The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 10, 1907, Page 6

By E 1zabeth Haight Strong for Dexter!” shouted rer in the blué negli- buyer 90!” browr yelled corduroys. bellowed the w sweater. voice. s that surged room and broke against the rough, wooden shack, not of the winds that sagebrush deserts of ceased. The mem- 1 Stock Exchange men. What g mob of ma- a gathering strenuous ame normal 2 how itself i if rather ¥~ had suspended their of surprise at hearing a n domains sacred to e a shrill their deep bassos. 1 wveice, - tone jeafening was it becau: ad pierced ken in natu le and low,” it the rd note nged to no ordi- very presence on the indicated strange t it has for- of Man- nge; selling Exchange nvaded flelas " t it seems tl Miss B. M on, and uying dealing ih stocks. sked how she came to occupy nigue position in the business wgs rather non- ed for an answer. tly not occurred to her doing anything unusual; y employment for & wWo- at all extraordinary. She up from her chair where. she behind the rafling that brokers and formed a which she was the first to have passed, and quietly r wonderfully cleer, flutelike ked & seated ed in_the How She Did It Why, it came about véry naturally, st like rings that at first seem e ordinary 1 came to Mun- , practice law. It seemed to new country would have op- , offer that & city the size sco would not be so likely judgment was right. for nhattan but a little vet in that compara- e of time I've seen is, real life without re Tfethat the superficialitiss—than I'd have been permitted to experience in San Fran- my whole life, probably. handled with gloves up here. »u take hold of it as the miner does hig pick and shovel, barehanded. Every one has a chance, the womén as well the men, and 1 suppose that's why on the Stock Exchange. Although . ractice law, the first week I e 1 took the fever—the stock né in a quiet way began doing like other brokers. Then last ly ten of us agreed to get quotations by telegraph from San Francisco every day. We found that brought us busi- ness and s0 we concluded to organize nto ap exchange, limiting the seats to ffty. We deal in any stocks in Nevada hsve quotations coming in daily San Francisco. Brokers from field and Tonopah, cisco as well, have bought seats on the exchange, the price of which has ad- anced several hundreds of dollars since last summer. Being one of the charter members, it was byt natural that I should be made one of the directors, and 1 aleo keep 2 record of the sales. I sit mear the caller to be heard more casily, and when I want to bid 1 raise my hand. The excite- ment that invariably prevails upon the fioor of & stock exchange is merely bit, of course. It's the butter to at otherwise would be stale and al- most unprofitable erust. 8o you see,” she concluded, with a Ilttle depreca- tory smile, “there’s nothing at all sen- tional about my position here.” She modestly forgot to mention that after she was graduated from the Hastings Law College she was admitted to practice in the United States Circuit Court and Federal Court of Appeals isn't and San Fran- }’f/}:é‘ o MAURER PHOTO ONE OF 7725 s Wirson’s “.‘I‘A/Mf 3 by court of its own motion, and that to cover such a precedent in the legal mill a special certificate had to be issued. She forgot to tell that she is the chairman of the arbitration com- mittee and that all disputes on the stock board comeé before her to be set- tled, and that she rarely hears a mur- mur against her decisions. Miss Wil- son’s merits as her own advance agent are in adverse ratio to her capablilities as an attorney and stockbroker. Manhattan’s Long Day But this 1s only a part of her day's work, and a minimuni part at that. Be- fore the session opened at 1:30 she had been busy all the morning with legal matters, mining propositions, and the varied interests of her clients. Many of these are mepn, who think they stand a better show in the lively game of stocks with a woman lawyer than they would with a2 man. Lunch is omitted, for the residents of Manhattgn all breakfast late. the stores not being opened a minute before 9 in the morn- ing. This seems to be the best mati- tutinal effort they can make, their hour of closing being somewhat tardy and indefinite, for Manhattan ‘only goes to bed when it can no longer hold up its head and when those who deal in the poker game of stocks must get & new outfit. But when the little mining town does awaken, she remains gwake for many long, busy, brilllant hours. The session of the board has hardly closed before there is a scramble to t to the banks before 3 o'clock. Then there is the delivery of stock certifir cates among the broker: 4 the send: ing of telegrams to outside customer: Then the girl stockbroker mounts her horse and rides until dusk, inspect- ing her mines and overlooking the work that is being done. And hers is no superficial superintendence. All that a man thoroughly acquainted with the work would do, she ddes. She le! contracts for lsbor, takes samples the rock as the work progresses and has them assayed, orders all the sup- plies that are needed—steel for drills, track iron, ore cars, blacksmith shop materials—keeps track of the time the men work, as well as general super- vision of detail working. She is also making a close study of mineralogy, so that in her dally rides over the moun- tains she may be able to locate value- bearing lodes and trace their course and be able to calculate what they would yield. Somehow a shopping ex- pedition seems to pale before such en- ergy and ability! But the day is far from ended (ot this remarkable young woman. horse canters homeward, and dm-r comps a slight respite, which the mall, arriving at 7 in the evening, i terrupts, From then until 12, pedes- tria; assing a door upon which a small sign reads, “Miss B. M. Wilson, Attorney at Law, Stockbroker.” may hear the click, click, click of the type- writer keys as her hands move rapidly Y over tne machine. Verily the busy lit- tle bee of our childhood’s peetry never more truly improved the shining hour. Not the Only One But Miss Wilson is not the only wo- man in Manhattan, dealing in stocks. Ae soon as the sesslon opens the fair sex flock to the exchange bullding, where, outside the railing, their bright costumes are sandwiched in between the rough clothes of the miners. Life in a mining c&mp may nature in its shirtsleeves; nevertheless the women of Manhattan are not of the “mudhen” type that was familiar in San Fran- cigco during the early Comstock days. Their stock fever is at just as high a ~ temperature as the poor, old, dowdy, frenzied “mudhen’s,” but it has not ren- dered them indifferent to their per- sonal appearance. Perhaps it is be- cause all the women of Manhattan are young. Wheo ever saw 2 young ‘mud- hen?” To youth, nearly all of them add. beauty. What more fitting than that they should wear fashionable, ex- pensive clothes? That thelr surround- ings are not in keeping with their fine feathers is too trifiing a detail to bother about. Trains of chiffon and lace drag over the rough board floors of wooden shacks and tents and. in consequence soon lose their freshness. But what does that matter? There are plenty more to he bought in the shops, and the outcroppings are bound to show snough ¢olor in the pan to buy a whole dry goods store. When Mother Nature gives freely of her hidden treasure her children are apt to ba prodigal. “Easy come, easy go,” is the optimistic rmn- er's motto. % But some of the women are not con- tent with simply wearing fine clothes and mingling with the men outside the ralling where they give orders to thelr brokers to buy or sell. Many steke out claims open up ledges and sink shafts the required number of feet scientifically, as a party of experienced miners. They have learned to tell mineral ore by riding round the counfry, and an old prospector could not discourse more sagely than thev about how much certain rock will yield to simple amalgamation; thé operating of dry hers; the use of the hols and pump, or anything bearing at: all upon the subject of auriferous rock from the time it is wrested from the earth untll men shout themselves hoarse on the floor of the exchange; in, b they know all about the yellow have emselves the sobriquet of “The Prospectors.” Well educated, in moderate circumstances, they ~were traveling in Nevada for pleasure, but the stories of the wonder- ful mines and thé lucky strikes made in the little mining town weaned them away frem their homes. a'hey re- m-v their dainty gloves and stylish donned khaki suits and, grasp-. 1 3 th. nnalu of pick and shovel, dug ‘¢ i m% t:&g wo@t:n::?g"l‘m:hamn' g deep (nto u;. precious sSoll that evea M In sty way witn tn on its surface gave forth tawny glnu. under her direct -u But all women ars nét /as primitive She ia the fortunate posssssor of nocn in their methods of uaunlrlnl tortunes in all mines of Menhattan, which may as “The Prospectors.” _Mrs. T. J. Cul-, indicate that subscribers to country len is the managing editor of a Man- néwspapers do not always pay for their hattan mining that gives in- sul tions with potatoes and beans. formation about i,po country to out- ther woman who acquires miin- side investors. ‘This paper has & big 1 stock with !h- use ,6¢ tools is circulation in the Egst, gne man in “Kitt: tty’ angther nu!o, New York alone tAKing 360 a week but -ldnu- wurh it. 8 rosy- for distribution among customers. Mrs. ch blue-eyed, laughing Irish girl Cullen does all the outside werk, at- with the suspicion of a brogue and hair tends to the advertising, and business the selor of dewn. Breakfast and din- . The Queen of Siam MI the smallest foot of any fitled person 18 the werld, She wears lss-uwh boots. Workmen em-um sixty-seven years ago found of eggs at & d.g:h of thirty- 1t 1s suppos posited in the basket lq of the twelfth century. three in numb nthfl‘ thé ordinary hen produe probably laid by un( f 25k Two of them -n th but ope had { been broken, and !159 po-of "its contents appeared to h:‘VO fi%fl’fi.‘ a part of t*r ero hmv nbed In@entations. wmu would lead o&u to bel hey had been orl‘lufll’ bm over’ vltlxmi _one might conclude that the iedine or other matter which colors such eggs 2 the surface only that: unu e similar indentations in rim of the basket, though fewer fn num- ber and 1 conspicuous than those of the @ 5 Egss 8. s and basket were now com- pletely soldered into one mass, A0 that th couldn't be separated, ‘and the was converted, not into black flln& like what is chtli.w into gray xisted in in Jtm for mny centyries a curious Jaw td the effect hene €mPperor or em- in publie uo other per- : W ?’w:&au this n\cmhar ot el i Lendon besket xv foot. o de- ?ppr!_ the royal r occasions pper stories -moved wers seemingty dl‘fil‘- law is still in o@nL ‘nflly found in the | ‘@evours all the little ner nours find her mumuhun&m. in place of bill either in the banknote or lection definition ct It Is a tip, quite different slipped to biscuit-shooters in the ’Iloco ' QUEER TALES OF HOW MEN AND NATURE DO ‘houses past which the Great Britain, jt. !l said, eats ho thir- teen weeks all the 'll.lfl.“o bushels of m ‘wheat which it The mmullw of weo has orfl-' 1zed a troop of dog "'fi: thé cleaning of the u'olt o o sewer p!y-: are | Mfinfll to allo e passage of men. e been trafned to drag brush at the end ot u from one end of the pipe to another. The system is meeting with 'M Tm.lm.h‘ltt "Dflt" mn has the to-‘ “aphis lion” is so small that.its habits must be vnclud through & m ut "gt phi or vhnz at with the kitchen table. “Dear 3 mg rdwix'u 1 wnere convention rules. 1t 18 usually - nrcni} of mining stock that might be ,worth T cent a share this week and $1 ‘next—anything is possible in Manhat- tap. Then. again, sometimes the tip is less tangible, but even more profit- able. It takes the form of whispered advice on what to buy and sell, for Kitty, teo, is one of the frequenters of the stock board and follows with all the exhilaration and trepidation that gambdling compels the ups and downs of the vacilliting game. In brief, there is no end to woman's enterprise in the booming little migfns, camp. One woman has the agency\ or a whole townsite about fifteen miles from there. Women flock to Manbat- tan from all the walks of life, but only a fow weeks elapse before they are fre- q ting the exchange and giving their orders to buy and 1 stock. In fact the mining fever had so infected the womeén of Manhattan that none of them are willing to do what is gengrally con- sidered woman's work. Nurses com- mand $10 a day." And as for a laun- dress, that is about the richest strike & resident of Manhattan can make. Sometimes a squaw can be induced to do a-littls housework, and then thers fs much rejoicing. Thé native Ameri- can lady arrives, bringing with her a atring of children of all ages, each one expecting to be fed and taken care of. The work proceeds for a few hours when the aquaw hears of a powwow a few miles away and leaves sans cere- meonie, her offspring tralling In her wake like the tail to a kite. The Exacting “Miss Smith” Miss Minerva Smith, a natural bru- nette, her ancestors having originally come frem Africs, arrived one day in Manhattanp and announced that she would undertake to de a little work for the minimum wage of 0 ceats an nour, She was the bells of the camp end offers were showegad upom her to make her happy homé wherever sha would be so good as to condescend. After some deliberation she selected a place and the fortunate family wers enyy of the town. But, alas! it #d out like many another rich! strike. They were too kind to Minerva. tried to make her one of the fam- 1ly. The husband met her on the street and sald, "Wdl. Minerva, how are you The hllowln‘ morning Minerva not dppedr, but a mots was found v!H Mrs. Brown,” it ran. “It's all right to call me Minerva ‘round house, but whenever any of you meet me on the street Fm Miss Smith. I e back and work for you if 3 ‘All me’ Miss Smith. Very truly, “MISS MINERVA SMITH. <In the mining town of Manhattan the ursuit of gold, like death, levels all ranks and places the miner's pick be- side the scrubbing brush. ‘MANY THINGS ‘lice” that comes in its way. lolding mflm two curved prongs near aid when 1ts time comes to rolls itself up Into a little huml n the size of 2 very small pe: 18 the end of the lion. Very dif- t s the beautiful dainty creature out of this cocoon a few Its lace wings are pale its large oright eyes are 1t has Jong curved an- when at rest measures ers ‘of an Inch in length. on the wing it is very graceful. The oldest idea of humor l.’! ’! 1P prise. This the child exhibits w; hides and cries “Boo!"” doth sur ml:' frightening its senlor. Qne may this primal sense of hu tributed through the moa.‘::'.:,":; TONT thvethedowtogs e oo tiaal