“My, I’m glad to see you!” exclaimed Josie as Irene came gliding from the elevator into their midst. “A lot of lace to be mended and laundered has just arrived. Exquisite stuff and a hurry call. Can you spend the day and work on it for us? There will be at least three dollars in it for you.”
“Of course I can, if you will telephone Auntie,” and Irene drew from her bag her thimble and needle case and soon was at work mending the exquisite point lace that had been left at the shop only that morning by a wealthy and particular old lady. At times, where the work was very delicate, Irene made use of a magnifying glass, which was as much a part of her little sewing kit as her thimble and the very fine needles she delighted in, and the sharp scissors, no longer than her little finger, and the assortment of cotton and silk threads.
“I am going to launder the lace that does not need mending,” said Josie, getting out a diminutive tub, placing ready an ironing board and attaching her electric iron.
“And I’ll go on with my typing,” said Elizabeth. “It is manuscript from a would-be authoress who is all dashes and an occasional period when her pen seemed to be out of breath. I think I should charge extra for punctuation, don’t you, Irene?”
“Certainly,” laughed Irene, “but how would you grade your charges?”
“I’ll give a period for nothing. It is a kind of relief to make a period after such an effusion as this: ‘His flashing eye was bent on her with a look of mingled admiration and rage while in spite of the feeling of uncontrollable fear that filled her pure heart to the brim the beautiful girl first breathing a prayer to her Heavenly Father of whose watchful care she was ever conscious no matter how severe her trials and tribulations raised her sad blue eyes and looked into the bold black ones of the insinuating villain who had by his machinations brought her to this lonesome spot where he hoped to have her in his power and as she looked into those wicked orbs that seemed to Elaine very like the lonesome miasmic tarn by which she had been led on this perilous journey she felt sure of the power of good over evil and as the realization of this great truth came to her the wretch dropped his eyes and turned away.’ All this without a punctuation mark of any kind, not even a dash, except at the tail end where I have thrown in a period. I should get a tenth of a cent for every comma and at least a fifth for semicolons--they come high--and as for a colon: it is worth anything one wishes to charge. I think there is nothing so elegant as colons. They have such a knowing air.”