As a tribute to Women’s History Month, this story was provided by the Sherman Room of the Mansfield/Richland County Public Library and originally published by the Mansfield News on July 16, 1922 on Page 5 of the Social Section. Those interested in more history should check out the Sherman Room at the Mansfield/Richland Public Library or visit this link.
MANSFIELD — In a little office on the fifth floor of the Mansfield Tire and Rubber Company, Miss Margaret J. Marlow has her office, from which she dispenses not only the best kind of work she knows how to do, but also a great deal of consideration and kindness for others.
She didn’t say that, of course, but I gathered it from several things she did say.
“When I began working in the business world,” she said, “my aim was to make good. To do everything I did to the best of my ability. I decided that a pay envelope should be the last consideration and that my doing my best should be the first. It has always seemed to me that if I did my best, my work would be appreciated and the salary would come.
“Many times I hear girls make envious remarks about, ‘Oh, let the high-salaried ones do that.’ But if women do make big money, it is only because they have worked hard to get it.’
Pretty good, sound, common sense, isn’t it? You girls who are just starting out, take a tip from Miss Marlow.
I asked Miss Marlow just what her position was. She seemed loath to say anything but just plain stenographer, but she is much more than that, so she was dubbed “private secretary.”
She has charge of the correspondence of the general manager, the filing of his correspondence and answering his letters.
Asked as to why she had chosen business work, she replied, “I think it was circumstances that led me to take a business course, more than anything else. My father was killed suddenly when I was 16, and I entered the business college in October.
“Because I was behind, I have never considered that I am as efficient in typing as in shorthand. I really like the shorthand much better and require a thorough knowledge of it, as Mr. Stevens is rather a rapid dictator.”
Miss Marlow showed me her files which contain not only letters but salesmen’s reports. This work of filing sounds simple, but it requires a bit of very fine judgement to know just where a particular letter belongs and to put it in the place that will be easily found.
“Many of the more personal letters,” said Miss Marlow, “I put in this safe. The others are carried out to the file rooms. But I must know just what should go in here and what should not.”
Incidentally, Miss Marlow likes a part of her work that appeals to very few women. That part is the substituting. In other words, she is rather the right hand man of the various departments. In case a stenographer is ill, and Miss Marlow is not busy she will substitute.
“So many girls do not like that,” she said, “but I enjoy it because in that way I can keep in touch with every department. It is an education and broadens one immensely.”
As you can readily see, Miss Marlow takes all the opportunities that come along. Practically all the time we were talking, the trains made hideous noises.
“How do you ever stand that?” I asked.
Smiling, she replied, “I’m just used to it. I really do not notice it much. It does bother me though when I take telegrams.”
“Now what is that part of your work?”
“I take all incoming telegrams over the phone, make copies of them and distribute them where they belong. Those on the files are some of them,” she said pointing to a stack of telegrams.
Miss Marlow is very versatile, not only in her work but also in her play.
“I like to know how to do a little bit of everything,” she said laughingly, “so that I can fit in when I’m needed. But I particularly like to play tennis. I belong to a tennis club and play just as often as I can, although I’m not at all an expert.”
Today Miss Marlow is on her way to Los Angeles for a four-weeks’ vacation.
While west she intends to travel with the same thoroughness that she works. But with her, she will carry a remembrance of her work, and will look forward to getting back into harness with a company whose appreciation of her efforts is one of the fine things in her daily work.
