A TELLING RECOMMENDATION.
THE following incident “About Boys” in the Youth’s Companion, contains more than a hint to success in life. It says:— “When I was fourteen years of age it became necessary for me to go out into the world and earn my share of the family expenses. I looked about with small success for a week or two, and then I saw a card hanging in a store window, ‘Boy Wanted.’ “I patted down my hair, brushed the front of my jacket, and walked in. ‘Do you want a boy?’ I asked of the clerk. “I walked back to the little den with a high partition around it, and, pushing open the door, which I noticed was slightly ajar, cap in hand, I stepped in. “It was a chilly day in November, and before I spoke to the proprietor, who was bending over a desk, I turned to close the door. It squeaked horribly as I pushed it shut, and then I found that it wouldn’t latch. It had shrunk so that the socket, which should have caught the latch, was a trifle too high. I was a boy of some mechanical genius, and I noticed what the trouble was immediately. “‘Where did you learn to close doors?’ said the man at the desk. “I turned around quickly. ‘At home, sir.’ “‘Well, what do you want?’ “‘I came to see about the boy wanted,’ I answered. “‘O!’ said the man, with a grunt. He seemed rather gruff, but somehow his crisp speech didn’t discourage me. ‘Sit down,’ he added, ‘I’m busy.’ “I looked back at the door. ‘If you don’t mind,’ said I, ‘and if a little noise won’t disturb you, I’ll fix the door while I’m waiting.’ “‘Eh!’ said he quickly. ‘All right. Go ahead.’ “I had been sharpening my skates that morning, and the short file I used was still in my pocket. In a few minutes I had filed down the brass socket so that the latch fitted nicely. I closed the door two or three times to see that it was all right. When I put my file back in my pocket and turned round, the man at the desk was staring at me. “‘Any parents?’ he asked. “‘Have her come in here with you at two o’clock,’ he said, and turned back to his writing. “At twenty-five I was a partner in the house; at thirty-five I had a half interest, and I have always attributed the foundation of my good fortune to the only recommendation I then had in my possession—the file.” And still it was not the file so much as the willingness to use it during a “spare moment,” that was the recommendation. The action was an index to the boy’s character.