Great Falls daily tribune., 1920-02-21

| length of time. middle aged woman
approached an officer of the bureau With
! distressed look on her face and said,
Now does this sign mean | must wait
a week before you can give me room I"
Part of the bureaus staff is always
out on what is called field work that
/ is, the investigation of various houses
reporting rooms for rent to the bureau.
| Thus, when the bureau tells girl it can
give her a room al 81 dollars week, il
knows exactly what that room contains,
even to the wall paper and the number
| of lighting fixtures. which is fortunate,
because some Of the applicants are very
fastidious in their requirements. tine
stenographer who came to the bureau
with definite ideas as to what she want
ed for the price she could afford 10 pay,
was served by six different interviewers,
and inspected As different rooms before
she announced herself satisfied
In addition to its commenting ser
vice the bureau acts as Il court of arbi-
tration between landladies and their
boarders, attempting to adjust the many
difficulties which are constantly arising
between the two factions. Sometimes
it is boarler who protests that her
room is cold, and again it is q land lady
! who claims that her boarders are using
too much gas and electricity. Miss Hanks
has also recently started Il sort Of house
keepers club, which meets once q month
at the Y. W. {. 4. headquarters, for the
purpose of acquainting land ladies with
the latest facilities for housekeeping
and with advice as to renting rooms. Col
umbia university Is cooperating with
the bureau in supplying lectures on
house furnishings and interior decorat
ing, while the officers of the bureau
manage to give the meetings a friendly.
informal atmosphere by serving tea and
sandwiches.
AS result of these meetings. the
bureau notices slight Improvement in
the relations of the boarders and house
keepers on their lists Many housekeep
ers have recently begun to exhibit a
personal interest in the girls boarding
in their homes, and actually TO help them
reduce expenses by suggesting the use
of laundry and kitchen facilities. The
old type of land lady who spent her days
inspecting key holes in the fear or hope
of catching her boarders cooking over
the gas jet, is fast disappearing under
the friendly administration of the bu-
rcau.
Not long ago. for example, a landIady
appeared and handed $50 i'll bills to an
officer of the bureau. 1T belongs 10
that last little old lady you sent me,
she explained. She left it in the desk
drawer of her room, although she re-
membered to take everything else with
her. even a couple of my towels.
Investigation proved the old lady to
be one who had been on the bureau $
list for a number of weeks, during which
time she had rented half dozen diff
ferent rooms. Every time she comes to
the bureau she gives different name |
When an officer of the bureau gently
called her attention to this fact, she de
cared that she couldn't remember what
her last husbands name was, but she
thought it was Boyd. Through the in
formation cleaned by this housekeeper,
the bureau was able to notify the old
lady's anxious family as to her where |
abouts.
Miss Hanks. who is on duty great
deal during the evening, says that this
period is particularly prolific OF queer
stories, some interesting, some amusing |
and some tragic. Perhaps the thought
of being alone in the city becomes more |
appalling as night approaches, she
saws. .and the need to talk things over
with someone becomes more urgent
The other night. it was Mary Smith, /
a cook, who had left her position be-
cause of a misunderstanding with her |
mistress, and had to be supplied cheap
room right away Mary. who wore a
distressed expression. confided to the in
terviewer that in her anger she had
placed curse on her employer, and then
UlScoNeTeu JUST as Sle WIS ltafiHS tue
house that the lady was the mother of
Dorothy Arnold. the young girl who was
kidnapped few years ago. She was
overcome with remorse, and wanted to
know if the interviewer could not tell
her of good fortune teller who would
be able to render the curse impotent.
A little later. it was little shop girl
who appeared and said she could not re-
main at the club house recommended to
her because Of a requirement that she
wear rubbers. She had never worn
rubbers, she said, and she did not in
tend to- They made her eyes hurt,
Would the interviewer please give her
the address of place where sh6 could