her weakness in spelling, but she was such a pleasant young woman that they put up with it as long as they possibly could. At length she went too far, and the manager arose in his wrath. "I say, Miss Jenkins," he exclaimed, "we really, you know, can't put up with this any longer; your spelling is something awful; it is simply appalling." "Good gracious, sir," she answered, "why—why—what is wrong?" "The word 'sugar," he replied, "here you have spelled it 'suger.'" "Dear me!" was the innocent reply, with her brightest smile, "how foolish of me; I left out the 'h,' didn't I?"
If your spelling is weak or defective, do your best to improve it. The average business man will not have the courage, or, possibly, may not care to tell you that you are a poor speller, and that is his reason for discharging you. He is more likely to make some other excuse. In fact, we have known instances where an employer, rather than tell a stenographer of her poor spelling, has given her a nice letter of recommendation on the eve of her discharge in which he stated that she was a competent and painstaking stenographer. He did not mind so long as she was off his hands! It was unfair of him, no doubt, but don't let the necessity for such a subterfuge arise in your case.
Make an effort to have a complete command of the English language. Whenever you meet with a strange word, make a note of it, look it up in the
