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THE FEDERATION OF WOMEN’S CLUBS IN THE SOUTH
Os all the business positions stenog
raphy has the unique distinction of
having always been woman’s job. You
see, it was born in the latter part of
the nineteenth century—the time when
woman made her famous raid into the
business world. Having two innova
tions —the typewriter and the new
woman —on his hands at the same
time, the business man naturaly pair
ed them off and let them -work out
their destiny together. As an office
fixture a girl was really more conven
ientient than a man. She was more
compact and easily stowed away; she
was more more submis
sive. Also she was cheaper.
Women were not slow to see the ad
vantages of a position where they
would have the right to cry “scab” to
the invader of the opposite sex. If a
woman bad to work for a living, writ
ing letters appealed to public sense as
a nice “ladylike” job. Besides, the
popular novelist drew such a fascinat
ing picture of the stenographer in ac
tion. This beautiful young creature
(as an enhancer of ,feminine charm
the business office apparently had the
beauty shop at a hopeless disadvan
tage) presided over her typewriter
with the grace and dignity of a queen.
She accepted w’ith kindly patronage
the passionate devotion of the office
boy and repelled with womanly gen
tleness the hopeless yearnings of the
clerical force. And one glad day her
godlike young employer took her hand
and said, “Hazel, my darling—” Oh,
well, if you’ve forgotten the exact
words, see last page of “Hazel Deane;
or, The Queenly Stenographer.” Sure
ly, there was apparency an almost
ungodlike employer too. This gentle
man always began the routine of the
day by smiting on a bell and demand
ing in harsh tones that Miss Smithers
be sent to him. Then he hurriedly re
moved his coat, clapped on his hat,
hoisted his feet to nis desk, and was
all ready to greet his shrinking min
ion with a morning curse and a well
aimed whiff of tobacco smoke. But
then no girl ever saw herself in the
guise of a Miss Smithers.
And so to little Hazel the motto
became, “The sooner the quicker.”
Why linger in the prosaic school
room when the world of adventure
and romance invited her to its con
quest? She pinned on her largest and
finest puffs, grasped her grammar
school diploma in one hand and her
age certificate in the other, took a
firmer grip on her chewing gum—and
sallied forth to seek her fortune.
Sixty-Five Thousand Hazels.
As a matter of form she put in a
few months in a tiresome business
college learning to make ugly little
wiggly signs. Here she found other
little Hazels with just as many puffs
and just as much chewing gum as
herself, and they too were going to
sieek their fortune. If Hazel had been
any good at figures she might have
computed that 65,000 girls, annually
came into the business colleges and
commercial high school courses of the
United States en route to the golden
land of stenography. Perhaps only
80 per cent, of these ever reached ev
en the borders of that country. Well,
Hazel left business college; then came
a frightful effort; got a job at $6 a
week. She had to come to the city
to get it, because stenography is a
•'INFORMA TION IS INSPIRA TION' '
THE STENOGRAPHER
By VIRGINIA BELL GRAHAM.
A Department Designed to Create Federation Interest and Promote Growth
city job. Out of every 1,000 employed
women in the large cities, 33 are ste
nographers, but only 10 out of every
1,000 are so employed in the smaller
places. As board and room w T ould or
dinarily cost at least $6 a week —not
counting lunches —Hazel lived at the
Y. W. C. A., and her people sent her
money for clothes.
Meantime Hazel was going through
a process of disillusionment. She was
discovering that the cold corpse of a
mouse was the most likely offering she
could receive from the office boy; the
adoring clerical force resolved itself
into the cranky old bachelor book
keeper, and the godlike young employ
er —oh, dear! He was a thin little man
with a bald head and a wife and three
children, and while he never swore at
Hazel (as he might at Miss Smith
ers), he got pretty cross when she
wrote Mr. Thompson that they had
“received” his letter.
At the end of her first year Hazel
was earning eight dollars a week. And,
having had some practical sense
knocked into her head, she began to
take stock of the possibilities of the
future. She had learned one thing—
stenographers as a rule do not marry
their employers. The majority do mar
ry, for the average age of stenograph
ers is about 22, but like other girls
they marry the boy they -went to
school with or the young man they
meet in the church society. So Hazel
perforce must look at the matter in
the coldly practical light of money
returns for services rendered. If she
wanted to work it out on the basis of
supply and demand she might com
pute ttyat there are 170,000 women
stenographers in the United States;
that of the year’s output probably 30
per cent, have fallen by the wayside.
But Hazel is not interested in gener
alizations. She observed that Miss
Rogers, who had been in the work two
years and is a pretty fair stenogra
pher, is earning ten dollars; Miss Jack
son gets twelve. And there was Miss
Morris who earned 815, but then Miss
Morris was thirty and spelled automat
ically. Hazel didn’t know any sten
ographer who earns more than sls.
Room Enough at the Top.
As a matter of fact, stenography is
like a pay-as-you-enter car—it is
crowded at the door. Plenty of room
up in front, ladies. Move up! Move
up! But Hazel and her kind can’t
move up; they are blocked by their
own lack of efficiency and intelligence.
If we are to believe what some of the
most intelligent business men tell us,
the best stenographic positions for
women are going begging. Above Miss
Morris’s sls a week limit lies a field
of remuneration of, say, from SI,OOO
to $1,500 a year, which, so employers
wail, they cannot induce women to ac
cept. The time, the place, and the
girl! Here are the time and the place,
but where is the girl?
What sort of a girl are they looking
for? Evidently Hazel won’t do. What
does an employer demand of a stenog
rapher to whom he pays SI,OOO a year?
Reducing all the expressions of opin
ion of this subject to a common de
nominator, I should say he wants
three things—personality, character,
brains. Sounds simple, doesn’t it?
Being business-like doesn’t mean be
ing a machine. A man doesn’t want
a combination of French fashion plate
The Golden Age For November 9, 1911.
THE GOLDEN AGE CIRCLE
Do you realiz the good chance that
is right within your reach? If you did,
I know you would not wait a minute tu
write me that you are one with us in
this glorious Golden Age work, i
A number of wide-awake Southern
girls have shown deep interest in this
capital offer, but there are hundreds
—yes, thousands —from whom I still
am waiting to hear.
It will take only a few minutes of
your time for you to write me to learn
all about our splendid GOLDEN AGE
CIRCLE, its commissions, prizes, priv
leges, and handsome solid gold em
blem.
Do you know I am buoyantly enthu
siastic over this fine opportunity which
the generosity of our precious paper,
THE GOLDEN AGE, has made pos
sible? You, too, will share my enthu
siasm, I know, as soon as you have
learned all about the good things in
store for you as a member of THE
GOLDEN AGE CIRCLE.
To be associated with a paper of
the stamp of THE GOLDEN AGE is
a rare boon; to belong to its corps of
workers is a real blessing.
In addition to this honor, the mon
ey earning opportunity is well worth
your thought and prompt action.
Christmas is coming—coming faster
than you and I realize. How many
uses we have for money at this hap
piest season of the year. Do not let
the holidays find you unprepared with
suitable gifts for every loved one and
money to be spent for sweet charity’s
sake.
and Victor phonograph in his office;
nor does he want a dowdy colorless
creature who says, “Yes, sir” when he
tells her to bring her note book, and
“Yes, sir” when he tells her the good
yarn he heard the night before. If
the stenographer must meet and talk
Singing Tone jk
BF There’s the test of a piano—the tone. Has it a rich, singing ■
tone that makes playing a joy to the critical musician, and Bg
SB lends a new delight to the old-time favorites?
SS You’ll find just that delightful tone in the Chute & Butler
piano. A rich, sweet, true tone —matchless in its fulness—
W and so pure that every note is like a stroke on a silver
bell. It’s a tone that will catch your ear from the jßjg
first note. So be sure to hear this piano
before you decide on buying any
instrument.
Chute & Butler
Pianos j
nre especially noted for this distinctive tone—but
they have many other superiorities that vou’ll not M
find in pianos at much higher prices. Little re
tin,.ments in construction, in design—the results gg
' of 30 years experience —that make a Chute &
Butler not only a piano to take pride in
owning, but one fit for a masters touch.
By all means, see this piano be
fore you buy. Write today KB
> '■ ami tho
your
wk town.
& Butler PianoCo*
Peru* Ind.
Edited by Margaret Beverly Upshaw
WHY DELAY?
You and I express ourselves in our
giving. “The gift without the giver is
bare.” Back of every gift should be
friendship, regard or love.
Everyone with the true Christmas
spirit knows fully that it is indeed
“more blessed to give than to re
ceive.”
However simple one’s presents may
be the purchasing price is needful. If
father, mother, brother or husband
gives the money with which the gift is
to be bought, that is no real present.
Think how much more value a gift
seems to have when you have earned
the money for it by your very own ef
fort. Somehow it becomes a part of
you. Such gifts always are the most
acceptable. Why not begin at once to
earn your Christmas money?
Your unrealized ambitions —why
make them wait any longer? Tomor
row, tomorrow, you may think will be
time enough.
Tomorrow, I tell you, dear, is a
wretched road to travel, one which
only the heedless choose. Tomorrow
is a path that is covered with huge
boulders that are bound to block your
progress. It is edged with brambles
and briers that will trouble you all
the way. Today is a smooth, good
road, over which you can make fine
speed. Come! Join the Procession,
now That Is Starting on the ROAD
TODAY!
Please address your letter,
(Miss) MARY ELEANOR SHAFER,
Jefferson Street, Fiddletown, Fred
erick County, Maryland.
with her employer’s clients or patrons,
the need of an attractive personality
is intensified. She must know how to
dress as well as how not to dress; she
must know how to talk as well as
how to keep still.
(To be Continued next week.)