The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-11-24

N-NlAl ttti--4 A4t- ttLA--s --bE@ LilLlt- '5- could be laid in an hour; and it was the same way with carpenters, fire prOOfers, painters, plasterers. He 1 soaked in a thousand practical de ] tails of build ug: he picked out the ] best workman in each gang. watched l him, talked with him, learned all h. could of that mans particular trick; and it all went down iu the little l green book For at the back of his ] head was always the thought Of the i time when he should use all this ! knowledge in his own bus ness. Then l one day when he had learned all he l could learn from being tirneze per he l walked into Wells office again and l iTropCsed that they make him one Of 1 the firm $ super.ntendents Of con struction.
 ] old Well fairly stuttered with the surprise of this aud5ctous proposI- i ton. He demanded to know what qualifications the young man could show for so important q position and i Robert told him anout the year he l had had with the country builder l and the three sumner Vacat Ons with ' the country surveyor-wh ch made TO impression whatever on EIr Well ! Eutu Robert produced the little green hook MT. Well glanced at some of the figures in the book. snorted, 1 looked hard at his ambitious t-me- ! keeper, who looked back at him with : l1-s keen young eyes and waited. . when he left he office he had been promised a trEout on a small job near the offices. where, as old Well said, they could keep an eye on him. That night he wrote t1 the girl back home that she must get ready to marry him at a moments notice. Our men have q prejudice against taking their business I ffIctI t -es home with them. I've suspicion it's be cause we're so ignorant they'd have to do much eEpiaininSI So in most cases they haven't even a sympa- thetc understanding to help them over the bad places. It was so with Robert even after he had married the girl back home and brought her ro the city His idea was to keep her from all worry and anxiety. and so. when he came home at night and she asked him if he had had a good day. or if the work had gone well, he always replied cheerfuiIy that things had gone about the same as usual even though the day had been
  only at first, however. The girl hap pened to be the kind that likes to know things. One night. when she wakened to find him staring sleep less at the ceiling, the thought struck her that after all, she knaw nothing of his particular problems. and if they were partners in the business of living why shouldn't she be an in telliSeur member of the firm, even if only q silent one?
 "SO she began to read everything she could lay her hands on about the business of building construction and very soon when she asked a question it was d fairly intetI gent one, because it had some Knowledge back of it. She didn't make the mistake of pestering him with Gues- tlOns before she had any ground work of technical knowledge to build on, and I'm not sure that he even guessed what she was up to, but do know that gradually, as he found that he did not. for instance. have to draw diagram and expIa n Iabori- Ously what q Caisson was because she already knew a good deal about caissOns, he fell into the habit of talking out to her a great many of the situations he would have to meet next day. Not that she offered her advice nor that he wanted it, but what helped was the fact of her sympathy should say her inteIIf- gent sympathy. for that is the only kind that can really help
 So when his big chance came -along she was ready to meet it with him. If he succeeded she would be all the better able to appreciate his success; and if he failed she would never blame him for ignorance. You must understand that his advance was no meteoric thing. He some how, by dInt of sitting up nights boring over blue-prints and text books and by day using his wits and his eyes and his native shrewdness managed to pull off with fair success his first job as superintendent: was given other contracts to oversee. and gradually, through three years of hard work, learning, leaning all the time, worked up to super intending some of the firms important jobs. Then he struck out for himself.
 Up in q New England city a large bank building was to be built: one of the directors was a friend of Rob's father. and Rob was given q chance to put in an estimate. IL meant so much to him that he would not let himself count on getting the con tract, he did not even tell the part her at home that he had been asked to put iu an estimate untn one day he came tearing in to tell her that he had been given the job
 It was his first big job. you un- a ars-and. and he got it in conDeti- ton with several older builders. From the first they were all watch ing him. and he knew 1t, which put a fine edge 70 his determination to put the job through with credit To be sure. he was hand capped by lack of capital. but his past record had es- talftshed his credit, and when the foundation work was begun it was a very hopeful young man that watched the first shoveIful of earth taken out But when they had gone down twelve feet. with trench for a retaining wall they q scovered that the owners boring plan was not a trustworthy representation of cCndi- tons. the job was going to be a soft ground Hr-posi ton. Where. accord ing tu the owners preliminary b1r-
 res. he should have found firm sand with 8 normal amount If moisture. E-eh 55scor re~od sand that was l Ike saturated oatmeal. and beyond that gltsks1nG and water Wa erI Why. 1t was like a SGbterr1u- lake fed