The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1918-06-07
Hester Proves
Her Theory

BY JANE OSBORN


per Syndicate.)
To be quite honest Hester was star.
Ing shamelessly at the man opposite
her and the predominant sentiment In
her mind as she stared was one Of ad-
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 1t was natural posture for
man begrimed aud 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,
rudy face, unshaven and blackened
grotesquely, showed alertness and
none Of the set lines that came from
long, sense-deadening drudgery in the
foundry.
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 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 bust
ness, think out loud. I'm enormously
interested-always."
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 a
psychological nature. 1T isn't flaws in
the metal or shortage of fuel or trans
portation troubles that give me my
greatest trouble. It's finding men /
can trust. Sometimes, Hester, mis-
trust 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 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 women's ma
lures and characters through their ia
cial contour. To be sure In her twen-
ty-two years of life in a restricted cir
Gle of associates In the town where
her fathers large foundry was located
she had but little chance to test her
theories, but though not extensive her
study had been intensive. Now she
asked her father for an opportunity to
try 1t 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
permitted to study the men in the fac
tory and to test them by the standards
she had worked out.
LET me have a job az time-keeper-
something so that can see the men
every day when they come to work.
They won't know who am and they
will be OFF their guard. I know there
are men there that have the ability
needed to take the positions Of trust.
but because you have no way of dis
covering them they are wasted. They
remain in the rut, doing something
that is not big enough for their abili-
ties, and other men without SO much
ability, through some accident or a
more pushing nature, take the bigger
positions. That is why they so often
prove a disappointment Why, this
very afternoon / got on a 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
any one could see that he had ability.
There was an expression about his
mouth-a rugged observation-disclosures
showed me what sort of a man he was.
I know I'll be able to help you. Won't
you let me tryf
During the two months that followed
Hester's assumption of the Job OF time
keeper In the foundry there were sew
eral surprising promotions and more
than one enforced resignation. All
that Mr.. Kingdom would say when
asked for an explanation was that he
had been advised by an authority on
personal efficiency to make the
changes. and that 1t was due to no pre-
iudice of 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 q man
of some shrewdness. More than one of
the underlings in the Office knew that
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
expert.
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