Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1917-09-18
TAKING DICTATION
BY EARL REED sILvERs.

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Mr.. Francis Vreeland, head of the
nrm OF Vreeland & Co., gazed frowns
ingly at the typed letter he held. and
decided that 1t was failure. Under
ordinary circumstances, Mr.. Vreeland
would have wrathfully summoned his
stenographer, demanded to know what
business agency had the audacity TO
thrust such an example of inefficiency
upon Vreeland & Co., and then would
nave told the aforesaid example, kind
~ but firmly, that her services were no
longer required.
But Mr.. Vreeland did nothing Of the
kind. Instead, he set himself before
his own glittering machine. inserted
one of the firms letterheads, and
copied the letter he had dictated but
an hour before. The changes having
been made, he signed his name and
pushed button on his desk.
Miss Betty Baxter entered the room,
and instantly the sun seemed to shine
more brightly. In direct defiance of the
rules of business etiquette, Betty wore
a white dress, with frills at the cuffs
and lace at the neck. Her golden hair
was drawn back, but not because Betty
had any desire to appear businesslike.
1t happened &c be the style most be-
coming to ner. She wore white silk
stockings and white kid pumps; and
when Mr.. Francis Vreeland's eyes
rested upon her, his heart beat lively
tattoo beneath his manly bosom.
The head of the firm Of Vreeland &
Go. was really too young to direct
the fortunes of so prosperous q con.
Germ. He was twenty-eight, to be ex.
act, and if the business had not been
Inherited from h. rd-working father,
he would probably have been laboring
his heart away In q downtown office
for salary of something like thirty
dollars a week. But Francis, as his
many friends called him, was one of
those men who have greatness thrust
Ipon them; and so he was the big boss
n big firm, with an income of some
thing like thirty thousand dollars a
year.
And Betty Baxter was pretty, a good
lancer, an excellent tennis player and
L swimmer of more than local renown.
But she was poor stenographer.
The fact that Betty even attempted
stenography is story in itself. Two
Tears before the Baxters and the Vree-
ands had lived side by side In one Of
New Jerseys most exclusive suburbs.
Betty drove her own car to meet her
father at the railroad station, and In
he evening Mr. Baxter and Mr.. Vree-
and, ST., sat on the porch of the Bax-
:er home and discussed stocks and
ponds, while Miss Baxter and Mr..
Vreeland, Jr., wandered off around the
corner.
And then something had happened
which swept away the Baxter fortune
rs if 1t had been a mere chicken house
n the path of the Johnstown flood,
eaving the father crushed and pur-
poseless and the daughter stunned with
The realization Of sudden poverty.
Francis had asked her to marry him
hen.
''You are only asking me out OF
pity" she had said. "T-I must find
something to do"
So she had gone to business school
which promised to teach in three
months what other schools teach n a
rear, and, having been duly graduated,
she was given a position In Wall
street office. The next day she was dis
charged. In the evening of that same
lay, Francis decided that his business
Aad grown so much that he needed
personal stenographer, and Betty ac-
:epted the position.
And so she was rather surprised
when Mr.. Francis Vreeland, having re-
yped her latest letter, frowned threat
eningly upon her as she took her ac-
:ustomed place beside his desk.
Betty" he said, after long wait,
do you like your work."
"Of course do" she answered.
"Why%
"Why are you putting me through
a. third da0raar sha askad
u just want some information"
Francis leaned forward and tapped on
Iue ueSk WIFI MS pencil. "dOW WOQlQ
you like to have another job"
''Do you mean that l haven't done
satisfactory work hereP
eyes"
Francis spoke rather severely, and
the girl before him did not see the
twinkle which lay half hidden in his
eyes. She caught her breath sharply.
''Ill go now" she said simply.
mo, wait minute" Francis held up
his hand. Lets be perfectly frank,
Betty" he continued. "As a stenog-
rapher you're mighty pretty girl, but
as a mighty pretty girl you're a failure
as stenographer. You weren't meant
to take dictation, were you, dear2"
''No," she answered, "I'm not used
to it."
"Well," Francis continued, "from
now on you're going to have new Job.
Beginning today I want you to dictate
to me-"
Copyright, 1917, by the Mcclure Newspa-
per Syndcate)
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