Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-03-07

btiiAStlll.
Straight and slim Miss Bonner stoo(
in a simple black dreSS-a neat Pari
number that had cost one hundred an(
twenty-five dollars. She had the kline
of features any intelligent girl would
select. Her wide set blue eyes WERE
neatly fringed with long. dark lashes
But the expression of those eyes indi-
Gated to w. j. an utter lack of-of eff
cheney. She shouldn't laugh at-at mis-.
takes.
On his way back to his office. he
stopped in the file room and examined
Miss Bonner's card. West Eleventh
street was her address. Twenty-thret
years old. Graduate of an Indiana uni
verSity. With the Stuart company five
months. Received thirty-five dollars 8
week.
BY carefully indirect questions he as
certalned her duties. She wrote a lit
tie advertising copy subject to revision
by Mrs. Sanborn. her immediate SUI
perior, and by Thompson, the adver-
Using manager. She kept the record
OF schedule sales. She also read proof
After Thompson had o. KID the style
and the general makeup of IN adver-
tisement, Miss Bonner checked the
proof against the original copy for typo
graphical errors. Upon her o. K. the
advertisement was finally released to
the papers. O, it was, was it!
For four days w. j.. read the daily
advertisements with more than usual
care. On Friday he was rewarded-no,
Mortified. of course-by the discovery
OF a misplaced apostrophe. Misses
Ensemble Dresses Of Georgette." How
careleSsi He ringed the offending word
with II swoop of his blue pencil
folded the page with this section up
permoSt, clipped thereto a memoran-
dum slip inscribed Attention of Mr..
Thompson and initiated wv. j. S.
This torpedo he placed in his basket
for outgoing communications.
Half an hour later it reached the Of
flee OF the advertising manager who
sWore when he received it. Thompson
had already seen the error. Mrs. San
born had seen it. Miss Bonner had
seen 1t. Her memorandum lay on
Thompson's desk. Her duplicate copy
OF the proof showed that the apostro-
phe had been correctly placed when
she had affixed her O. K.
This evidence Thompson seized. car
RED IN person to w. j., spread it be-
fore him and explained with patient
particularly. He described the news
paper composing room. the great
presses that must be set in motion on
the hour, the ink smudged demons who
work against time and the especially
fiendish fiends who set type by hand,
who snatch a five word caption out of
an advertising form to correct one mis-
spelled word and with the great deX-
terlty, reset it so as to misspell any of
the other four. The proof received by
the store the previous afternoon had
announced. Misses Ensemble Dresses
of Georgotte."
you can see,' said Thompson with
his pencil on the word %'geOrgOtte,
that this was marked for correction on
our proof. The O. K. here at the bot
tom means O. K. with corrections. The
typesetter did correct the spelling of
georgotte but in SO doing misplaced the
a~postrophe you note in Misses. We
could not catch this mistake, because
we didn't know about it. There is not
time for us to get back a second proof.
So we have to put up with little errata
such as this, once in a while"
Il don't mind intelligent criticism"
he confided to Mrs. Sanborn. But that
young whippersnapper will find that
he can't ride me-"
1t did not occur to Thompson or to
Nl1o. odllbOiA Ulldl q LllIlOI tlllplOyt III
their department might be a factor in
the episode. And Margery scoffed at
her mOmentary suspicion that w. j.
might be picking on her. No, the idea
was preposterous. She was entirely too
insignificant. And then, why should he?
The following Monday at the noon
talk she changed her opinion. AS she
took her place in the group clustered
round the platform and turned her
cheerful gaze upon w. j., he darted a
quick, sever glance at her, a scowl!
The thought that w. j. had tried to
catch her in a mistake-and had failed
found expression on MargeryiS face
in a delightful smile.
The smile brought a scowl, another
quick scoWl from w. J..
Soberly Margery studied him a min
ute.
$50 that's it, is it? You don't want
to be surrounded with happy, smiling
faces? Well, what are you going to do
about it?"
Her lovely lips parted in a gleeful
grin that remained mistaken by w.
US darting glances. 1t became appar-
ent that an efficiency eXpert-even in
a nicely temperatured room and with
out undue eXercise-can grow red in
the face.
o." thought Margery, thoroughly
pleased with w. Us angry flush, this
is like old times!' Many a semester
had she enlivened by batting the teach
ers with apparently %guileless questions.
Her grin became a giggle as w. j.
brought his address to a close, dismiss
ing his audience.
Now, of course, the owner of a big
department store has only to say off
with their heads" to have employees dis
charged. Quite as easily as you or I
brush aside a mosquito, w. j.. could
have finished a girl whose impudent
grin annoyed him. But, by his code you
see, w. j.. was incapable of personal
annoyance. An engineer can have no
personal feeling for or against a mere
cogwheel. He can, however, keep a.
strict eye on the cogwheel's work. He
can persecute the cogwheel in the guise
OF efficiency until the cogwheel sends
in it's resignation. This, the ensuing
week revealed to Margery, was due to
be w. Us procedure. And though she
would not have found it difficult to OBJ
tain a position elsewhere, she, too, had
a code.
you may put on the rats rubbers,
but you can't bluff me worth a cent"
she informed him, smilingly though
silently, the following Monday. IF YOU
won't fire me, I won't quit. So the
battle is IN. And you're just mean