The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1916-11-19
THE BIRMINGHAM AGEHERAID SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 49, 1916

him making a wild dash for me just
as l am closing up, which, to express
ii more forcibly than elegantly, leaves
it up to me" to try that cheerfulness
lesson outl
Some day I am going to give 1t Sc
rious consideration and decide which
customer is the worst, the one l have
just told you about or the one who
tells you he has couple of short let
ters and then sits down and wades
through a mass of correspondence for
his reference-very often these few
short letters have been known to keep
stenographer something like As min
utes SO you see that lesson Of
"cheerfulness" is the only thing that
keeps the stenographer from thinking
she has just lots of trials and tribula-
lions and enables her to classify these
little ripples in the stenographic sea
as 3. L. It's Little Pet Horrors"
Funny, isn't it, the idea men have
that women are such takers. / won
der if any one of the species ever sat
off in a corner and listened to his
brothers talk, as they say they do to
the women Situated as 1 am here in
the lobby, l get my share of both
The women as a rule use the weather,
clothes or the men (most generally
the mani as the source of their CONVEX
S'ilAOAiJ Jul dldS the w
they deviate from their muchly es-
tcemed EGO" and their conquests
1t has made me decide that there is
a type of girl I have never seen eX-
listing about me, or else--but no-that
couldn't be! A few of them, though,
have tragedies in their lives. But, hon
est injun, / never got as much joy
out of my very biggest pleasure as
they do about telling of said tragedy.
However, Is a mere matter of business
| always manage to look sympathetic
q generally accomplish this by think
ing of something else, as a matter of
informationD. Oh, very much so, be-
cause I know that the next day l will
be sure to hear from the girl at the
cigar stand that Mr.. Blank told her
what nice little thing l am. Which,
properly translated, means that he will
remember my sympathetic look and
save his mail for me on his next trip!
That kill them with kindness rule
certainly was meant for hotel work!
Speaking of killing them with kindness,
the aptness of the remark forces itself
upon us when we stop to think of that
little phrase, Men are but children
grown" Oil how I appreciate those few
words, because nine times out of ten
when these men are all tired out-the
stenographer gets a goodly share of their
mood. But to be fair to them, some of
the very finest examples of ig-hearted-
ness and kindness have been displayed
by our brothers of the road Inside Of
81 hours I took up a collection of 40-odd
dollars. for a poor old lady, whom some
of them knew, and from others who
were Just willing to help"
And appreciative-well, to do anything
for any one of them is almost matter
of embarrassment to ones self, their
M l..
man remember year afterward that you
were the girl that mended his glove on
his last trip Is not only humorous but
little pathetic
Then, at times when they have bought
something pretty for a wife or sweet
heart, it is more than amusing the way
they will come up and ask what you
think of it with that strange mixture of
pride and embarrassment that only
man can display.
rye been asked to tell you about the
"masher," as I meet him here Now, to
tell you the Gospel 1 really meet fewer
of this kind than the general public
would believe, or seem to want to be-
lieve. Sometimes think it is because
of the fact that the dear public insists
upon thinking men are such devils
when at large unchaperoned, that they
look rather "askance'' at the public ste
nographer They forget these men are
their own brothers, husbands and sweet
hearts.
Granted some Of these boys are often
lonesome discouraged and ready for
mischief, while others think they are
some heartbreakers; but 1 have yet to
meet the first one who, when told in
decent, human sort of q way to ''stay
put" won't do it. The strange part
of it is, it is not my women friends alone
who ask me If 81 don't meet lot Of
fresh men"--it is the men. 1t never fails
to amuse me, and always wonder what
it is forerunner of
couple of lines from mid Channel
rather aptly excuses these boys. Level