Making a Business Woman

"Ill make you my assistant," he said at last. "You can move over to this larger desk. If you are quick to learn and apply yourself closely youll find it to your advantage." He managed to invest the ordinary words with a suggestion of semi-mystery. I didnt like the knowing half-wink of his eyes. I should far more have appreciated a mention of the definite salary I would receive in the new position... -from "Chapter VI: As Binks Assistant, I Get on the Inside" An adventurous and intrepid young woman, Anne Shannon Monroe refused to let the traditional complacent, genteel poverty of her family stop her from launching a career. In this delightful 1912 collection of true-life tales, which first appeared in The Saturday Evening Post, she tells her own story of making her way in the business world in the big city of Chicago. Nosy landladies, dishonest employers, and the cruelties of the competitive job market cant keep her down: her indomitable spirit shines through it all, as she rises from "typewriter girl" to advertising copywriter in the mean offices of the Windy City. American writer ANNE SHANNON MONROE (1877-1942) was a great granddaughter of a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and she drew extensively on her life in the Pacific Northwest in her books about its history and culture. She is the author of Happy Valley: A Story of Oregon (1916), Behind the Ranges (1925), and Mansions in the Cascades, written with Elizabeth Lambert Wood (1936).