Norwich bulletin., 1917-03-24
THE GOSPEL OF GOOD WILL AND GOOD
 HIRED HELP
HlkEO aELF

, even in these times? Squaeze water | out of the turnip, as it were? l Sometimes confession is good for
 the soul and a little swapping of psr- r- | out in pinchs Let's consider the | thing, a minute, from the purely in l dfvidualistic viewpoint.
 On my gardens don'4 need asgrsat I amount of hired help. But I simply must have some5 or give up. My own l experience has been that, while l finding the right sort of man to hire. | have never yets had any serious | trouble in keeping him, once I'd got him. As my work,-truck-ga gardening, more than usually technical, can't | take anybody and everybody. I have | to ask for somewhat higher specihca- tions at least in character and infel-: mere 'thay and harvest hands" This l makes the search for the right ones quite as difficult as the average, per- haps even more so. 7zk9 But when I've found the right o1ess we have generally thus far, got along together as nicely as two mice in aS nest, and have parted, when that time l came. with mutual regrets.
 The only earthly reason I can give as explanation is that, from the out set, I have laid down one fixed rule of treating the man I hire. That is: Always do a little more for him than agreed to when I hired him, and
 always ask little less of him than
 told him should at that time. -..
 One result has been that he is not only kept from finding fault but is
 casionally moved to real gratitude for small favors. Another has been
 that he, not infrequently, has been led by this attitude on my part into assuming a similar posture on his own. and cheerfully assuming little hefp- full tasks, unasked, or volunteering to stay after hours when he saw a job was suffering for prompt attentions .ss'
 This scheme isn't any invention of my own. If it was. might not be so free to pass it on. I learned 1t, years ago, from an older farmer who, in pressed his belief, that most. of the disputes between farmers and their help were due to perfectly self evident attempts of both to oVer-reach each other. They'd always get along bet ter if each took a real concern in the others interests and showed that he did. One side or the other had got to begin tito take the initiative. And my neighbor remarked, with a dry smile. that he wasn't too proud to buy peace and comfort by taking the first step.
 It is true that all men are selfish and keener-e after their own in others. It is natural that ,ytrens we
 hire a man, we should do 1t for our own sakes and not for his, for our
 own profit, first. anyway.
 But there's such a thing as an "en-
 lightened'' selffshness, which is quite
 different from dog-in- the -mangerish-
 ness.
 More flies are caught with molasses
 than with vinegar. If you want to show that you're ''boss," that's one thing. You can do it very easily and make yourself durned disagreeable doing it! '=a'
 If you want to get work done that's another thing. When the assertion of your prerogatives as boss won't ac- complish it as effectively as you de- sire, perhaps some slight concessions to the other fellows whims or hob bies may give better results. .s We all know that team work is better than one-horse or one-man work. Especially if the team pulls even and true. both setting their gether; and not see-sawing along, first one trying to get ahead of the other and then the other trying to "soger'' back in the traces. 7r -. If the team consists Of the hired man and myself it's clearly for my
 interests even more than his that we do teamwork together. It will pay
 me, even better than him, to arrive at more than business-lik at A
 really cordial mutual understanding. !
 Of course, if he's such a. natural
 born hog. himself, that he won't meet
 you halfway; if he assumes that your considerateness means you are
 an easy mark;' if he takes advan-
 tage, of your offer of your hand to
 pull your leg,'-why, then there's no
 more to be said.
 The gad for the OK and the nose
 ring for the hog. But with men 'tis dlHerent. And there are still men to be had, occasionally, even for farm
 work,-by those lucky enough to find
 them and canny enough to keep them when found.
 Farm work is no "soft snap" for anybody, hired man or boss farmer. It's a steady pull, most of the time with an occasional squirt needed in emergencies that takes all the mus
 Gle and all the wind of all concerned
 to pull it through. And the heIper1
 who Loyalty bears his full share of
 those strains. working as whole heartedly for your interests as you
 yourself really deserves a little more than just wages. 5
 He deserves to be told that you ap- preciate his loyalty. and to be shown py oeeds that you mean what you say. Lots, of us have got hung up, either In the barn or some wart in our
 mrnos. ..1r,,o the famous old saying that Tnose who never do any more than they get paid for never get paid for any more than they do.'
 Which is probably quite true. Like many other half-stories.s True as far as it goes. But there's the other half to think about, nevertheless.
 What about those who do more than they are paid for? If sayIca for the