The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1915-04-30
ings. And. just by way Of returning
the attention and half as a joke, l said.

hundred and seventeenth.
"'Would you-wouldn't you order
some flower boxes to be put in the
office windows and let me plant some
flowers in them?'
'COnfound it all, l didn't want my
offices turned into a florists shop, but
ia brought the thing on myself by
accepting her miserable sweet peas and
by asking to do something for her like
a driveling idiot, so | had to consent
and do it with Il good grace too. How
ever. that venture wasn't as bad as 1t
might have been, because we got quite
a reputation from those window boxes"
Well. old man." remarked Mr.. Har-
ris encOuragingly, 1T is a nuisance to
have a woman messing around a place
Of business. but your Miss Blake doesn't
seem to have done very much damage
NO." admitted Mr.. Tyler slowly,
but then" he added, cheering up a
little, you haven't heard all of it yet.
That's a small part Of it.
"There's the time she jumped on
Brennan. Brennan's Il mighty smart
chap and a good. solid, reliable sort of
fellow, but he's also very grOuchy.
We'll. one day she went in to speak
to him about some papers and found
him sitting in his usual position, with
his hat on the back of his head and his
feet on his desk and staring ~vacantly
out of the window. Miss Blake began
explaining the points. but Brennan
went right on looking out on the street
and apparently not paying the slightest
attention to her. She kept it up a sec
onh or two and then she stopped. AT
first Brennan didn't notice that she had
stopped. but when 1t dawned on him
hat SHE WAS standing there looking at
him hnrd enough to bore a hole in his
back irr Jumped around in his chair like
lightning, and to do that he had to
remove his feet from the desk.
"'Now that | have your attention,
said Miss Blake, 4 will ask you to re
move your hat Oh, my" cried Mr..
Tyler. slapping his knee with great
enjoyment. I'D love to have seen
Brennan'S face! | guess he never had
been spoken to that way before. How
ever he may have felt about it, though.
he took his hat off and listened while
she explained the business all over
again straight through to the bitter
end.
1T was just about this time that
Watkins took to staying at the office
after 5 O'Clock. thought there must
be something up, because in all the
five years or more he has worked for
me l have never before known him to
do such a thing. l happened to stay
late myself II evening and caught
him. and he looked as guilty as though
he had been getting into the safe.
Miss Blake was in her room. SO In
passing through | asked her why Wat.
kins was staying that night.
81 couldn't say, Mr.. Tyler she said
as demure as you please, unless he's
getting up material for u divorce case
81 was halfway home before it dawn
ed on me what she meant. Every
body that knows Watkins knows that
his old lady is as jealous as you make
them and threatens him with a suit
for divorce every time he looks at a
hosiery advertisement. But, you may
take my word for it. Miss Blake wasn't
bothering about Watkins.
I'VE had about six office boys in
three months" Mr.. Tyler went on.
she worked them too hard and was
a total disbeliever in dying or dead
ro,J,,,tb>r ,rIinl, ;r;,rD1 fbo;r cnn-
sitive family pride. 1t was an awful
job picking out new ones, and l final
ly tired Of it and told Miss Blake that
if the present one left she'd have to do
the selecting after that. He left the
mex day.
Il made out an advertisement for Il
new one and gave it to Miss Blake to
take down to the Sun office, but she
asked me to hold it back for a day or
two, as she had some one in view.
"Meanwhile things at the office were
getting worse and wOrse-nOt the filing
system, Of course. That was as eX-
cruciatingly perfect as-well, as Miss
Blake herself. But the men weren't
dong a good days work in the whole
course Of q week.
'They were 50 occupied in carrying
out Miss Blake's wishes that they had
no time to give to my orders. Even
Brennan used to jump around like an
office boy for her, and it is the solemn
truth that Watkins busted her desk for
her every day. while Peyton watered
the window boxes-those window
boxes, by the way. that she was going
to attend to entirely herself My
clients We're being neglected, the work
was falling behind. and everything
was in a regular mess when she march
ed In with a girl office boy in tow!
THAT was just Il little too much!"
exclaimed Mr.. Tyler.
well. WE'LL" said Mr.. Harris, almost
regretfully. $50 you fired her."
Fired herr cried Mr.. Tyler defiant
lv, "What do YOU take me for. a