Page:The Girl Who Earns Her Own Living (1909).djvu/230

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printer, by her enthusiasm, and finally he gave her a chance on his force. His staff was not large, though there was a job plant in connection, and he had time to give the girl individual attention. He had always read his own proof, assisted by the editor, but when this girl manifested a determination to master proof-reading it was gradually turned over to her. She worked in this shop for four years, the regulation length of apprenticeship, and when she received her union card she was drawing the munificent wages of eight dollars per week. But there was nothing about the trade she did not know thoroughly. More than that, she had learned the importance of cramming her brain with accurate general information. Ata glance she could tell whether the name of a prominent man was correctly spelled, whether the right initials or Christian name had been given also. If a political measure was brought into prominence, she read everything about it that she could find. If a small nation had come before the public, she studied up its history, geography and politics; in other words, she did what all successful proof-readers must do—she became a practical student with singular powers of concentration.

With her union card she went straight from her native city to New York, and in a short time secured an opening at the minimum union