The Washington herald., 1914-07-05

4
] When Mrs A. l.. Evans first came &c
New York city in search Of a living she
came armed with no experience what
ever in the business world. but with
splendid capital Of courage and ambi-
| ton she determined to take the first
| thing which offered itself OF course,
she might have struggled along in New
| Haven, Conn, where she had been born
| and had lived all her life until circum-
stances demanded that she 60 out into
| the world and force a living from 1t fer
| herself, but even that would have gone
| hard with an inexperienced young wom-
an, so she decided to go to New YORK
and there throw her hat into the ring"
An advertisement in the newspapers
| calling for an assistant cashier in
small hotel was her entering wedge 10
success While the ordinary young wom-
! an would have been spending her even
ing adventyring among the novel gayet-
| les of her new home. Mrs. Evans passed
them in exploring her new position
searching for opportunities with which
to advance herself
Recently sitting in the roof garden Of
the highest hotel in the world. twenty
three stories above New York's Broad
way, she told me how she gradually
reached her present responsible position
by sheer hard work and determination.
There is a chance for every woman TO
earn her living. no matter what her pre-
vious training may be-" she said. There
is so much work to be done that the
main thing necessary for the woman
who must work is to look for II persist
entity
Il had had no training whatever when
was suddenly thrown upon my own
resources but was willing to do anything
respectable. The department stores are
always open for capable women who need
work. but I could not see myself well
placed behind a counter, although had
begun in that way / should probably
have found some way In which 10 rise to
better things. The possibilities Of a no
tel situation. however. appealed to me
strongly. and ! was very glad to get
the position of assistant cashier in a
small family hotel in New York.
1T was not long before began to real
ize that my first impression was correct
and that | possessed a genuine liking for
the hotel business. From the start, I
worked hard TO learn everything about
the business I could ] found out how
the books were kept in the ComptrOller's
department and how the checking was
done in the kitchen. In that small hotel
there was plenty of opportunity TO learn
all the details of the work, and before
long was ready for promotion. In time,
entered the auditing depart be- !
came assistant auditor. auditor. assistant
comptroller and finally comptroller I
had started in at a salary of s. per
month. with room and board. which was
not very ambitious. must confess. but |
realized that ! was receiving a valuable !
education, and this was made more evil
dent to me when the time came when !
could easily get work from the largest |
hotels in the city.
Knowing that it was necessary TO |
broaden out, although / was very happy |
where l was. / applied for and got |
position as assistant auditor in a larger |
hotel. and gradually l acquired all that !
could he learned in the front office
Before the big Hotel McAlpin was !
opened. put in my application and OBJ |
tained the position as head cashier Now,
as rule, in large hotels this position is |
filled by a man, but in this instance the |
manager had a theory that a woman |
could do the work even better because |
Of her superiority in matters Of detail !
work. l organized the entire auditing
department and filled every position with |
a woman. and l am able to say that |
everything stands today precisely as l !
arranged it When everything was rum |
nlnS In perfect order, I turned the whole |
thing over TO my assistants. who were |
perfectly capable Of filling my place, and |
then organized my present department |
From my Office the entire floor serv-
ice Is managed. all complaints of guests |
are heard and lost and found articles |
are taken care OF. ] drill each one of |
my floor clerks. and in instrIcting them
give them a book of rules which cover
every point that may come up during the !
day. / require my clerks to commit |
these rules to memory, 50 that there is
no excuse IL mistake is made Every
week We have meeting at which Is
taken up every complaint that has come
in since the previous week. As the floor
clerk is responsible for everything that
takes place on her floor, no matter
whether il is a complaint from the en-
gineer concerning the lighting or heat
ing or from guest about service 1t is
all promptly traced and corrected.
'All my floor clerks are bonded, and
after a guest gives up his
room one of these women inspects il and
turns over to me any article that may
have been left behind. Money. pocket