The Washington times., 1931-01-30


"My God, JOhn!" he grOaned.
did you see that? Did you see
how she measured that? Oh, my
God! No wonder we are on the
verge of bankruptcy"
He turned to the other wit
nesses, which by this time in
cluded several other officials Of
the concern, and declared:
Gentlemen, the mystery is
solved. No one is stealing our
ribbon. It's Alma. She's meas
uring ribbon by the OOdle, in
stead of by the yard. I don't
believe she even knows what a
yard is. She probably thinks it's
the place where they keep the
dog penned up"
He glared at me. I stood, pet
rified with horror.
Good heavens, girl! No won
der customers ask for you'll"
And, that was that. I was
fired again.
The only job I ever voluntarily
quit was at a bargain shirtwaiSt
counter where 1 was paid a few
cents commission on every sale.
The competition was so keen
that after a nerve-wracking, body
bruising throat-husking day, I
earned but SO cents, which I
spent for ointment and a gargle.
O1ce I ran. away from a job
and once was discharged be-
cause they accused me of desert
ing my post. The former was
ir a telegraph office where I
was employed to fold aud seal
telfgramS in envelopes.
NJ duties in the telegraph Of
flee took me to a distant section
of the city at 5 o'clock in the
morning, riding on the street
cars among the rough element
usually employed at the wharves
and on construction jobs. These
men never molested me.
On the Job Early
But one raw morning, I arrived
at the office a little ahead of
time. 1t was just breaking dawn.
I thought I was alone in the
back office, when suddenly one
of the male employees appeared,
locking the door behind him and
siding toward me in a crawfishy
manner of ominouS import.
He tried to kiss me. ducked
under the table and leaped to
my feet on the other side. He
tried to run around and catch
me, but eluded him by dash.
ing to the opposite side. 1 en-
deavOred to keep the table be-
tween us, but he upset it and
darted after me. again eluded
him by throwing a chair in his
path. Then 1 knocked over a
filing cabinet, one corner Of
which struck him on the foot.
Before he could recover I threw
open the window and made my
exit, never to return. Even after
got outside, with men passing
on their way to work, I was too
scared to scream.
The other job, where was fired
for deserting, led me into still
more horrible experience.
Once again 1 had obtained a
foothold with the telephone COM.
pany. During my rest period a
girl friend, whom I had never
dreamed was a married woman,
received an urgent telephone call,
requesting her to come to her
home Immediately. They didn't
tell her what the trouble was and
she was badly frightened. She
begged me to accompany her, and
I did so, out of sheer sympathy.
A Domestic Suicide
The first thing we saw when
we stepped into the cheaply fur
nished two-room apartment was a
dead man, stretched out at full
length on the floor.
It was her husband. They had
quarreled that mornir~ and he
I'D taken poison.
This shock so completely un-
nerved me that it was several
hours before I could get myself
together sufficiently to return to
my switchboard. When I did >
turn, the chief operator curtly in
formed me that I was no longer
employed them.
And, there I was, jobles3 again,
as usual.