Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 256, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 October 1915 — The Stenographer [ARTICLE]

The Stenographer

The new hospital "stenographer wa» alert to all that went on among the nurses who filed by the desk, going to and from from duty on the upper floors or stopping to ask her for mall. One erf these, Teresa, was distinguished both for weight and wit. All liked Teresa, but none of them ever took the trouble to let her know It. It would have done her a lot of good, sometimes. If they had. As It eras, when a grateful patient— j *X3k p." among them—sent out invitations tor a little party, the question arose as to how many of the girls m training might go. The stenographer overheard ‘Maggie Irish’* ask Teresa if sho were going. “No"— “Why not?” “Well, If I did go and tried to have any fun you'd all call me the elephant; and then I haven't anything to wear" — That was the first time the stenog rapher had ever heard or seen Teresa show that she was hurt by the careless girls, though sdie knew It. Several Journal entries were neglected that afternoon, while the young woman at the desk tried tp fig up the situation for Teresa. Wouldn’t one of Aunt Mary’s black laces be beautiful on Teresa if her pretty black hair had one or two waves in it? The stenographer lunched with Aunt Mary the next day. and carried home a black chiffon, which she sent by express to Teresa, with a note. "From one who is mad bcause she isn't plump enough to wear a decent gown any more." She managed to get Teresa Into an arrangement of stays, and she patted up her hair in some puffs one night to show her how, and then —Just as she was planning to be Teresa’s beau for the evening, of course something happened. She was laid up the whole day of the party. And Charley, whom sbe hadn’t seen for a year, had to send on that very afternoon a special delivery that he was coming into town about 5 p. ra. for two or three days. Oh, was there any Justice in anything? A spasm of pain across her eyes answered. Charley in town, and an evening for something else planned previously, and —both ruined Ob, a bright thought ran sharply as the neuralgia. Charley could take Teresa to the party. He knew a number of the girls slightly, having been an interne In the institution when some of them began training. It would do, and help both Teresa and Charley. When Charley came, was kissed and sent away with a big, splendid-looking girt In black, somehow the little stenographer felt strange. They looked—the watched them out of the window, leaning on one elbow in bed—like prise Americans. (The stenographer had funny Ideas sometimes.) Charley was v jry devoted during the rest of the stay. You would never have known that he had a thought of another woman In his head. But the time came, when he had returned, that Charley’s letters grew less frequent, and Teresa used tp get mail that was addressed with a typewriter from the same postoffice—and Teresa seemed different to the girl at the desk. The stenographer was too keen-vlsloned for her own good. “Well, my dear,” she said one day to Teresa, “tell mekfbout it,” and Teresa, being little less perceptive, confessed, and wept, like the big child that she was. “I had planned it from the very first, you goose,’’ said the stenographer, gayly.