The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1918-06-28
Hester Proves
Her Theory
Copyright 1918. by the Mcclure NewspA-
per 6yndicAtc.l
BY JANE OSBORN


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--hs shoulders slouched for
ward and his chin sunk down on his
chest This was not the remarkable
thing for 1t was a natural posture for
u man begrimed end smudged from
his days work at the Kingdom foun-
dry. The remarkable thing to Hesters
keen insight was that the young man
did not look as IL 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-deadenlng drudgery in the
foundry.
That night after dinner Hester
sought her father. the owner and man
sger of the foundry, In his study. He
held an open magazine In his hand. but
his far-awny. 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
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 a
psychological nature. at 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 l feel the
most confidence in Is always the man
that shows the telling weakness. II
there were only a way to test the
quality of men as there Is to test
metal then l 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
system by which she thought she
could interpret mems and women's ma
lures and characters through their fa-
eial contour. To be sure In her TWEEN
ty-two years Of life In Il 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 II 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 job as time-keeper-
something so that l can see the men
every day when they come to work.
They won't know who l am and they
will be off their guard. l 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 abli
II. a s..ftt
ability, through some accident or 6
more pushing nature. take the bigger
positions. That is why they so ofter
prove disappointment. Why. this
very afternoon ! got on a crowded
street car at closing time just to stud,
the mems faces. There was one youn!
man-shabby enough and apparent.
doing the crudest sort of work-bu
any one could see that he had ability
There was an expression about III
mouth--a rugged determination-tha
showed me what sort of a man he was
| know I'll be able to help you. Won
you let me try?"
During the two months that followe'
Hester's assumption of the job of time
keeper In the foundry there were Sc,
eral surprising promotions and NOR
thun one enforced resignation. AL
that Mr.. Kingdom would say whe
asked for an explanation was that h
had been advised by an authority u
personal efficiency to make III
changes, and that it was due TO no pre-
judice of his own whatever, save. o
course, a perfect confidence in tn
ability of the efficiency expert.
Who was the efficiency expert?
was admitted that he must be ma
of some shrewdness. More than one @
the underlings in the office knew tina
the young bookkeeper who was dis
missed at the time of the first chang
had been padding the pay roll 70
weeks. Apparently the dismissal wa
made without any knowledge of thi
bit of high finance, but merely as tn
result of the studies in personality o
the part of the mysterious efficienc
expert.
Most remarkable of all the change
had been the rapid rise OF Peter No
gen. At the time the upheaval bega
he had been employed for two week
A. a fireman down In the boiler roor
~ot osv~opiplIv canQhlp firpma