The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-08-23

The story Of Helen Gilmore, who spent
II years working as a h~ousemaid anc
Is now an editor on a ~Well-knowr
daily newspaper In a large city.
Perhaps newspaper women would
never name Helen Gilmore among the
successful writer's in their profession
but there Is scarcely a houSemaid whc
would not envy her, not only her salary
but her method Of living and her leis.
ure time. Helen Gilmore, who is known
to most people as Miss Gilmore, be-
cause of her grazing hair and her re-
served manner, started life in a small
New England community about 80 years
ago. She Is the type Of New England
woman that you read about In books
straight and prim-looking, with a SCI
mouth which indicates set ways, and
neatness about her which Is severe.
Until she was IS she went to country
schools tand worked on her fathers
farm. Then fer two years she worked
In the village store and the next year
she entered the services OF the Conways
who had a summer home in New Eng
land near the Gilmore farm. Miss Gil
more was their maid of-all-work for two
summers and finally she returned witt
them to the large western city where
they lived in the winter. IN their towr
house Miss Gilmore was no longer maid
Of all work, but she was second girl anf
as such answered the doorbell. busted
helped with the dishes. made the beds
mended linens and did other light work
She had earned So a week as maid Of
all work, which seems q pitifully small
amount in these days of Sl2 and 81
maids, with no washing or cleaning. ;
When she went to the city the family
gave her SIS a week.
For 10 years Miss Gilmore was the
second maid for the Conways. For l:
years she helped with the dishes and
busted in the morning and mended and
answered the telephone and doorbell II
the afternoons, and took every Wednes-
day afternoon off because the cook had
Thursday off, She had every third Sun
day off in the summer, because the
Conways had so many guests in the
summer that they could not spare al
Of their help over week-ends.
After IL years of this steady service
Helen Gilmore took herself to task
She was 80 years old and only earning
So a week. She could not call any oil
her time her own except her Wednesday
afternoons, and she was always doing
some kind of work she did not like, and
the worst part of that was that she did
not know how to do anything else. After
casting about in her mind she finally
! decided that instead Of leaving her place
at the Conways to hunt for some new
kind of work she would keep on working
there, where she was sure Of room and
board, and then start to school again.
The cook and some of Helen's friends
laughed at her. To them 1t seemed
farcical for a scond girl, 80 years old
at that, to start to business school
Helen was determined, however, and she
drew some Of her savings out of the
bank to pay her first three months
tuition. She found the school work
hard and especially after a day oil
housework 1t was not easy to concen-
trate upon dots and dashes and type
writing. In fact it was so difficult
for her that It took her a. year and a
half to master both shorthand and typ
ing, while the school advertised II as a
three months course.
The very first position that Miss Gill
more took after finishing at the night
school was in a newspaper office. II
was a rather mental position and only
paid $l2 a week. She acted as stenog-
rapher and general office girl Tor the
Sunday editor of the paper. The girl
who had had the place before was but
f6 years old and earned only IS a week,
and so 1t is plain that her first job In
tire business world was not a golden
adventure,
Miss Cilmore's duties included writ
irg the. pei sonal answers to questions
about housekeeping and advice to the