The guardian., 1940-11-02
JUST A BRIGHT
IDEA
=
BY JANE OSBORN
Mcclure Syndicate WNU Service.

one mad had one year in col ege
and she had taught herself how to
use the typewriter, She might have
got some sort of Office job, or man
aged to find employment as a gov
erness. But somewhere she had
heard that there were golden oppor-
tunlties waiting for clever girls IN
department stores. They became
buyers, drew enormous sa'ar es,
wore lovely clothes and went to Eu-
rope
But after a week at the ribbon
counter at York's her aspirations
toward buyers career were be-
coming trifle dimmed. Clever
though the ribbon buyer undoubted-
ly was she was more than clever
and Hortense felt that the other
traits had more to do with her sue
cess than cleverness.
Still, Hortense was not entirely
discouraged. She kept her bright
blue eyes open-did her best to
make a good sales record and
racked her brain for bright ideas
which being communicated to her
chief might lead to promotion.
1--WE had a bright thought" said
she one morning to another girl be-
hind the counter. 81 think I'll tell
Miss Gray"
The other girl looked at her with
mingled contempt and amazement.
Don't spill any of your bright idC IS
to that hyena," she advised eff
it's any good she'll swipe it, and
the chances are it's no good anyhow.
New girls always have bright ideas
for few weeks. You'd die if you
could hear some of them"
well, this really is an awfully
good idea," Hortense defended her
self. But l won't tell Miss Gray
if you think she'd swipe it. I'll go
right to the seventh floor with il"
Such notion was manifestly too
absurd to bother to protest, so M. SIS
O'Brien went right on arranging the
counter display. Being extremely
green Hortense made her way, past
various outposts, directly to the door
marked Mr. Oliver York, Private.
Mr.. Oliver York, son of the founder
/ of the store, was a person whose
name was usually not even men,
toned above whisper bymeTe sales
girls during business hours.
Hortense stood in the broad PAS
sageway outside the door, and five
minutes later when it opened and
a genial-looking, tall young man
emerged she went up to him with
out embarrassment and said
SIS this Mr. Oliver York? Well,
I'm salesgirl in the ribbon depart
ment. And I've had bright thought
l want to tell you about"
For a fraction of a minute Mr.
Oliver York looked dumbfounded-
possibly annoyed. But a glance into
the clear blue eyes of the unembar-
rassed young woman before him al
tered his feelings. He glanced
quickly up and down the passage
way, saw no one, and with a courtly
bow opened his office door and asked
the girl to enter
80 you are working in the ribbon
department, he said-and then
thinking of a problem that had been
discussed in conference that morn
ing he forgot all about the bright
idea the girl had and asked her why
it was that the personnel of the
sales force changed so often.
And so it began. Hortense did not
say that the personality of depart
ment heads and buyers possibly had
something to do with the matter. In
fact, she offered no solution to the
problem. But it wouldn't have
mattered if she had-because Oliver
York was gazing into the sky-blue
depths of Hortense's eyes and some
where out of his past reading flashed
the line None ever loved, but at
first sight they loved"
81 came up to see you to tell you
about bright idea l had-for sell
ing ribbons" said Hortense.
But Oliver, remembering that he
had a twelve o'clock engagement
downtown, had no time to waste.
1t was important not to lose an op-
portunity to see those clear blue eyes
again you keep your eyes open, "
he said, land meet me tomorrow,
say at four. We can talk things over
might meet at Stanley's for tea.
I'll have you excused. Now I must
hurry off"
well, did you tell 'em about your
bright idea?" asked Miss O'Brien,
when Hortense returned to her post
after her very brief luncheon.
mo, said Hortense with twin
kle in her eyes. ''Mr. York had an
important business engagement.
But he asked me to have tea with
him at Stanley's tomorrow after
noon"
Miss O'Brien laughed approving
ly. This new girl had a sense of
humor after all But later in the
afternoon when the buyer, bearing
an office communication in her hand,
snapped out to Hortense that she
would be excused at half-past three
the next afternoon, Miss O'Brien did
feel a little puzzled
Two days later Miss O'Brien
greeted Hortense with a grin.
j "Well did Won tell Mr.. York your