.
The outlook from the office windows
! on the a'bor was a constant delight.
J When Mr.. Oleson found that I was a
! stranger in the city he took the utmost
! pains and actually encouraged me TO
neglect the work at times to point out
/ the objects of interest and to name and
explain the great variety of craft on the
water, lie brought his wife to the Of.
flee and introduced her to me and both
cordially invited me to their home.
| did not stay there long however,
for | was earning only n bare living,
and surplus for the folks at home was
a necessity | advertised in a morning
PAPER and received two replies asking
mo to call one was from a trade jour
nal and the other from business con-
Germ in the Tract Society Building.
The trade journal man wasn't quite
sure that / was just what he wanted
and would let me know later. The