The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1910-10-27


. with which this can be done.
By c. W. JENNINGS. .
sseesesssessso
NJ . ~ AVE you ever thought about |
architecture as your boys |
5W7S5 life's vocation?
&YLk If not, perhaps you would |
~ do we'll to look little into
this line of human en-
deavor, especially if your boy has CIV
en- you cause to believe that he takes
to subjects mathematical naturally, or
is good at mastering this branch of
learning. For there is today probably
not more promising or cleaner field
of industry for a young man than
| architecture. And what makes the
opportunities in this professionalism
profession it is-eXceptionally bright
just now is that the general aim in
building is to combine art with utility
and also the entire land is reverbera-
ting with the sound of hammers and
riveting machines.
Not a few of the country's leading
universities teach architecture in
schools especially organized for this
purpose. Probably it would be we'll
for your boy, If he has architectural
ambitions, to attend a good school of
this sort, provided the family finances
permit But if they will not do not
be discouraged, for more than one sue
cessful architect has made himself
such ere now, by starting as an Office
boy in an architects office. And as an
office boy, or minor clerk, your boy
would do we'll to start, if he cannot be
sent to a reliable school of architec.
ture.
OF course as an office boy, your boy
will get only four or five dollars
week in actual money But al! the
while he will have his eyes open, pick
ing up the very simplest rudiments Of
the profession; and pretty soon, as
SOME of the mysteries Of blue prints
and compass, and T square, and tri-
angle, and box wood scale, and thumb
tacks begin to clear up, his employer
1 will give him an eraser and tell him
to clean an ink-finished drawing of its
pencil marks. This may be within
two or three months from the time
the youngster starts to earn his first
weeks wage as office boy.
Then, within about six months or
so he is put before big table, given
a pen and bottle of india ink, and told
to trace over the lines Of drawing
that have already been made in pen
Gil. He is also shown how to make
blue-prints, the sheets containing the
plans of the structure to be erected
that are given to the carpenters anc
other workmen on the job. BY this
time he has been told something
about water coloring and is set tt
make a blue sky behind a finishe;
drawing, paint the house pink, and tt
splash vivid green over the grass
in front Within year from the time
he entered the ofiice-if he has go
on-he will be getting eight or tel
dollars a week
Within another year he will be Civ
en- a rough sketch of a floor plan ant
told to draw it out "to scale" Thi
means that he must make detaile
picture of the floor Of house, allow
) ing, say, quarter-inch of space O.
the drawing for each foot Of actua
6 dimensions the floor is to be.
1t will not be long now till the DO
will know a lot about drawing an
begin to look forward to the time h
will be called a craftsman; for, lnsld
a of three years from the beginning, h
d will be earning from SIS to $18 wee
and can probably take the notes give
d by the prospective owner of mode:
k dwelling and work out therefrom
l. fairly complete set of plans-Wlt
9 numerous hints and helps from tn
boss, of course.
1t Perhaps the boy by this time M
e some original ideas OF how nous
ought to look, and is able to plctul
If his ideas on paper. This means tn;
r. he has the rudiments OF designer
him. But, anyhow, he has acquire
Of the foundation on which a real arcl
I'd tect is erected, and goes on for thre
or four years more, till he can dra
s. plans for any ordinary building al
re make very acceptable designs. /
Ly will be getting, as craftsman, an
where up to $50 week, and, II he h;
tc studied hard, he may be foreman ov
p. several other craftsmen, if tho Off
n is a large one, and earning double s
a week.
ty This is apt to be the end of t
ny architectural progress of your boy u
n. less he has utilized any opportuniti
re that may show themselves, to get In
Nv hucip,sc for himself. for there q
few high salaried positions in the pl
Is, fession, and in many cases these cor
to from political or other pull
course, such job as the superinte
Ily dent of school buildings in large CT
1t pays as nigh as $4,000 year: b
the man that gets it need not nee