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I T It np on the top floor of a Chicago office build
ing, a long, light room, -full of tables, papers,
and busy workers. It Is essentially a place of
business, of hustle and bustle, of constant and
severe application on the part of the workers
and the powers that be. The air of a money
mnklng establishment Is apparent In every
corner of the room; there is no dallying or
waiting on the part of anybody; In fact, if the word "ro
mance " were mntloned in the place It would seem curiously
out of place on a mere casual Inspection of the room.
Tet here. In this busy room on the top floor of a down
'own office building. Is a place where Cupid has found It good
and profitable to his ends to pause and linger. The room is
the " reading room " of a press clipping bureau and the girl
readers who alt at the long tables and read all the news
papers of the United States, as a class, are probably the
champion " marryers " of all working girls.
" They never quit their Jobs except to get married," says
T. M. Wiese, manager of the clipping bureau. " And they get
married with such frequency that It Is actually Impossible
tt keep a fuH force of experienced readers all the time. On
one occasion I lost half of my force In two weeks through
marriage."
This Is prima facie evidence that those who argue that all
working girls have small opportunity to get married are in
the wrong. What social clique of whatever position or num
ber can show a total of SO per oent of the eligible young
women married in two weeks? What college, seminary, or
finishing sohool even out of a roll of several hundred names
can show that 50 per cent of the members of any Class trod
the road of Hymen In the short space of a fortnight? Even
the coeducational universities is there one wherein Cupid has
done so much business In two weeks as in the press clipping
bureau? If there Is. then modesty has been a prominent
characteristic with It and no mention of such facts baa
been made In the public prints.
Half of Them Marry in Two Weeks.
There wwe fifty girls, fifty girls who were making their
own livings by reading newspapers in the press clipping
bureau, and twenty-five of them were married within two
weeks. Every other girl in the place, one-half of the total
number, quit their work within this short space of time to
step into the management of homes of their own. Cupid
must have been more than satisfied with his work In this
place.
Really, considering circumstances, the scantily clad archer
should be given much credit for his success in bringing these
girls and twenty-five young men together. He had to work
against many disadvantages. In the -first place his" field lay
in a business house. It is a notorious fact that a business
house is not a place where one may look with much success
for romance or anything that bears It kinship. The marts of
trade furnish poor lovers' lanes; the god of the business
world and the god of love are not on speaking terms. Love
affairs Interfere with business. Consequently love In a busi
ness office Is sternly frowned upon everywhere.
Of course, there are instances where the employer has
married his stenographer, but these Instances are scarcely
numerous enough to make a good case for argument. Even
did this custdm universally prevail It would not apply to
more than one employe and the boss. The remainder of the
people of an office must eschew love and romance If they are
tc make a success at their work, and If a business Is to grow
and prosper.
So Cupid, trying to get a foothold In a business institu
tion of any kind. Is up against a proposition akin to that of a
spring poet trying to break Into print But if the business
world is determined to keep Cupid out of its sanctums Cupid
1 equally determined to break In wherever and whenever
his fancy 1sets upon a place of any kind as a fit field for his
endeavors. He saw the press clipping bureau and the busy
gIMs In It, and he knew that It was not well for these same
girls to remain at their work. He would get them married.
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Business Attracts Pretty Girls.
When one has thoroughly and calmly Inspected this place
It Is not difficult to determine why Cupid settled upon It
Cupid Is partial to pretty girls. Even the most casual inspec
tion will reveal the faot that the great majority of the read
ers are good looking. Many of them are beautiful. Added to
the exceptionally high average of good looks that prevails
among them It Is easy to see fhat they are far above the
average girls in- the matter of Intelligence In appearance. '
This Is explained by the faot that their work Is of such
nature as to require an exceptionally high order of Intelli
gence and In the prosecution of their duties they, according
to Mr. Wlese, " learn more than any one in the world."
Minerva and love were never particularly intimate, but
when Minerva and Venus art combined the result is Irre
sistible. At least this la what the penchant for marrying which
the girls of the press clipping bureau suddenly developed
after the advent of Cupid In their midst would lead one to
believe. The first "warning was when one of the older girls
came down to work with a bright diamond shining on her
finger. This is liable to happen In any place where fifty
pretty girls are employed, so It occasioned but little com
ment. But soon, afterward another, and then another of the
girls came down with the telltale rings on their fingers and
blushes upon their faces when the new jewels were com
mented upon. This . went along until every other girl In the
r:ace was engaged to be married. Soon the manager came
to know of the state of affairs In his office.
" Mr. Wlese, I'm going to quit week after next," was ths
first Intimation that he received of the inroads Cupid had
made In the ranks of his employes..
" What what are you going to quit for?" asked the man
cger, appalled at the prospect of losing an old and valued
employ. ." Don't you like your work, doesn't the place suit
you, or aren't your wages high enough? Speak up. If it Is
only a question of wages, why, I guess we can stand a raise
of a Couple of dollars a week all right."
" It Isn't the work, nor the place, nor the pay," said the
maiden fair. "They are all suitable. But but ths fact
Is, Mr. Wlese, I'm going to get married." ,
Employer Must Yield to Cupid.
Mr. Wlese, being a wise man and knowing that affair
of the heart are apt to eome to any young woman, congratu
lated the first girl and bade her godspeed in her new " posi
tion." " A good girl," he commented, " but we won't miss one
much." But the next day there came anottier girl with the
same tale on her lips. And the next day another, and an
other, and so on until twenty-five girls had stepped up to the
manager's dusk 4hd shyly told that they were going to get
married.
" We like the work, and the place, and the wages all
right," they all said. "We wouldn't leave for any ordinary
reason but It's different when you're going to get married.
It really Is."
The manager was aghast at the proposition that con
fronted him. It takes at least a year to make a good " read
er " In a clipping bureau; and there Is trouble and woe for
the man who haa the job of " breaking them In." Mr. Wlese
strtved his ablest to stem the tide. As well might one police
man try to stop a Christmas shopping rush on State street.
Cupid wanted the girls of the bureau to become Wives and
he had his own way about it. Where he got the boys from
does not matter, but he got them, and one by one the twenty
five laid down their pencils for the last time and left to be
come wives. It was all Cupid's work, there can be no doubt
of it They were all love matches, love matches where the
love was strong and all conquering, for when a girl has
worked long enough In a clipping bureau to be rated an ex
!ert reader she Is Invariably so in love with her work that
she will leave It for but one other thing, and that Is the love
of a man. And aomehow, In all the hurry and bustle of the
office, love managed to get Its hold on the fair readers.
And this truth still holds good, for they are marrying so
frequently that the bureau has to keep a " help wanted " ad
running nearly all the time in order to supply the deficiencies
tn the fores caused by weddings. The girl who Is verging
near to the matrimoay danger Una In years and has been un-
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successful In finding a husband might, as a last resort, go to
work In a clipping bureau, for If she Is at all like the girls
who have hitherto found employment In these places it will
not be long before the god of love looks upon her with favor
and gives some eligible young man the tip that she would
make a good wjfe.
Why They Get Husbands Quickly.
The manager of th! particular bureau gives explicit rea
sons us to why the readers hould have no trouble in finding
a husband.
" In the first place, they are all good looking," says' he.
" But there are other girls who are good looking among
whom the percentage of marriages does not run so high as it
does among these. But these girls are far smarter than most
girls. In fact, they are un exception. The work reciulres
that they have a high school education to begin with. This
does not necessarily mean that they shall be attractive, but It
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undoubtedly adds considerable to the natural Intelligence
of a girl's expression and bearing.
"A great many of the girls, In fact half of them, who
are employed here are from the country, often having the
fine complexions which are sometimes lacking among city
girls. Then the work of a reader is such as to make her
more Intelligent the longer she stays at It.
" This having something of interest constantly m their
daily lives Is what gives the girls In a bureau a live, vivacious
and attractive expression. They don't grow old early. They
get to be better Informed on the things of this world and on
life In general than are most men. They are muHt or
them excellent conversationalists and they understand mtu
better than do their less reading sinters. A man likes a
woman who can carry on her end of u conversatli n.
So, furthermore. If a woman feels that she Is growing old
and blasC, that life holds nothing of Interest for her, she
should seek work In a clipping bureau. There she will find
her interest In life speedily reviving, the dark circles of ennui
will dlxappear from under her eyes, and she will be just as
attractive and stand just as good a show of getting a hus
band as the other girls of this much marrying profession.