The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-02-12
EVENING STORY
Hester Proves Her Theory.
BY JANE OSBORN.


ing shamelessly at the man opposite
| her and the predominant sentiment in
her mind as she stared was one of adj
miration. The man sat in posture of
dejection-his shoulders slouched for
ward and his chin sunk down on his
chest. This Was not the remarkable
| thing, for it was natural posture for
a man begrimed and smudged from
| his days work at the Kingdom fOun-
dry. The remarkable thing to Hester's
keen insight was that the young man
did not look as if he were mentally
slouching at all. His rather large,
ruddy face, unshaven and blackened
grotesquely, showed alertnesS and
none of the set lines that came from
long, sense-deadening drudgery in the
rows between his deepset and blacken-
| hard determination and the two fur
/ mess, think loud. I'm enormously
ed >eyes indicated to Hester that his
hard days work.
| That night after dinner Hester
sought her father, the owner and man.
ager of the foundry, in his study. He
| held an open magazine in his hand but
his far-away, determined expression
showed to Hester at a glance that his
mind was not in the magazine but on
the foundry.
mo fair having troubles you don't
tell me about she began, drawing
| her low chair up to his and folding
the magazine that rested lightly in his
hands. If you must think about bus
| mess, think loud. I'm enormously
| Observation-Disclosures"
| Mr.. Kingdom little by little admitted
| to his daughter that the greatest
source of worry in the management of
his business was more or less of
| psychological nature. "It isn't flaws
in the metal or shortage of fuel or
| transportation troubles that give me
my greatest trouble. It's finding men
| 1 can trust. Sometimes, Hester, 1
mistrust them all. They are pulling
away from me, and the man I feel the
most confidence IN is always the man
| that shows the telling weakness. If
| there were only a way to test the
| quality of men as there is to test
metal then I might find men to help
| shoulder the responsibilities"
! Testers animated expression show
| ed the interest she felt. She told her
| father that this remark led up directly
to the very thing she had in mind to
| ask him.. Her only hobby outside of
| her beds of spring flowers was the
. study of faces She had worked up
| for herself a system by which, she
| thought she could interpret mems and
womens natures and characters thru
| their facial contour. To be sure, in
her twenty-five years of life in re-
stricted circle of associates in the
| town where her fathers large foun-
dry was located she had but little
|
not extensive her study had been in
| tensive. Now she asked her father
| for an opportunity to try it out. She
! told him that she could help him to
find the right man for the right
place in his work if she could be per-
mitted to study the men in the fac
| tory and to test them by the stand
| ards she had worked out.
Let me have a job as time-keeper
something so that 1 can see the men
every day when they come to work.
! They won't know who l am and they
will be of their guard. l know there
are men there that have the ability
needed to take high positions and posi-
! tionS of trust but because you have
no way of discovering them they are
wasted. They remain in rut, doing
something that is not big enough for
their abilities, and other men without
SO much ability. thru some accident
| or a more pushing nature, take the
bigger positions. THAI is why they so
| often prove a disappointment. Why.
! this very afterlo IN got on crowded
street car at closing time just to study
| the mems faces. There was one young
man-shabby enough and apparently
doing the crudest sort of workout
anyone could see that he had ability.
| There was an expression about his
mouth rugge determination-tha
showed me what sort of a man he
! was. I know Ill be able to help you.
| Won't you let me try?
/ During the two months that fol-
| lowed Testers assumption of the job
| of time-kceper in the foundry there
| were several surprising promotions
and more than one enforced resigna-
| ton. All that Mr.. Kingdom would say
| when asked for an explanation was
! that he had been advised by an au-
| thor4ty on personal efficiency to make
| the changes, and that it was due to
no prejudice Ct his own whatever,
save, of course, perfect confidence in
the ability of the efficiency expert.
| Who was the efficiency expert? 1t
was admitted that he must be a man
| of some shrewdness. More than one of
the underlings in the office knew that
I the young bookkeeper who was dis
missed at the time of the first change
had been padding the pay roll for
weeks. Apparently the dismissal was
| made without any knowledge of this
bit of high finance, but merely as the
| result of the studies in personality on
the part of the mysterious efficiency
4 expert.
Most remarkable of all the changes
had been the rapid rise of Peter Nor
gen. At the time the upheaval began
| he had been employed for two weeks
as a fireman down in the boiler room,
and a. not especially capable fireman
| had he been. He was quiet and some
of the men imagined dissatisfied.
/ Then suddenly he had been pro-
| noted Within three weeks he was
foreman of one of the departments,
and now, at the expiration of two
months, he had a responsible position
| in the private office of Mr.. Kingdom
himself. And this in spite of the fact
that young Norgen had apparently re-
sisted all promotion. and had shown
an utter lack of schooling He had
even proved his inability to write fig
ures and for this reason had a special
stenographer to take all his dictation
for him. Moreover, he doggedly re-
fused to dress a man in Mr.. King
don's private office should dress and
came and went in flannel shirt and
overalls, and insisted on eating lunch
with the other men in the court yard
at noon and consorting with them at