Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1923-10-24
A LARGE ORDER
BY n. LOUIS RAYBOLD

Mary CROKER, DelleNcu III Keeping llci
eye on him, and when his brains won
him a promotion in the foundry, she
kept to herself the suspicion that the
blunderbuss part Of him would sooner
or later get him into trouble.
There were two factors hostile to
his success. One was natural an
/ tipathy to the efficiency methods of
infinitely subdivided bookkeeping and
cost accounting as practiced IN the
general office. The other was rival
in another department, one of the few
/ other departments which had not yet
! been put under his charge. In this
department, by the way, Mary's broth
J er Jim also worked
The rivals name was Peter Revere
and he was unmitigatedly jealous OF
] Henry's promotion.
The fifth person concerned in this
little drama was familiarly known as
the boss" Spoken of, that was his
/ title. Spoken to, he was Mr.. Stock
bridge Stockbridge, Wallace NJ, IN
the telephone book. He owned the
foundry.
Recently there had been a bit of
trouble somewhere. A vast supply
enough to last for years-of European
thread had been accommodating without
rhyme or reason. Henry was frankly
puzzled While most of the routing
of material was in his hands there
was one department which he had not
I l. .nI a
one there was acting according to or
ders from higher up.
But there was another little ritt In
his lutte which for the moment was
causing greater discord and drown
ing out other harsh sounds.
His stenographer had something
else up her sleeve besides plump
well-rounded arm. Henry had caught
glimpses of filing cards of color and
size which he knew had no meaning
in his department. Caught once study
ing them, she had flushed uncomfort-
ably and thrust them out of sight IN
pigeonhole in her desk
Henry flattered hinNelf he had
very fatherly feeling for all the girls
in his office, especially Mary. But
Henry. in his blunderbuss fashion,
wasn't hep to the real directions in
which his feelings were leading him'
Then everything happened at once.
To begin with, it started on PACK
page of popular magazine. w. Nj.
Stockbridge, pursuing a story through
the advertisements, happened instead
on an efficiency blurb and took 1t all
in. as he periodically did.
Next morning he set out on tour
of the foundry, resolved to find some
thing which needed correction. Run-
ming into Peter Revere, he soon discoV-
cred quite as much as, If not more
than he had hoped for. In the course
of conversation the fact leaked out
that there were enough three-quarter-
inch European threaded couplings to
connect the desert of Sahara with the
canals of Mars
"Who ordered Ithem?" demanded the
boss.
Peter shrugged his shoulders and
remained discreety silent.
"Imr' grunted Stockbridge, ana
strobe into Henry's sanctum, where
Henry was paternally watching the
soft curve of Marys cheek as she bent
! above his dict9tioonn:
"Td like to know who is responsible
for those ten tons of couplings he
beloved at Henry. "Show me just
how much you've ordered made up IN
the past year. He threw a choleric
glance at the filing cabinets.
Henry swallowed braveiy, and
looked hopefully at Mary. He didn't
recall having gone on record for any
particular order, come to think OF IT.
Had just had it done, and that was
the end of it.
But Mary turned obedently. Only,
strange to say, what she handed over
to Henry was that bunch of cards he
/ had once caught her examining. Sur
prised, he looked them through.
Then he cleared his throat Mr..
Stockbridge, you probably won't be in
terested in what little I've had made
! up" he said brislly. "But here's
| what's been sent in from another de'
| partment and accounts for about nine
! tons"
He handed them over to the boss.
who gave them a short scrutiny and
! then stalked out to blow up Peter
| Revere.
How in time for the love of Mike
did YOU collect all that data?" asked
Henry curiously when he and Mary
were alone.
"Oh, | had bit of an idea that that
Revere was trying to put something
over on YOU" said Mary demurely.
MY brother Jim's in his department
and | got him to make copies of the
orders. They were spread over some
time and In small lots, but Revere
probably knows how careless-that is,
mean how you don't keep records,