The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1901-06-12
The Boy Who is Bound TO Fail .

once went to no little trouble and
spent considerable time In securing
a good position for boy of II, in whom
was interested. The Toy seemed to
me to have a good deal of ability, and
he was most fortunate in securing the
position referred to. was, therefore,
surprised and disappointed when he
came to me at the end of two weeks
and wanted me to use my influence
in securing him another place.
"Why George !" I said "why did
you leave the place. I secured for
"Because they wanted to make a
slave of me-" he said sharply.
! could not believe this to be true,
and when, day or two later, met
the gentleman in whose employ
George had been, said
"Why did George Blank lose his
position in your office?"
"Oh he was one of these boys who
wants to work altogether by the clock,
and that sort of a boy is never satisfac-
tory"
the clock?" I asked.
"Well, he would drop any thing he
was, doing the instant the clock struck
six or twelve. He wrote very good
hand and had him write a few short
business letters for me, and I have
known him to lay down his pen at six
O'Clock and put letter aside to be fin-
ished the next morning, when he
could have finished 1t in three or four
minutes; before eight he would sit
around in idleness waiting for the
clock to strike eight before he would
do a thing. That is what I call
working by Clock and have nev-
er and I have never known such work
ers to amount to much in life."
doubt if such workers ever achieve
high degree Of success in life. The
boy whose eyes wander to the clock
every few minutes to see how long it
will be until noontime or until six
O'Clock is not interested in his work.
His heart is not in it. He is not
anxious to do his work to the utmost
of his ability. He is disposed to give
as little as possible in return for the
wages paid to him. Such workers
will generally shirk if they can. A
wealthy man told me that he once had
In his employ two boys each about IS
wears of age. One day he gave them
a certain task to do. Just as the clock
struck six he chanced to overhear one
of the boys say to the other. Come,
Joe; there goes the six o'clock WI histle.
Get your hat and lets get out Of this"
mo" said Joe "let US finish up this
work. We can do it in ten minutes
over time and get it out ofthe way"
mot much !" retorted the other boy.
"You tdon't catch me working ten
minutes over time and not getting
anything for it !"
"Well, you know we were allowed
to 90 home half an hour before time
because there was nothing for US to do,
one day last week."
"That's all right" said Harry, the
other boy. 1--WE arn't paid such great
wages that he can't afford to let US 60
home early once in awhile. I'm going
home right now"
"All right. Run along, and I'll
stay and finish this work up myself.
I'd rather finish it and be ready to
start in on something fresh in the
morning."
II kept my eyes on those two boys
after that said the gentleman who
had told me the story, land I discover
ed that the boy called Harry was
regular shirk and that his work was
rarely well done. The other boy
whose name was Joe, was, on the
other hand, extremity careful and
painstaking. He paid no attention to
the clock, and he did readily and cheer
fully anything that asked him to do.
Do you wonder that he is to-day my
right hand man while poor sh;rking
Harry is clerk on salary of ten dol
lars week in dry goods store?"