No, that one did
not get off." And each time the Colonel exclaimed, "Good! We won't send
it!" It came to be a regular part of the day's routine.

Inexperienced dictators will find it good practice to have their
stenographers read back their letters so they can recast awkward
sentences and make other improvements. It can usually be discontinued
after a while, for dictating, like nearly everything else, becomes
easier with habit.

A considerate man will show special forbearance in breaking in a new
girl. Different voices are hard to grow accustomed to, and a girl who is
perfectly capable of taking dictation from one man will find it very
difficult to follow another until she has grown used to the sound of his
voice. It is like learning a foreign language. The pupil understands his
teacher, but he does not understand any one else until he has got "the
hang of it."

The training of a good stenographer does not end when she leaves school.
She should be able not only to take down and transcribe notes neatly and
correctly. She should be able to spell and punctuate correctly and to
make the minor changes in phrasing and diction that so often can make a
good letter of a poor one. The most fatal disease that can overtake a
stenographer (or any one else) is the habit of slavishly following a
routine.

"Many young fellows," this is from Henry Ford, "especially those
employed in offices, fall into a routine way of doing their work that
eventually makes it become like a treadmill. They do not get a broad
view of the entire business. Sometimes that is the fault of the
employer, but that does not excuse the young man. Those who command
attention are the ones who are actually pushing the boss.... It pays to
be ahead of your immediate job, and to do more than that for which you
are paid. A mere clock watcher never gets anywhere. Forget the clock and
become absorbed in your job. Learn to love it."

The position of secretary is a responsible one. Frequently she knows
almost as much about his business as her employer himself (and sometimes
even more). He depends upon her quite as much as she depends upon him,
though in a somewhat different way. It takes personal effort together
with native ability to raise any one to a position of importance, but
personal effort often needs supplementing, and many business houses have
taken special measures to help their employees to become good
correspondents.

In some places there are supervisors