My mother received a little money from the life insurance companies.
Father patronized only assessment companies, as they are cheap. He
prided himself on his financial ability, always saying he could invest
money as well as any rascally insurance president and that there was
“nothing like having your money where you can put your claw on it in
case you get a straight tip.”
Idle I could not be, and I resolved to get a situation.
“Verily, I will teach school, for the young must be educated,” I said,
“or the world cannot be tamed. I must, I will mould growing character.”
In fact, I felt a call; so I called on Mr. Straight, the superintendent
of education, never doubting but that he would at once give me an
opportunity to show my ability. I displayed my Dr. Chesterfield and the
high-school diplomas, and various certificates from long-haired and
eccentric foreigners, (not forgetting Prof. Franklin of Col. Webber’s
and Judge Lewis’s testimonials, who imparts dramatic instruction for
one dollar an impart) as to my ability in music, dancing, French,
German, and deportment.
The superintendent counted the certificates and diplomas as he piled
them up on his desk, and asked me if I had any “pull.” Then he asked me
why I did not get married, and said he had been looking for me, “for
whenever a man busts his daughters always come here for a job.” He took
my name in a big book, and as he waved me out remarked that “there are
only seven hundred applicants ahead of you. I’m afraid you are not in
it. You had better catch on to some young fellow, my dear, before the
crow’s feet get too pronounced----ta, ta.”[1]
I stood outside the door confused, defeated, angry. I thought of
a thousand things I should have said to that grinning insinuating
superintendent, and here I had not said a word. I was out in the hall,
the door was shut. Slowly my wrath took form in action, and I walked
off with a much more emphatic tread than was becoming in a young
woman. I slammed my parasol against the banisters at every stride as
I went down the city hall steps. I had a plan. Straight to the _News_
office I went, intending to insert an advertisement and thus secure
exactly the position I desired. I bought a paper to see how other
people advertised, and my eyes fell on the following:
WANTED: As correspondent, book-keeper and stenographer, a young woman
who can translate German, French, and Italian, who is not afraid to
work, and can look after the business in proprietor’s absence. Wages,
$4.75 per week.
Apply to HUSTLER & CO.,
Manufacturers of Glue,
Genesee Street.
I took the paper and entered a herdic, telling the driver to hurry as I
wanted to go to Hustler & Co.’s.
Arriving there, I walked in, banged the door, and demanded to see
Hustler, omitting all title and prefix. Straight had brow-beaten and
insulted me an hour before--let Hustler try if he dare. I wanted a
position, not advice, and would brook no parley or nonsense.
“Are you Hustler?” I asked of a little meek bald-headed man, with a
ginger-colored fringe of hair like a lambrequin around his occiput. He
plead guilty. “And did you,” I continued hurriedly, but in a determined
manner, “and did you insert this advertisement?” and I spread out the
paper before him.
He hesitated.
“Did you, or did you not?”
Here I moved back three paces and gazed at him as though I had him on
cross-examination. He admitted that he had inserted the advertisement,
had not yet found a young woman who could fill all of the conditions,
and that I could have the place.
“To-morrow, when the whistle blows for seven o’clock,” said he.
“To-morrow, when the whistle blows for seven o’clock,” said I.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] For fear that some may imagine that the character of Mr. Straight,
superintendent of schools, is untrue to life, and that such a man
could not hold the position, it must be explained that in the city
of Buffalo this office is an elective one, and is held by the person
able to control the caucus and secure the votes; so very naturally the
gentleman has an eye on next year’s election, and when he appoints new
teachers he accepts those (provided of course they are competent) who
are best backed up by influential friends. It must be said, however,
that the present incumbent of the office alluded to is a most worthy
and competent man, and also that the school-teachers of Buffalo outrank
in fitness those of most other cities; but these two facts do not in
the least condone the dangerous principle of having the office of
Superintendent of Schools a political one.