Evening star., 1921-12-11
+ was q crazy office-so everybody
said who had ever worked in
1t. You couldn't call an Office

anything but crazy which had
no office hours. no boss that you could
notice. and boasting a little china
closet In a corner from which dainty
teacups came out promptly at every
manager Of the Mercury Publicity
Agency. served tea to all. even to the
once boy.
Some people. including Mrs. Hag-
garty. the cleaner for that floor. who
looked in at some late hour OF night.
would have said that the craziness of
this once consisted of the ferocious
and cheerful manner with which the
employees worked overtime. unmindful
OF the clock, and centent with mere
mess Of sandwiches for a meal. Ger
tainly that did need some explaining,
as you could note by the way the
other tenants peered in the door
curiously.
Others were sure that the Office
must be q crazy Office because OF tho
Incredibly unsystematic way it was
kept. from the efficiency engineering
point Of view. There weren't twelve
square inches of clear space on any
desk in the place, and every room
was literally bursting with bulging,
exploding letter files-overhead. un-
derfoot to the rear OF you, to the
front Of you. to the side Of you. There
was always a blizzard of papers. and
nobody ever stopped to shovel path.
Poor Mrs. Haggarty was at first in
nightly fear that she had destroyed
precious documents after she had
made q feeble onslaught upon them,
with no more success than the New
York snow-cleaning commissioner In
the blizzard of 1920. But after a
while she got calloused to ft-just
like the snow-cleaning commissioner
and she scratched away what she
could and called it night. About
once q week they came to her and
asked anxiously about some paper or
other that had been lost. but she
turned them a deaf ear.
Again, there were others who knew
MY. Armstrong Strayer. the owner Of
the business, who would have said
the oflce was crazy because Mr..
Strayer was a genius or q fool. ac-
eordins to whom it was you talked
with.
Sarcastic critics who kept ono ear
cooked for scandal sometimes put 1t
as their guess that it was crazy
ONCE because, with one exception.
Mr.. Strayer had only woman employees
all types and kinds, short. tall, fat,
lean, beautiful and homeiy-and ap-
parently did not control them; and
get they all openly admitted they
adered him!
DUT the employees themselves had
- their own ideas as to why it was
such q crazy office-and you could
tell from the way they said 1t that
they loved 1t. For one thing. no
xirl had ever come into that office
who didn't get engaged or married
inside of six mouths. And what's
more, three OF those who had mar
ried came back to work again as soon
as they were married. and one Of
them was working afternoons and
looking after housework and baby in
tho morning. One Of them got up
from her typewriter twice during the
.,av 70 20 home and see If the baby
was all right! One Of them was
married to a man another girl in the
ONCE had divorced! Yes, 1t was
crazy ONCE.
For one thing there was such
nevey-ending stream Of excitement In
tho Mercury Publicity Agency. Ro-
nance, "big business" and politics
Focused there, in a way which made
any other Office seem like country
town because Of the publicity work
being done and the visitors OF all
kinds who came. Ethel Barclay, one
Of the brightest OF tho staff, one day
decided that she could do better with
a bigger company. OF course. she
could! Anybody could have told her
that, So she went with the blessings
Of the office and Of the head Of the
business. But in two weeks she was
back!
"I never was so bored in my life."
sha syowed frankly. There sat
all day long on this great floor with a
hundred other executives, and only
oface boys, mail carriers. pretty
clerks and stenographers visited me.
i was in the organization. but was
tho smallest. most God-forsaken cog
you could imagine! Once or twice
week went In to sec my chief. and
he was like a steel trap. 1 just
couldn't stand It Me for less money
and q Job under a man with some
brains and a personality, even II In
half worked TO death!
That afternoon. TO celebrate Bar
cIa,'s return to the staff. the boss
sent for some ice cream and then like
tho brilliant devil he was. told such
nm unceasins string of good stories
and 80 deliciously teased the esthetic'
shy Mr.. Gambler. his assistant. in the
nresence Of q client-a public Official
,u,ho had como in and Joined In the
sun-that 1t was only with difficulty
that they got their plates empted!
Ana that night they worked until
nearly midnight getting some rush
,tun into the malls. Nor was II by
The boss orders. either. They knew
The situation, and acted on their own
Initiative as matter Of course. You
bestn perhaps to SEQ why the once
was 80 .sndeniably crazy.
Mr.. Gambler was the mystery OF the
s6,ee, He no more belonged In that