Help Wanted

Mrs. Helen Barker, mother of son Jack, is married to Jerrold Scott. When Jack finishes college he returns home and is made a partner of his stepfather in the firm of Scott and Son, and at Scott's request he adopts his stepfather's surname. Scott and Son's reception room is full of girls waiting in answer to an advertisement for a stenographer. One pretty girl opens the wrong door and enters the room where Jack is waiting for his father. She and Jack get into conversation and she tells him of her troubles in finding a position; he tells her that it is his first day in business. Scott, entering, greets his son and shows him the sign on the door including him in the firm. Jack tells him that the girl is Gertie Meyer, who is looking for a position and who came to the wrong door. She is sent to the waiting room and Jack is taken to the auditing department to get his first training. The bookkeeper, Crane, who has been with the firm 20 years, and knows Scott's requirements for a secretary, selects those who are competent but lacking in physical charms, and sends them in for interview. One of these is Miss Wiggins, but she is too clever and is sent out to interview Crane. He retains her for some extra work on his own account. Scott, coming to the door, selects Gertie and dismisses the others. He asks her many personal questions, but nothing about her efficiency, and accepts her at a higher salary than she asked of him. Gertie, delighted with her position, begs her mother to leave the laundry where she is working, and brings her two small brothers home from the orphan asylum. All goes well the first week, except that with the first dictation Gertie makes a hopeless failure of the letters, and when she cries over her failure, Scott, in a fatherly way, puts his arms around her, and tells her that it was a difficult letter, and he will straighten it out. When he goes out, and while Gertie is making the corrections, Miss Wiggins slips into the private office and warns Gertie about Scott, tells her just what to expect, and asks her if he has taken her to luncheon yet. Gertie resents this and warmly defends her benefactor. When Scott returns and learns that Gertie has no money to pay for her luncheon, he persuades her to go to a restaurant and lunch with him. She dissents, but finally goes. She is awed by the fashionable people, the music, and the odd names on the menu. She refuses to have a cocktail, but Scott drinks. Seeing Paul Montgomery, his daughter's fiancé, in th