Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1906-03-02
MR.. BENFIELD's PoLITENEss.
It Had Its Limitations, and Was Not
for Home Consumption.

Ambrose Benfeld was a diplomat by
day, when he mingled with the business
world, but by night he emerged from
his disguise and became his true self.
Benfeld was junior partner in com
mercial house which had reputation
for suave, gentlemanly methods. Ben
| field had inaugurated the system. In
deed. his interest in the firm consisted
mainly in his poiteness Because of it
he had risen from the ranks of the EN-
ployes. He prided himself that during
/ business hours he never lost his temper.
Geniality radiated from him and his
tactful pressure smoothed out countless
difficulties.
"Politeness is big part of our eapi-
tall, he declared. 'Impoliteness drives
away many an order.
Benfield discharged all employees
caught being rude.
Benfeld belonged to the Merchants
| beneficial society, which met once a
month at downtown hotel over an in.
formal dinner. On one occasion Ben
field was delegated to prepare an ad-
dress, and he took for his subject, Po-
likeness as Business Factor. For
three weeks Benfeld was so busy dis
pensing smiles and good humor at the
office that he neglected writing his
speech. Finally he got down to business
and made things hum. Every night,
after hurrying through his dinner, he
wrote, rewrote and wrote again the
maxims on which he had built up his
business. Everything else in the house
hold was sidetracked. If the children
dared to speak above whisper, Ben
field would bawl at them, "Shut upi'
and once or twice, when the pet canary
ventured to tune up a bit, Benfield
shouted to his wife, MARY if you
don t strangle that cussed bird / II
throw it out of the window
Benfield lived in a fiat on the third
floor of a building on Fifty-sixth street.
Mrs. Benfeld was frail little woman,
but the dividends on Benfeld 8 polite
ness had not reached a figure sufficient
to permit of servant, especially as
Benield s position as a member of the
firm required him to dress stylishly and
be consistently liberal with customers.
Cigars and a little wine, of course,
went with the politeness.
Folks said that Benfield was a hard
worker He sat at his desk from 9 in
the morning until 6 at night, dispens-
ing smiles and graceful words. When
evening came he was so tired of his
own politeness that he left it all in the
Office
Mrs. Benfeld, too, worked hard,
washing, ironing, cooking and Juggling
the baby up three flights of stairs, and
when night came she was tired of the
burden and would have been glad to
escape from it for time Sometimes
she cried little, secretly.
Benfield went home at o clock on
the day he was to deliver his paper on
the art of politeness He wanted to
put some finishing touches on the essay,
and he couldn t find time at the office
When he opened the door the family
dog came forward doubtfully to greet
him.
sect outl" said Benfeld, with
kick.
Scarcely had he started writing than
the canary broke into Hungarian
rhapsody. Benfield dropped his pen,
sprang to the cage and, stalking to the
back door, tossed it to the ground
"Oh, Ambrose! Ambrose!" cried
Mrs. Benfeld
Damnation!o was his retort.
When the children came home from
school, Mrs. Benfeld corraled them and
locked them in the basement while