The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1907-06-10

N Dogsb Head Of 4
q Man. 4

Ecopyrssht. iscl. ~ c. II sutciihel
William Brice applied TO rich IRON
master for work on the ground that
his father had been the ironmaster,s
friend. He was given a job, but ii
Wis reported 10 the chief that he was
no good.
Shift him." said tile ironmaster.
Every man has his nlcIis.r So Brice
was shifted again ana az N, 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, ana the second COM
PLANT was carried to the iroumaster.
still a dough head. chr he queFicl
well, we must try another niche. i
knew a man once who entered ia.o
thirteen different occupations BEFORE
he finally made success as a horse
trader. Shift him along"
Brice was shifted, and at the end Of
a week one Of his fellow workmen tried
70 brain him with q crowsar because
i he let go when he should hare held on.
Then he was shifted again. lie was
on us fifth Or sixth shift and had be.
come a butt 0flialesis among 500 men
when the great mas saidI
The man is dll;ug It d difficult road
to hit Shls own particular niche. II
may be that its clerical instead Of
physical labor he should be put to.
Try h!m u one of the departments as
a timeketpeEs
The man was tried. BE had a smile OF
self confidence on his face as he as.
sumed his duties, but inside of three
days he had the time business SO mix.
ed up that the men did not know !
O'clock in the morning from . in the,
afternoon. lie was then tried as
messenger. and he held that place for
two weeks, 1t was the general opln.
Ion among the heads Of departments
that he held it two weeks too long, hut
subsequent events proved to the con.
trary. 1t took Brice two weeks to make
score Of blunders and to learn TINT
new and larger works were to be erect
ed farther down the river. All the
land except IN acre belonging to an
aged widow had been secured, and he
heard it whispered that she had re-
fused to sell at any price.
ooh Tryn1l fnnif laftS INa
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 It | will never go
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 1t. When they saw him smiI-
ing and grinning and heard his chuc,
king they simply thought he was one
week nearer the idiot asylum.
On certain Sunday William Brice
had gone down to see the aged widow.
He was twenty-five years old and she
almost seventy. He was sturdy and
in the best Of health; she was all knot
ted up with rheumatism and fan of
complaints The young man might
have been a dough head in the shuNs,
but outside of them he knew a rabbit
track when he saw one. He fell In
love with the widow. She was neces.
sary to his future happiness She was
old, but he 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 her wrinkled face,
and in 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. II was
the ironmaster himself, or, rather. the
lawyers who were slyly working to
get hold of the widows land. lis nc.
tual value was about S1,2G0. She had
been offered $1,000 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 1--WE" don't care to sell at
the price. and the men OF law hustled
around TO find that the widow was a
widow no longer.
At about the same time William
Brice resigned his position amid
boots and ieers. Three days later he
was being offered $4,000 for his prop
erty. He replied that he was a dough
head and afraid of being cheated, ana
it was not until they bid up to $4,000
that he and his aged wife passed the
deeds and retired to the country 10 90
into chicken raising on wholesale
scale.