Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-10-04
JUST FROM SCHOOL.
CHAT WITH A BOY WHO is START
ING OUT IN LIFE.

Clerk in a Big Ofhce-The Bookkeeper.
A Balance Sheet of Advantages and Dis
advantages.
Here you are, 10 years old, just from
school, and ready to start out for yourself.
Have you ever got down to hard pani What
are you going to do nextl Going into bust
ness-going to work. What comes firsti The
hard pan of the matter is just here-what
can you dot
Read, write, and do short sums, Readlnga
No money in that unless you mean to be
public reader, and that means beautiful
voice and years of training and study Writ
ing and arithmetici Why, everybody can
do that. There isn't cent in such things
Then what was the use of learning these
thingsi Because they are the hard pan of
every art, trade, business and profession;
and while they will not bring wages, you
cannot get good wages without them
Every business requires some one to keep
the books" There is something for you.
Become a clerk. You set out to get place,
and at once find that, while hundreds want
| clerks, there are thousands who want to be
| clerks Not one of the fellows who have
| places seems to want to give it to you, and,
worse than all, half of the clerks are girls.
It's enough to make a man discouraged to
see the way the girls have pushed into all
the good places down town. A fellow has
| no chance now
At last you get place-junior clerk in a
| big office, with dozen clerks above you,
and half of them girls. The chief clerk gets
hundred a month, the others very much
less. and you-well, it doesn't pay quite as
well as being a bricklayer or carpenter. All
the same, you mean to try it Besides, you
don't know how to lay bricks, and as for
driving nails, you always hit your thumb.
Pretty soon You find / the clerks both men
and women, are on the lookout for something
better. The men want TO go into the bust.
ness, and the women-well, they hope to &C
home some day and never come back. Somt
Of them, both men and women, hope to be
come cashiers or head bookkeepers or &C
countants, because as they tell You, thu
higher the work the bigger the wages
So the hard pan of the business is that tC
earn good wages as a clerk, you must be ablt
to do more than read, write and ciphel
pretty well, or as well as you do. You mus
60 to work and learn a complicated art, ant
it is doubtful if you can do this without TIVE
years hard work in a school or an Office
Very hard pan. Just So but here is the bot
tom fact. To earn good wages. you must b
able to do something well Thousands cal
do as well as you can when you come out o
school The slow, the stupid, the lazy an
the careless will underbd you, will work TO
less money, and unless you can do better
your chances of earning living as a mer
common clerk are very small indeed. A
for making a fortune-well, it isn't there.
Suppose you do learn the art, and becom
a first rate bookkeeper and accountant, wha
are the bottom facts of the businesSl Unde
the term bookkeeper there are hundreds c
thousands Of people employed in this cour
try in stores offices, banks steamship an
railroad offices, telegraph offices, manufat
turing companies and shops Of all kind
Now is this the best thing for you-the hes
work you can do' Let us figure it up, an
strike II balance sheet of advantages and dl
advantages.
First OF all, health, as that is the most valI
able thing in the world The work is dor
indoors, in close and often dark rooms, ofte
in the midst Of noise, hurry and confusion
Decidedly, it is not healthy trade, thong!
of course, it is not dangerous, and men 4
often live to be gray old clerks. Secont
chances. Does it give chances to rise9 We
1t gives chances for a smart young fellO
like you to look about and pick up inform
ton, and learn some other business or pr
: fession. This is the chief value of a clerkshi
1t leads to something else. 1t is true, on Il
other hand, that these chances are very mut
less today than fifty years ago, because bu.
ness OF all kinds now requires so much capita
A bookkeeper in a bank or railroad office cs
. hardly expect to start bank or set up
own little railroad Thirdly, is it busine
:, you want to follow all your lfef Viii VI
be content always to be clerk, and nothil
but clerki Plenty of people, both men al
= women, never expect to be anything ell
and lead quiet, sensible, safe, and often We
: happy lives, saving money and earning t
respect of ell who know them
Strike your own trial balance There
the hard pan Of the matter. What do y
Think Is it good thing for you-the b
thing you can do: Nothing like having
: straight up and down talk with yours.
= about the real bottom facts OF the case.
|, Would you like it, That's the point NJ
|. we are fat on hard pan. Would You like
. What a man likes he does WELL what
. does well brings good wages. A mans wo
. is for his life. 1t is not for this month
= this year You are not working for ne
= Saturdays pay. You are working for t
wages you viii get when you are forty yes
= older. If you like accounts, if the work
m interesting, if you mean to rise to be
cashier, or chief bookkeeper in some gr;
house, all right. Work, study, practi
prepare to rise, for you must rise if You
- these things. Go into the business as
10 work Climb on the clerks stool, resoly
=. to stay there.
Nv But If you dislike to go to the desk
le the morning, and are glad the close the
no iedgers at night, consider well these thin
II You will wear neat clothes, have viii
y, weak hands, and pale, thin blood, good I
ei and nice home, and with frugal W
81 81 may lay up little money, Join build
ne association, and some day own little no
al of your own-and you will hate it all "
:" life long Better climb down from tt
s, STOOL and dig about among the real facts
Vi this world till you come to the hard pan
hs your hfe.-Charles Barnard in Once a We
p, "
10 In an Old English Village.