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Show . j ENUAUlXtf A PLAIN COOK INTERESTING METHOD OF A FIFTH j AVENUE YOUNG WOMAN. Th Ordetl from Mmi't Stan J paint, gome or lli Requisites That One Hus to to Earn Fifty Cont a luy Kiid Board. A business man who lives in Madison avenue wanted a coachman to go out to his siitnmur plhoe on I-ong Island. He; dropped in at the Fourth avenue place one : morning "just to look around." This! place does not employ many coachmen. ! Its business is mostly wiLh female help. ! The business man had to wait fur about an hour, and this is part of what he saw: He' had iieeii there less than five minutes when : the daughter of a man who is a familiar, figure down town stepped briskly in. Shu was tall and handsome and stylishly dressed. Just why she chose to undertake the engaging of servants herself she might ' be fit a loss to explain; but she did under- 1 take, it, and t here she was. ! The agent was obsequious In his atten-i tions. The young woman glanced dubi-: ousiy at the chair he offered her, ami remained re-mained standing. There was just the sus-1 piciou of u curl on her tine lips as she told i what, she wanted. "I want two girls one ! who can do plain cooking and a second girl to go to our country place on Long 1st- and." The agent proposed that she try tirst Tor the cook, and she accepted his suggestion. sug-gestion. The first applicant examined by the young woman was un Irish girl with a brogue as broad as t he grin on her generous gener-ous mouth. She answered every question witli a vigorous nod and an extra grin that accentuated her jolly "to be share, mum." An expert stenographer could not have taken all the tpiesl ions t he society damsel asked that poor cook. Her first statement was a dampener to tho cook's hope. It was to i he effect that the wages would lie but fourteen dollars a month. Now, you can't get a good cook for that money, and that girl knew it. Maybe she imagined she was showing some of her father's business busi-ness talent, hi spite of this disheartening beginner cook remained cheerful. A l-'KW tiUKKTtONS. Then came in rapid succession something liku this: "Can you do piaiu cooking? and wash? and iron:' and do up sliirlsK and collars col-lars and cull's:' and bake bread? and make good biscuits? and make pies? and bake cake? and can you sew any? are you willing will-ing to go to the country? do you think you'll like the place? and you are sure you can cook? and make pies? and hake cake? and bread? and sweep? and dust?" And the business man; who belonged to an athletic club, and had heard the Irish caretaker care-taker sing, smiled a little and hummed softly: An' work an Bweat an pufT an cu d. An drill, yo turricrs, drill. Well, the young woman cross-examined the cook.,- She traced her genealogy as far back as 'she could, and entered pleasing comments on it whenever she chose. She asked morequestions than a western mortgage mort-gage sharp aks on a granger's application for a loan. Life insurance agents would have slunk away from her in despair. Only a hook agent could have hoped to cope with her. When tho bewildered cook, who had nearly nodded her head olf and had completely com-pletely ruined tho decorations of her bonnet bon-net by the unmerciful shaking she had given them, found time to enter a mild protest at the wages, the tall young woman Biuiled sweetly and said: "Oh, I guess we could make it fifteen if you can really do plain ciMiking and can make beds and do housework aud make cookies and lix salads and haven't any children and don't want company or days off and can make bread and think you'll like the place and are willing to go down in the country, and we'll pay your fare down there. It's at Bay Shore, you know." And the man in the corner, who was watching, said to the agent, "She'll want that cook to pick cranberries cran-berries and paint the house with the juice if this keeps up." contrasts; After the cook had agreed to every imaginable im-aginable thing for half au hour the girl j suddenly announced that she wanted to : see another applicant. There is nothing I the matter with that agent; he knows his j business. The tirst applicant was a bit j plain as to her looks, but she was neat, ; clean, and evidently capable. The agent brought iua second applicant. Anybody ; could have noticed tlio contrast. No. 2 j was not a bit proud aud she was tot what you'd call handsome. She was short and fat and frowsy. A cloak which might j havo been made out of the oat stick in which Noah kept his mule feed was wrapped around her ample form in a mys- ! teriously intricate way. Her hair was trimmed a la Peter Jackson. Her hat was a Division street marvel and her abbreviated abbrevi-ated dress ski rts displayed large splashes of mud on her bulbous boots. The cou trast was noticeable to Miss Fifth Avenue. She was visibly struck by it, but she bnud herself and began again her new-catechism. new-catechism. It euded much quicker than 1 the tirst one and resulted in the employ- ment of the first applicant. j The business man left before the second pirl had been secured. Three applicants! wro examined, and again the first was chosen. While this young woman was en- i gating two servants a dozeu other people bud found help to suit them. A slcudcr youug woman with a brisk, businesslike air came iu to look for a cook. She was : dressed qiiieiiy iu some gray stuff, which, ' coupled wiih her expression, carried the; irresistible suggestion that her life had ! been mostly gray. i She told the agent concisely what she ; wanted. And when he sent a cook to talk to her she told the cook as simply and explicitly ex-plicitly what she would require. An agreement was reached in live minutes, and it will last a long time. There are plenty of such cases, anil complaints are very few from t hem. It is from thu bar ) gain driving shrewd ones that the com-' plaints are heard. New York Suu. |