The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1907-07-11
5SsSss5s5s 4
N Dough Heed Of
q Man.

! Copyright 1905. by G. H. Sutcliffe.1
/ William BrIce applied to rich iron
master for work on the ground that
his father had been the ironmaxters
friend He was given a job, but it
was reported to the chief that he was
no good
/ shift him. said the ironmaster.
Every man has his niche" So Brice
was shifted again and again, but after
he had been the cause OF one or two
accidents the men complained to the
foreman and the foreman to the head
of the department. and the second com.
plant was carried to the lronmaster.
Still a dough head. eh?' he querIed
We'll we must try another niche. /
knew man once who entered Into
thirteen different occupations before
he finally made a success as a horse
trader. Shift him along"
Brice was shifted. and at the end Of
a week one of his fellow workmen tried
to brain him with crowbar because
he let go when he should have held on
Then he was shifted again. He was
on his fifth or sixth shift and had bc.
come butt of rIdlcule among 500 men
when the great man said;
The man is finding it a difficult roa
to hit his own particular niche. II
may be that Its clerical instead or
physical labor he should be put To-
Try him in one of the departments as
a timekeeper."
The man was tried. He had a smil,. OF
self confidence on his face as he as
sumed his duties, but inside of three
! days he had the time business so III
| ed up that the men did not know
o'clock in the morning from in tx
afternoon. lie was then tried as ),
messenger. and he held that place fol
two weeks. 1t was the general opn,
| ion among the heads of department,
| that he held it two weeks too long. but
subsequent events proved to the con
| trary. 1t took Brice two weeks to make
4 score of blunders and to learn thar
| new ana larger works were to be erect
ed farther down the river. All thA
| land except an acre belonging to an
aged widow had been secured, and he
heard it whispered that she had 70
fused to sell nj any price.
'Oh. well. don't let's be discouraged
over him." said the ironmaster when
told that Brice ought to be sent to an
idiot asylum. He is simply hunting
for his niche. He IS the son of an old
friend of mine, and we must bear with
him until he finds 1t. will never 60
back on my contention that every man
has his niche. Outside of 1t he Is al
most worthless; in that particular spot
he may do great things. Shift the man
along"
There were three more shifts, and
then William Brice found his niche.
No one but himself had the least sus-
picion of It, When they saw him smil-
ing and grinning and heard his chuc-
king they s:,..p!y thought he was one
! week nearer the idiot asylum.
On q certain Sunday William Bricc
had gone GoH-l > see the aged widow.
He WIS t-'-n.!-rs-fve years old and she
almost se@N:" lie was sturdy and
in the hes .: isalt:i: she was all knot.
red - ;.t.- !. a...,,ti5m and full of
'omHlnirts "'ir young man might
nave h".l Z at:s:a head in the shops,
~ nCt IL t2cm lie knew rabbit
track w'9 - SIw one. He fell in
iOve viii the widow. she was neces.
sary to LIS future happiness. She was
old. but lie didn't believe in Eighty
young girls. SHE was all twisted up,
but marriage at the best was full of
twists. He loved her gray hairs, her
cracked voice and lIer wrinkled face,
and in a month they We're married,
and he assumed the head of the house.
When he had been shifted for the
twelfth time in the shops he had found
his niche. No foreman or head OF de-
partment discovered this fact. It was
the ironmaster himself. or, rather. the
lawyers who We're slyiy working to
get hold of the widows land Its &c
tual value was about $1,000. She had
been offered $4,000 to quietly sell out
She had partly consented when she
suddenly changed her mind. A scrawl-
Ing letter reached the lawyers to the
effect that ''we" don't care to sell ut
TIE price, ANA the men of law hustle.I
around to find thar the widow was a
widow no longer.
At about the same time William
Brice resigned his position amid
boots and jeers. Three days later he
was being offered $50, 900 for his prop
erty. He replied that he was dough
head and afraid of being cheated, and
it was not until they bid up to $4,000
that he and his aged wife passed the
deeds and retired to the country to go
into chicken raising on a wholesale
scale.
Just as told YOU" observed the
ironmaster as lie handed over his check.
Every man has his niche in life, and
when once found lie can hold the fort.