Weather sent market up and down, he nodded and said that part of it was all right,

because the weather was of the lord. “Not on the board of trade it isn’t,” bill
answered back, “at least, not to any marked extent; it’s from the weather man or
some liar in the corn belt, and, as the weather man usually guesses wrong, I Reckon
there isn’t any special inspiration about it. The game is to guess what’s going to
happen, not what has happened, and by the time the real weather comes along
everybody has guessed wrong and knocked the market off a cent or two.” That made
the deacon’s chin whiskers droop a little, but he began to ask questions again, and
by he discovered that away behind about a hundred miles behind, but that was close
enough for the deacon a deal in future there was real wheat and pork. Said then
that he had been miss informed and misled; that speculation was s legitimate
business, involving skill and sagacity; that his lost scruple was removed, and that
he would accept the two hundred bill brightened right up at that and thanked him
for putting it do clear and removing the doubts that had been worrying him. Said
that he could speculate with a clear conscience after listening to the deacons able
exposition of the subject. Wasonly sorry he hadn’t seen him to talk it over before
breakfast, as the two hundred had been lying so heavy on his mind all night that he
had got up early and mailed a check for it to the deacons pastor and told him to
spend it in his poor. Zeke took the evening train home in order to pry that
checkout of the elder, but old doc. Hoover was a pretty quick stepper himself and
he had blown the whole two hundred as soon as he got it, buying winter coal for
poor people. I simply mentioned the deacon in passing as an example of the fact
that it’s easy for a man who thinks he’s alright to go all wrong when he sees a
couple of hundred dollars lying around loose a little to one side of the straight
and narrow path; and that when he reaches down to pickup the money there’s usually
a string tide to it and a small boy in the bushes to give it a yank. Easy come
money never draws interest, easy borrowed dollars pay Usury. Of course, the board
of trade and every other commercial exchange have their legitimate uses, but all
you need to know just now is that speculation by a fellow who never owns more pork
at a time than he sees o his breakfast plate isn’t one of them. When you become a
packer you may go on change as a trader; until then you can go there only as a
sucker. Dear Pierre point. I judge from yours of the twenty-ninth that you must
have the black bass in those parts pretty well terrorized. I never quite figure it
out, but there seems to be something about a fish that makes even a cold water
deacon see double. I reckon it must be that while eve was learning the first
principles of dress making from the snake, Adam was off bass fishing and keeping
his end up by learning how to lie. Don’t over stock yourself with those four pound
fish yarns, though, because the boys have been bringing ginger them back from their
vacations till we have got enough to last us for a year of Fridays. And if you are
sending them to keep in practice you might as well quit, because we have decided to
take you off the road when you come back, and make you assistant manager of the
lard department. The salary will be fifty dollars a week, and the duties of the
position to do your work do well that the manager can’t run the department without
you, and that you can run the department without the manager. To do this you will
have to know lard; to know yourself; and to know those from under you. To some
fellows lard is just hog fat, and not always that, if they would rather make a
dollar to-day than five tomorrow.
But it was a good deal more to Jack summers, who held your new job until we had to
promote him to canned goods. Jack knew lard from the hog to the frying pan; was
upon on lard in history and religion; originated what he called the “ham and ,”
theory, providing that moses injunction against pork must have been dissolved by
the circuit court, because Noah included a couple of shoats in his cargo, and
called on of his sons ham, out of his gratitude, probably, after tasting a broiled
for the first time; argued that all the great nations lived on fried food, and that
America was the greatest of them all, owing to the energy-producing qualities of
pie, liberally shortened with lard. It almost broke Jack’s heart when we decided to
manufacture our new cottonseed oil product, seedoiline. But on reflection he saw
that it just gave him an extra hold in the heathen that he couldn’t convert to
lard, and he started right out for the Hebrew and vegetarian vote. Jack had
enthusiasm, and enthusiasm is the best shortening for any job; it makes heavy work
light. A good many young fellows envy their boss because they think he makes the
rules and can do as he pleases. As a matter of fact, he’s the only man in the shop
who can’t. He’s like the fellow on the tight-rope-there's plenty of scenery under
him and lots of room around him, but he’s got to keep his feet on the wire all the
time and travel straight ahead. A clerk has just one boss to answer to the manager.
But the manager has just as many bosses as he has clerks under him. He can make
rules, but he’s the only man who can’t afford to them now and then. A fellow is a
boss simply because he’s a better man than those under him, and there’s heap of
responsibility in being better than the next fellow. No man can ask more than he
gives. A fellow who can’t take order can’t give them. If his rules are too hard for
him to mind, you can bet they are too hard for the clerks who don’t get half much
for minding them as he does. There’s no alarm clock for sleepy man like an early
rising manager; there’s nothing breed’s work in an office like a busy boss. Of
course, setting a good example is just a small part of manager’s duties. It’s not
enough to settle yourself firm on the box-seat you must have every man under you
hitched up right and well in hand. You can’t work individuals by general rules.
Every man is a special case and needs a special pill. When you fix up a snug little
nest for a play mouth rock hen and encourage her with a nice porcelain egg, it does
not always follow that she has not reached the fricassee age because she doesn’t
lay right off. Sometimes she will be respond to a little red pepper in her food. I
don’t mean by this that you ever want to drive your men, because the lash always
leaves it’s worst soreness under the skin. A hundred men will forgive a blow in the
face where one will blow to his self esteem. Tell a man the truth about himself and
shame the devil if you want to, but you won’t shame the man you’re trying to reach,
because he wonTo do this you will have to know lard; to know yourself; and to know
those from under you. To some fellows lard is just hog fat, and not always that, if
they would rather make a dollar to-day than five tomorrow. But it was a good deal
more to Jack summers, who held your new job until we had to promote him to canned
goods. Jack knew lard from the hog to the frying pan; was upon on lard in history
and religion; I simply mentioned the deacon in passing as an example of the fact
that it’s easy for a man who thinks he’s alright to go all wrong when he sees a
couple of hundred dollars lying around loose a little to one side of the straight
and narrow path; and that when he reaches down to pickup the money there’s usually
a string tide to it and a small boy in the bushes to give it a yank. Easy come
money never draws interest, easy borrowed dollars pay Usury. Of course, the board
of trade and every other commercial