The Big Stone Gap post. [volume] (Big Stone Gap, Wise County, Va.) 1892-1928, 1899-06-01
Cheerful Obedience.

III the young man beginning III
career as an employe could start wit
the experience Of his employer, h
t would aim to give cheerful and I'M
questioning obedience to orders a
the surest means of making himsel
t helpful and attracting attention tC
his usefulness. The man to whom
an order can be given, with an as.
surance that it will be faithfully and
intelligently executed are very rare,
except, perhaps, in the naval and
military service, where absolute
obedience to orders is eXacted. In
civil life, much latitude is allowed,
to the injury Of the service. The
servant (using the term in the broad
sense as meaning any one under
oraers) if he be a civilian, scarcely
ever moves to obey without asking
some questions: Why do you want
this done? Cannot some one else do
it? These and similar questions be-
set the employer who directs some
thing to be done, or if the inquiSitive
spirit has been suppressed, the order
will be sullenly obeyed more as a
matter of form than with the purpose
to accomplish the end to which it is
directed. This is the standing
grievance of the employer of labor.
lie welcomes the cheerful employe
who tries to carry out his wishes or
even to anticipate them, and it is
this employe who is selected for adj
vancement when the opportunity
comes for promotion. The grumbler,
who, instead Of attending to the work
in hand, concerns himself about a
fair division OF labor; who wants to
why some task cannot be as
to a fellow-workman, or ques-
tons whether it is worth while to do
the thing that has been ordered, does
not tavorably impress the busy man
of affairs who has little time to ex-
plain to his agents the purpose he
may have in view. The young man
INST entering business life will know
and understand this some years hence,
when he is either in the position of
an employer of labor or has failed in
life and finds himself a scarcely toll
workman, because Of his
peevishness and in ability to promptly
respond to the orders he receives.
But he ought to know it now or ac-
,ept the advice of those who have
earned the lesson by experience.
Civil administration of affairs diff
'er from militay rule; it is necessary,
perhaps, that there should be this diff
in order to permit individual
development, and yet the civilian who
has had military training in the mat
er of obediance to orders is more
Useful in civil life than one who is
lot amenable to discipline. The man
Who works as earnestly during his
Employers absence as when he is un-
Ter surveillance; who can be given
n order and be left without supervi-
ion to carry it out, is the nan who
S almost insensibly admitted to :
and greater responsibilities
nd drifts naturally into positions of !
ommand and into confidential rela- :
ions. The civil service examinations ,
o which government employees are !
objected are clumsy but necessary
mutations of the examinations to !
'hich employees in private life are .
lmost constantly subjected. In the ,
tore, or office, or f%octory there are no !
tated periods at which an exami- '
alton for promotion is held; there
re no set questions to be asked and '
answered, but the employer or some '
ne IN authority is constantly exam !.
ling those who help him. that he !,
learn their capabilities and de- !.
'rmlne which among them are fitted =
n higher place. The young MAI .
lould keep this in mind, and he
lould fit himself for command by
to obey. He should also
l~ltivate the habit of attending
to his W duties, resisting
Ie temptation to attend TO the divi-
on of work between himself and his o.
llow,clerks. or to inquire into the p
asons for the orders that NAV be ir
ven to him. BY following this rule 6,
will attract attention to himself as dI
cheerful employee who can be trust al
, and he will surely reap the bene- In
OF the experience of ages, during &C
of which time the man who has o.,
en- faithful over a few things has e;
the one chosen to be lord over
my things.-Baltimorc Sun. In
~ of