The , Omaha Sunday Bee.
PART THRXE
Half-tone
FOR ALL THE NEWS Tilt
OMAHA DEE
BUT IN THE WEST
PAGES 1 TO 4.
VOL. XXXJX-NO. :J2.
OMAHA, SUNDAY MORNING, JANUARY- 23, 1910.
SINGLE COrY -FIVE CENTS.
PEOPLE WHOSE LIFE DESTINY IT IS TO AIT ON OTHERS
Their Activities Afford the Comforts that Fad Civilized Man's Daily Existence and Make His Way Through Life Easy and Pleasant in Its .Every Physical Aspect i
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AT THE CAN5Y BOOTHS
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UVf marry termnts bars youf i ' '
Just as many aa you have wants to satisfy. There la
somebody to do everything. ' Each day's round brings up
panorama of these familiar faces. There la the -waitress
who serves your breakfast; the white-Jacketed man who
tires you your moraine's breakfast, the hurrying bell hop who inter
rupts that last eup of coffee with a summons to the telephone, the
hello girl who hunted, perhaps over half the state, to fill your call;
the preparation for the day's work has called to your service half a
flozen others the bootblack, the barber, the manicure girl for
there la no end to the servitors whom you may beckon.
Before the day is over there will be a veritable stream of them
the steno girl, the flower girl, the shop girl, the candy girl girls it
seems without end. Each of these, your servants, are specialists.
Even the lowly "shine" who cares for your shoes can lay claim to
special skill. '
In your daily round you will flndlhat the staff of those who wait
on yon Is pretty clearly defined by the paths through which activities
lead one. At your favorite cafe it has long ago become a fixed habit
to drop Into the same chair at the same table to be waited on by the
same waiter. The same regularity will follow your rounds to the
barber and so through the day you are continually familiarising your
self with the same series of faces.
Those familiar faces. They are as much a part of life as the
closer relationships. , The man-about-town has numerous acaualnt-
tnf tn rhnttattcms. Bute, anger, IndTTTe.
nee, fatigue, elation, persuasion they are all
reflected in your accents and if some day when .
ah la not too busy you get confidential with
the hello girl she will tell yoa all about It with
surprising accuracy.
Of all the girls that serve, the steno and
the nurse have the moat attained to fame and
recognition. The solemn, serious statistician
has not yet turned hla attention to the ro
mances and marriages that have resulted front
the charms displayed by these fair and deft
fingered persons, but the figures would be In
teresting. Many are the hardened and confirmed
bachelors who have gone into the hospital
never to return as free and single men. The
tender ministrations of that beaproned and
white-capped young woman with quite a professional air nurses are
generally young because men won't let them stay in the business
till they get old are fraught with the most unexpected but inevita
ble results. 1
The nurse girl doesn't get a chance to wait on the same man very
often, but she makes in concentration what she lacks in frequency.
The girl among the girls'who can boast the greatest array of captures
THS "BELL-HOP
ances whom he cannot call by name and whom he knows well, but is the steno girt. Not that one would wilfully accuse her of design,
only as faces and nameless personalities.
Now there's that little blonde at the candy store, for instance.
She makes an Impression because she Is pretty and flippant, spicily
saucy. She has packed that matinee box of chocolates for you every
Sunday through the winter andso comes to have a friendly personal
Interest In the affair. The waiter girl, she, too, has her part. She
learned long ago that you want two lumps of sugar In your coffee,
and also that you don't like sauces with onion in them. These every
day, servants know you-better than you know yourself, especially
when it comes to the little fancies snd foibles; if you are a "regular."
Try it on the telephone girl, tier's is a medium of acquaintance
ship that amounts to nothing more than a voice. If you are in the
habit, as many a business man Is, of calling a certain number at some
set time each, day, try the experiment of making a slight mistake -of
a single figure. The chances are that the girl on the job will catch
you. i '
"Eight-blank-elght two." , v
"You mean eight-blank-eight-one, don't you?" the query will
coma
That is, if you snd your central girl are on good terms and It pays
to ba that way. When "central" gets peeved she has a petulant way
of letting you work out your own salvation unarslsted.
Right here you jpey rise up and remark hat tho wise 'phone girl
Is a myth, sarcasm-ally adding that you can't get any number at all
half the time. "Figuring the average out, however, will demonstrate
that the busy 'phone girl makes a high average of accuracy. If she
did not she wouldn't be Id the exchange. Two hundreJ telephones
In the humming central office that serves a downtown district will
keep her sufficiently occupied.
WA - ... . ...
ii is a tart mat sne is usuauy so uniamng that makes vot v
but soma way it Just happens so,
But then the mistress of the keyboard has hefdvantages over
the rest of them. She may, unrestrieied. by uniforms or strict con
vention, make herself as attractive as purse and nature will permit,
as she does. Then think what feminine prerogatives she has in
smiles, pouts and weeping dangerous weapons those.' The steno
girl may start In meekly, but beware she may socflT have the upper
hand.
In another and less alarming way the shop girl Is likely to prove
the power of her persuasiveness. How many a petty extravagance
have you' been led into Just to save yourself In her eyes? Of course,
you won!t admit it, but it is a fact that you started out to buy a dozen
carnations and ended by taking two dozen American Beauties, reach
ing the street to wake up and wonder hyw she did it. If you want,
to escape the flower girl's winning smiles, use the telephone.
They are a crafty lot, these shop-keepers. Tbey know where a
pretty girl will do the moBt good. -
The dextrous young woman, that champion "kldder," who toBses
the dice on the cigar counter. Is one that can't be beaten. In the
nrsi piace, me oaas or tne game are for "the house," snd what Is
more formidable, the "banker" of the game Is a woman. The tariff
on luxuries never cut such a figure in the price of smokes as does the
cigar girl.
The barber man is the real hypnotist, though. Once seated In his
chair, you are gone unless ?ou have the solemn determination to say
no, and that with firm conciseness. Starting after a shave, you are
Ilka aa not to find when it is all over that you have assented to a mas
sage, a hair cut, a shsmpoo and a besprinkling with a sundry assort
ment of lotions, odoriferous and pungent.
x ..c.m.iu. u iu luquaciuus Daroer until no
has practically become a forgotten character outside of the comics
peevlsu when the balk comes. Your personality has to filter throuKl
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. tu.. s lu rrcu mo cfnir.i gin. mere on me switchboard StllI. the barber makes his friends. In fact, be sometimes gets too
I ,ust a flash of ,!ht from on of the hundreds of pearly little globules many of them. The transient Is the barber's choice for the purposes
vu?.tiv ur,l .'.amps is all that tells the operator that you are waiting ;0f revenue. Not long ago one Omaha barber left the town
w " ujuiuu. uui nam uui 7uu uirTiouBiy wen, consider "What's the matter, Tom!" an acquaintance asked
to have a good line of regular customera
here." -
"Just exactly the trouble," answered the
barber. "Too many friends to shave, bo I'm
always busy when the guys with the fat tips
coma in."
"Funny sort of vanity crops out in men In
a barber shop," remarked one of the gentry
of the razor. ' "Seems like they all like to
think that-thsy are hard to shave, tough beard
and tender skin, etc. Kind o' tickles mascu
line vanity to think that he is some pumpkins
when it comes to raisin' whiskers.
"There's a lot of difference in customers,
though. Soma of 'em like to be fussed over
by the hour and others want it to be over and
done with as soon as possible. There's some
fellows just can't keep from going to sleep in
the chair and there's others that insist on telling the story of their
life through the lather and towels."
There is a world of appeal In the bootblack'a "Shine, sir?" Ha
nails you as soon as you are well out of the clutches of the bar
ber. There Is a note in his terse question which, together with the side
long glance at your footwear, gives the impression that he feels really
sorry for some fault in your personal appearance. That "Shine,
sir?" Is Just a tentative, modest suggestion, but some way the boot
black gets a lot of "pull" into It. Watch the young rascal as he
fumbles making change with your quarter, staying as long as he can
the operation in the bare hope that you will get impatient and walk
away with a lofty "keep the change" air.
The barber shop "shine" is having a hard time of it, anyway,
with the competition of the imported Greek's 6-cent shine emporium.
He's a cheerful sort of chap, this barber shop shine boy. He
beats a tattoo on the toes of your shoe with his polishing cloth and
again keeps time to the frenzied measures of a ragtime tune with his
long-whiskered brush on the back of your coat.
Hte subservient "Yas, sah," Is worth an extra nickel if he can
work It on you in ttaae.
Your all around handy man, that is the "bell hop."
"Front," roars the clerk-,
"Ice water to number umpty leventh. Quick."
Away dashes the young man iq buttons and braid, up a dozen
flights of steps If the elevator is not in sight Mare than likely,
however, the young rascal la on the floor Just above out of sight of
the office waiting for the car to come by.
This bebuttoned Mercury is the impromptu baggage man, the er
rand boy, and withal the handy reference for miscellaneous Informa
tion. There's where he shines, this youngster of the bench. He
knows what time the Lincoln train comes In and where the next light
lr coming off, what the odda are on Johnson and the bills at all the
theaters. " '
v.TJe joyous bell hop is the most alert of all the "tip fiends." He
knows the look of ready money. in the face of a guest and has a happy
wav of getting in the way whe chances are good. The bell-hop's
Job la not one to be despised, either. The industrious youth can
pick up a matter of a hundred dollars In a pioiuh if he's on the Job.
The picking is so good, In fact. that there areVmany Itinerant bell
boys who follow the olessure-seekers into the sou mi and In the winter
time and back to the northern lakes in the aunrmer. They travel
with their clients, only a little ahead.
You seem In the albunv-of memory there la one face that brings no associa-
tlon of dull care. The smiling bartender, the genial gent to whom
one repairs alike in times of Joy and seasons of sorrow. The bar
tender's smile is like the glow that cornea out of the first full round
dram of warm bourbon. It beams its best la the moments when re
laxation has its way over hurry and strife.
If a trip to tSe cheer emporium la a part of the daily program,
the Importance of choosing a good bartender needs no emphasis. Ha
has to meet your Individuality in the drink set forth. Nothing will
mar the day like a poor drink at the start; It is a momentus matter'
that the hand that builds It be cunning.
There's a homelike sort of feeling In the effect of having one's
own chosen brand appear beside the glass in answer to one's appear
ance across the mahogany, and the bartender knows the secret. It
is the bartender who must listen to your troubles and laugh at your
Jokes. He's all sympathy, that chap. t
In his role of a diplomat the bartender la seen at his best when
on both sides of an argument, trying mightily to put it to an end. It
is an actual delight to observe with what easy grace he insists on
buying a drink just when things commence to look serious.
The real strenuous life Is that of the shop girl'. She stands be
hind the counter to, meet and satisfy the whims of a public of per
sistent shoppers. Picture her ttkek on a bargain day. Nothing to
do but work. Long hours of an endless procession of buyers, those
who wanted to buy and those who Just came to see. They must all
. be listened to, they must all see theXgooda. N
The shop girl must match the goods, give advice for trimming,
deal out assurance that the delivery will ba made la an heur, explain
away mistakes and keep cheerful. Ear must ba a walking directory
of the store she works innd be able to keep things moving generally.
She has a sprlghtJyassistant In "cash." Now "cash" Is only thVllt
tie girl who Isn't big enough to sell goods, but fast enough, of foot to
run errands and handle change. She's the special messenger boy,
to state it paradoxically, of the city that baa Its being Inside of the
big department store.
There are dozens of these little misses in the big stores, and they
are indispensable parts of the system. The cash girl Is small, but
handy In the saving of footsVps for grownups. They all are your
servants, standing in waiting to do their part In filling out the day'a
routine of functions, each with an essential share In the making up
of the sum total and you whom they Serve, you are serving some
body, too, whatever the capacity may be.
Nor is this list complete, by many rocations of servicer nor must
it be imagined that because It la service that It is rendered with
servility or any sense thereof. These people serve because in the
great schema of modern civilisation it la essential that soma must
dp this necessary work. It Is thelr'ahara In the economy, of the
times to do those little things that pad the dally existence of man
kind with the little creature comforts thai make life worth living,
or to achieve the connection between beginning and ending of trans
actions, not of any especial moment when Tiewed singly, but of con
siderable Importance when given their proper aspect to the whole.
8o these people all contribute in a most lmpresslra way to the gen
eral sum of human happiness. In the Una of activity selected each
is as essential and as useful as the man who bulks big in the mora
noteworthy affairs of life. The head of the gTeat corporation Is
only of value as ha serves those who depend on him, and so the man
of science, the doer of great things, gets credit only as he achieves
something for the race. And these workers, humble and unobtru
sive, never likely to hear the trumpet call tof fame, doomed to go
quietly through life, are proving every day that service is la the and
the great destiny of the useful member of society.