The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-01-16
EVENING STORY
Brains VS.. Embonpoint.
-(By Jane OSBORNE

charge of the STOUT Model depart
ment of that large coLcern, he an
nounced his intention of having a
woman for his '.right-hand man. |
Stone Ma jerS and the other executives
of the concern had always held out
against women in responsible posi-
-tionS Even their StenographerS were
young men. Girls were well and good
at the telephone or to run errands, or I
something of that sort Stone Majers
told his brother, but when you come
to having them in your office with |
you, you first get to noticing what |
sort of dresses they wear, then you
start in making pretty speeches, and |
the next thing you know your mind is |
more on the girl than your business.
when / get ready to marry, he !
continued, Ign going to get some nice |
young girl fresh from boarding school |
don want some one that knows the
dress manufacturing business better /
than L do, and that will serve us shop |
talk at breakfast and dinner"
That's just where I'm perfectly |
safe Ned retorted. Il couldn't pos
sibly fill in love with the sou OF girl
woman for is because in my end of
the work the right sort of woman can /
fairly sell the models off her back.
I'm going to have a''tout;' that's why
| she will help sell the type of dresses
that 1 am going in for, and, moreover,
that is why there ism t-any remote
chance of my falling in love with her.
L could like a stout girl lot and get
along with her beautifully, but I'm no
Turk. l don't want a fat wife l SIM
ply could not think of it,
Wei, how are you going to get
this 'right-hand man of yours?''
| - Advertise, OF course. 'Wanted-A
stout woman with brains and a knowl-
edge of the womans dress business
That ought to get her.
So the advertisement was inserted
IN the morning papers, and for an
hour or two the door that led to Ned
MaJer's office was blocked with
| heavyweight applicants, who consid-
cred themselves qualified for the po-
| sition. Apparently they all did quail
| lily as to embonpoint. Ned's problem
was simplified into telling which of
the flfty-Seven applicants had the
most brains. So important did he
consider this consideration, in fact.
that when Hilda Clark tipped the
scales only at 100 pounds-hardly one
of the others but had done better
Ned waived this slight discrepancy be-.
cause of her very obvious advantag es'
in the other considera tons, He had
had set of scales brought into his
| office from the factory, so that he
might not trust to mere guess work
regarding the weight of HIS applicants.
| You look fat enough, anyway" he
said good-naturedly to her. as he
helped her step down from the weigh
| ing platform. Eat plenty of butter
and potatoes and things | guess YOU
are just the man I'm looking for"
And as he showed her to the exit hall
he made his way to his brothers Of
flee. 20
she's fat and all intellect. We're both
| safe. 4 never could get sentimental
over such heavyweight = and you
couldn't stand thee intellect. She's the
kind of girl that looks as if she knows
just what a buyer was going to order
as soon as he came into the place, and
it is all in her ,eyess-the brains, I
| mean"
So IIilda Clark was installed, and
before long Stone Majers had forgot
ten that he had ever opposed his
brother in taking on a woman assist
ant. With an amazing capacity for
hard work and a keen interest in all
| the phases of her work that brought
her active mind into contact with 9TH
er minds as shrewd as her own, or
nearly so, she soon had charge of the
selling end of the business for both
brothers. Her personal magnetism
rather than actual beauty, made every
frock she tried on take on new interest
and distinction, and this. as Ned had
ii foreseen, had considerable effect on
, the size of buyers orders. No mere
man. even with the same ability as
TIilda Clark, could ever have pushed
the sellins~of the Majers & Clay stout
piled up, and evenings when she was
not staying after hours strengthening
out a tangle of orders with Ned, she
was comforting with stone 1t was
) hard work. but pleasant. 1t agreed
with her. but
whats the matter with the last
, model?'' was the bldnt and peevishly
; put query of one of the large buyers
> one day some six months after Hilda
had come to b. Ned's right hanil
4 ! srT1l.a tI1iv
) I ever saw. Say, honestly. just be-
cause a fat woman's fat she doesn't
want to dress like her greatgrand-
, I mother"
That was the first of the complaints.
; Others followed. The designer was
blamed first, but she was apparently
putting out as good ideas as ever.
, The workmanship was the same, and
, the same quality of material was 60
ing into the dresses.
, one day Ned came into his brother 5
office with a pale but relieved face.
''I know what's the matter; Hilda' S
; lost twenty pounds. She's been doing
it gradually. 1 knew soWething was
wrong for the models Looked so dowdy
on her. I knew she must be getting
thin. You know, L never could fall in
t love with a fat girl. And. anyway. l
got her on the scales today She
, couldn't have lifted her when she first
! came And 1 found out what was the
matter
''Does that help matters any?"
snapped Stone.
well. not much. only that we
know what the matter is. And,% be-
sides"
But we ought to have q woman
here that can show the dresses. She
is running the business now. The buy
ers' say something is the matter with
the models. Couldn't she take anti
thin. or something. or drink milk ~
''She says it doesn't do any good.
knew you'd ask that, SO / suggested it
to her., Ned laughed al the humor of
the situation, that was not apparent
( to his brother And, besides there