=VARIED SOCIAL STANDING OF THE PRIVATE SECRETARY=

The private secretary to a diplomat, since, he must first pass the diplomatic examination in order to qualify, is invariably a young man of education, if not of birth, and his social position is always that of a member of his “chief’s” family.

The position of an ordinary private secretary is sometimes that of an upper servant, or, on the other hand, his own social position may be much higher than that of his employer.  A secretary who either has position of his own or is given position by his employer, is in every way treated as a member of the family; he is present at all general entertainments; and quite as often as not at lunches and dinners.  The duties of a private secretary are naturally to attend to all correspondence, take shorthand notes of speeches or conversations, file papers and documents and in every way serve as extra eyes and hands and supplementary brain for his employer.

=THE SOCIAL SECRETARY=

The position of social secretary is an entirely clerical one, and never confers any “social privileges” unless the secretary is also “companion.”

Her duties are to write all invitations, acceptances, and regrets; keep a record of every invitation received and every one sent out, and to enter in an engagement book every engagement made for her employer, whether to lunch, dinner, to be fitted, or go to the dentist.  She also writes all impersonal notes, takes longer letters in shorthand, and writes others herself after being told their purport.  She also audits all bills and draws the checks for them, the checks are filled in and then presented to her employer to be signed, after which they are put in their envelopes, sealed and sent.  When the receipted bills are returned, the secretary files them according to her own method, where they can at any time be found by her if needed for reference.  In many cases it is she (though it is most often the butler) who telephones invitations and other messages.

Occasionally a social secretary is also a social manager; devises entertainments and arranges all details such as the decorations of the house for a dance, or a programme of entertainment following a very large dinner.  The social secretary very rarely lives in the house of her employer; more often than not she goes also to one or two other houses—­since there is seldom work enough in one to require her whole time.

Miss Brisk, who is Mrs. Gilding’s secretary, has little time for any one else.  She goes every day for from two to sometimes eight or nine hours in town, and at Golden Hall lives in the house.  Usually a secretary can finish all there is to do in an average establishment in about an hour, or at most two, a day, with the addition of five or six hours on two or three other days each month for the paying of bills.

Supposing she takes three positions; she goes to Mrs. A. from 8.30 to 10 every day, and for three extra hours on the 10th and 11th of every month.  To Mrs. B. from 10.30 to 1 (her needs being greater) and for six extra hours on the 12th, 13th and 14th of every month.  And to Mrs. C. every day at 3 o’clock for an indefinite time of several hours or only a few minutes.