The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1915-01-15
JaStom JoSlin'S
Luck
A Fortunate Blunder:
By RElNErTF LOVEWEl1
Copyright by Frank A. Munsey Co.

4 0y NCu\Cu UE IOvC"6A
+ Copyright by Frank A. Munssy Co. +
Sadie Herman sat staring vacantly
out Of the window.
Before her on the table lay q small
yellow envelope With the figure I. a
period and two zero marks inscribed
In one corner. This had been hurled
there ten minutes before BY the presi,
dent Of the Acme Knife company and
was in 6nal settlement Of her account
with his house.
Sadie had lost her job.
She paid 81 a week to Mn. Tierney
for her board. and the Saturday be-
fore. BY special dispensat1on. she had
been permitted to delay for seven
days the remittance Of this amount
Hence there was now due Mrs. Tfe'
ney. payable on demand. the sum u
s., and the contents of the envelope.
augmented by II cents In her tarnish
ed mesh purse. would lack ~ cents
Of the board bill.
Ag1tated BY the thought Of confront
ing Mrs. Tierney In explanation Of Der
breach Of promise. Sadie permitted n
large and disfguring drop Of Ink to
fall upon a ledger In which she was
making a few final entries prior to
her leave taking.
All the while the Acme Knife com
pany sat at its desk with a frown on
its face. The Acme Knife company
was Mr.. Arthur Lawton.
he was a young man Of mild man
ners and had never before experienced
the pain Of firing a stenographer. Al
be heard a sti6ed little sniff from the
typewriter table where Sadie sat he
grabbed bis hat and left the ofnce to
seek diversion.
His stenographer usually received
from Mr.. Lawton's lips four or five
short letters each day. She knew her
shorthand system as 4 Mohammedan
knows the Koran. and she had never
yet made a crook or a hook that she
could not decipher. The marks she
made stood for the words Mr.. La wton
said, and she never got them wrong
It was only when she started to
spell them that she encountered diff
Guilty.
Fortunately for his stenographer. the
president was out soliciting orders
most of the eight hours Sadie was on
duty. and there wasn't much to do.
so she had abundant opportunity for
photographic research.
! Her Handy Dictionary and Ency-
clopedia Of Useful Information" was
worn very thin and shabby. for Sadie
faithfully found in its columns about
ninety of every hundred words She
wrote upon the machine.
But today there was no dictionary
In the Office. With dark suspicion she
recalled that Annie Flynn. who work
ed in a real estate Office down the hall.
had looked %enviously upon that trusty
friend many q time.
The address of the letter she was to
write was plainly printed on the letter.
head Mr.. Lawson had given her, so
that much was smooth sailing. There
seemed to be- nothing she could do
about the body of the letter except to
spell the words as they sounded. This
method was much quicker and simpler
and required far less concentration than
the process of dictionary research.
Sadie was u touch operator. and there
were never any errors in her typewrit-
ing. Once written she did not End It
necessary tn read It over.
Her work ended. Sadie dreamed.
Mr.. Lawton usually came In a little
before closing time to read and sign bis
correspondence. however limited it
might be. but at ten minutes Of s on
this eventfui day he had not appeared.
At two minutes Of the hour the tele.
phone rang sharply. and Sadie took
down the receiver and recognized Der
employers voice.
Miss Herman" he called. II shall
have to ask you to sign that letter to
Andrews & Andrews. can't get back.
and I want it to CO."
She signed for the Acme Knife com
peny, by its president. hastily. trou bled
by a sense of doubt about the spelling.
and she stuck down the Gap with a
feeling Of relief that Mr.. Lawton would
not see it and a drm determination to
get u dictionary from somewhere be
fore morning
The carbon she hurried to Ole. push.
ing 1t far down In the folder. so tina.
no casual examination would reveal
any defects to persons who were sure
Of their spelling
There 1t had remained until Friday.
when. quite without warning. Mr.. Law
J ton had appeared with the pay envelope
and the hidden carbon.
There was a wild look in bis eye. and
his face was flushed.
BE laid the yellow sheet out before
her:
Andrews and Andrews.
Attorneys at Law.
Bushnell Building,
Rochester, N. z.
Attention. Mr.. q Andrews:
Dear sir-Replying to your favur Of the
18th ult. l beg to staff that / nave nothing
ferthur to ray In the mater Of which you
>A A.