Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-09-01
As ONE WOMAN SEES IT
AstonIshfnoIy Large Number Of
Those Who Have Made Good on
Their Jobs Just "chaneed"
TO Get Them--courase 10
the One Thing Needed
BY SARAH d. LOWRIB

BY SARAH D. LOWRIE
| A GIRL I know was choosing chint1ss In
"A shop a little of Fifth avenue this
spring. She was so particular and choosey
about 1t that her mother. whose summer
drawing room they we're being selected for,
got restive and endeavored gently to hasten
the process by eneryetlcally admiring each
new piece as 1t was held up with kind OF
| final air. as though nothing could possibly
be SO suitable and no good would come OF
looking further.
But the girl went through the piles, laid
this aside and that, then contemplated the
| pile of saIvltions and chose q half dozen
likeliest ens from that, and finally mar.
rowed the choice down to one or two, OF
! which she calmly asked for samples to take
home and think about overnight.
AS the woman who had been showing the
chintzes was wrapping up the ones for the
! trial trip the owner OF the shop came
from behind n table where she had been
studying some house plans, and nodding
! pleasantly to the mother Of the girl, said to
the girl herself:
"You would not by any chance care for
a. position here with me as my assistant in
ton? want some one who Is as interested
and naturally intelligent as you to help me
dark spots Of a ROOM. Very few persons
have that taste naturally. You have It,
sce!"
T THINK then and there the girl applied
for the position. She had wanted to try
herself out in just such niche, and be.
cause she was the child of people who bought
beautiful things rather than sold them. she
had been little at a loss how to 60 about
being n business woman and was quite
naturally modest as to her fitness without
training to apply for such a position as
would give her n chance to exercise her
taste and at the same time learn the real
fnYtn nIat ttNy .~ph ,-tnv yv11 -n11t nj
customer and satisfying an employer and
making a reputation that she could some
day turn to account for herself.
Well, here was her chance. which even
her mother could not quite ignore, because
the woman who so casually had given it to
her is really power in her profession and
one whose "word goes" on anything that
has to do with interior decoration.
ONE or another friend that have who
" has made good In her profession or life
work has happened upon her original chance
them got going" by their war jobs; that
is. got the idea Of what they wanted to do.
One of DR.. Felix Adlers daughters lit upon
a very unique profession over In New York
from her hospital experience. and also from
knowing the need Of half-time employment
for persons who were not yet physically
strong.
She constituted herself regularly as a 60
between for those who wanted to work for
part of day and for tLose who only needed
part-time help in their business or homes
or recreations. 1t was perfectly surprising
how many hitherto misfts she was able to
fit into just the right occupation.
II began probably with semi disabled SOL
dicrs. but it has ended in her placing scores
OF pcople-old, young, married, widowed,
strong or only just strong enough--in pO-
sitiOns where they could answer a long-felt
need and wholly or partially support them
selves.
Just ms the visiting nurse who comes in
for the most difficult part Of the days nurs-
ing. yet who cannot stay for the mere enter
tainmcnt of the patient or for the minutiae
of meals and of the lesser sickroom atten-
tionS, so there are other women fitted for
situations in a household or in business
when the extra help to lift the burden from
the family or the office employees is only
needed for part time.
OF course, it takes an ingenious mind and
one quick to see combinations that can ad
Just these scattered ;arts to work in n
harmonious whole. / do not know what
charge Miss Adler makes as her we'll earned
commission in this business venture, but l
was interested to have her tell me that
she was coming to Philadelphia to open
an office for u.s. having tried 1t on the dog
in New York.
T HEARD of some girls who spent winter
L before last in California when their
father, rather well known broker of the
punger type, was temporarily down and
out, leaving them stranded on the Pacific
Slope somewhere near Los Angeles and the
merry center Of Hollywood.
These girls had been about to 60 home,
the season out there having ended, and, in
fact, their chaperon had preceded them and
was we'll on her way back East, when they
received word from their father to stop
where they were until he could gather funds
to pay their various bills and send them
their railroad fares. They stopped with some
trepdatiOn, fC: their bills were larger than
the movies. They went down to one of the
largest studios and got taken on. with no
questions, in society play that was being
put through Their clothes. their manners
and their general prettiness soon made them
more than welcome" In fact, the best look
ing of the two got taken on in rather a
leading part after a rehearsal or two.
Everything was going merrily both for the
play and for their bills, since they were
drawing we'll over $50 a day between them,
when they suddenly received n fat check
from their father, who had made good on
the market They cashed it and left for the
East next day, leaving very irate nd dis
comfted director in the movie studio. For
the films in which they had almost starred
were no longer Of any use, since he could
not finish the play with them as conspicuous
characters in the first half and not at all
in the second half.
TNHE manager whom they had so carelessly
i left In the urch told me that never again
would he take on a society girl without
making her sign contract to stay until the
last film was "shot."
But all the while I was out in the film
country I heard tale after tale of movie
successes who had "just happened In" be-
cause they we're dead broke or curious or
idle or wanting to learn how to write for
the movies, seldom because they had chosen
that particular occupation In serious earnest
In fact, the more | see Of people who are
round pegs in round holes, the more / am
convinced that the generality Of successes
took Il chance on doing thing rather
than seriously prepared themselves for q
life calling.
There are many persons. on the other