Evening star., 1916-03-12
"HE bell under the plump young
'forewoman's desk rang impera-
tiyelv five minutes before uniting

with the last of the days piece-work
sheets. She snatched the telephone and
growled an impatient @H'lo!' into the
transmitter.
"N1r Barker wants to see you in his of
fee right away" the factory switchboard
operator curtly notified. She spoke in the
supercilious tone that all the Office girls
had been using the last five weeks when-
ever business eXigencies required them to
address the forewOman of the assembling
department.
"All right" Jane snapped her response
to the insolent summons.
She banged the receiver back on its
hook and wrenched her swivel-chair of
authority about. The forewoman inn
periously beckoned her factotem, who
was seated at the adjoining table.
Here Lizzie!" she called in the sharp
voice of evaporation. "Sort these time
sheets; then put them in the top drawer
of my desk and lock it, The Old Man
wants me upstairs. Probably can't get
back before six. If any of the girls start
washing up ahead of the whistle, you re-
port them to me-"
The forewoman bounced to her feet and
rushed up the aisle toward the elevator.
one Wdlheu WltH Il lItc-lIHlDcu, DIlsh SulU,
very much like man in hurry.
Jane always appeared buxomly femi-
nine when she donned her "good clothes
evenings and Sundays But this mid-sum-
mer work-day she wore at the factory an
ill-ftting ready made crash dress of a
dingy brown color, covered by n full
length bib-apron of blue denim. The pro-
tective garment resembled a pair of baggy
overalls with shoulder-straps. 1t gave
the stalwart forewoman a look of prac-
teal self-sufficiency almost masculine.
The virie appearance of Jane was
especially marked as she strobe between
the work-benches of the assembling de-
partment on her way to the elevator this
afternoon. She ruled her little domain
with calloused hands and heart. Her
steel-blue eyes stabbed piercing glances
like bayonet thrusts at three of the girls
she passed swiftly. The clumsy subter-
fuges of these time-killers waiting for the
whistle failed to deceive the vigilant fore
woman. She could not stop now, but a
bad five minutes for the trio of iders was
stored in her memory to be used to-
morrow.
Jane pushed the freight-elevator button
three times to summon the boy to her
floor. 1t was one of her prerogatives as
forewoman that she did not have to walk
upstairs, like ordinary employees. While
she waited for the slow ascent of the plat
form from the machine shop, she made
hasty repairs to her disheveled coiffure.
Jane had been working hard and fast
nearly all afternoon to complete rush"
order. In consequence her brown hair
was badly tousled.
HER infrequent visits to the Office nova
days were trying ordeals to the fore
woman, on account of feud between her
and the girls of the fourth floor. In her
own department Jane exacted the respect
due potentate from subjects. Upstairs,
however, ever since Estelle Brooke sac
oepted position as amanuenss in the
Office of the Ajax Electric Company, ac-
cording to the contributed personal"
published in the Kemusgon Chronicle,
there had been virulent enmity between
her with her satellites and Jane Diekema.
By ingenious flattery the new stenogra-