suppose?”
“Well, not exactly. No, Mr. Griffiths, I don’t,” replied Clyde
quickly, alive at once to the possibilities of this query. “It
pays well enough. But I don’t like the way you have to make
the money you get here. It isn’t my idea of a salary at all.
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But I got in this because I didn’t have a chance to study any
particular work or get in with some company where there
was a real chance to work up and make something of
myself. My mother wanted me to write you once and ask
whether there was any chance in your company for me to
begin and work up, but I was afraid maybe that you might
not like that exactly, and so I never did.”
He paused, smiling, and yet with an inquiring look in his eye.
His uncle looked solemnly at him for a moment, pleased by
his looks and his general manner of approach in this
instance, and then replied: “Well, that is very interesting.
You should have written, if you wanted to——” Then, as
was his custom in all matters, he cautiously paused. Clyde
noted that he was hesitating to encourage him.
“I don’t suppose there is anything in your company that you
would let me do?” he ventured boldly, after a moment.
Samuel Griffiths merely stared at him thoughtfully. He liked
and he did not like this direct request. However, Clyde
appeared at least a very adaptable person for the purpose.
He seemed bright and ambitious—so much like his own
son, and he might readily fit into some department as head
or assistant under his son, once he had acquired a
knowledge of the various manufacturing processes. At any
rate he might let him try it. There could be no real harm in
that. Besides, there was his younger brother, to whom,
perhaps, both he and his older brother Allen owed some
form of obligation, if not exactly restitution.
“Well,” he said, after a moment, “that is something I would
have to think over a little. I wouldn’t be able to say, offhand,
whether there is or not. We wouldn’t be able to pay you as
much as you make here to begin with,” he warned.
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“Oh, that’s all right,” exclaimed Clyde, who was far more
fascinated by the thought of connecting himself with his
uncle than anything else. “I wouldn’t expect very much until
I was able to earn it, of course.”
“Besides, it might be that you would find that you didn’t like
the collar business once you got into it, or we might find we
didn’t like you. Not every one is suited to it by a long way.”
“Well, all you’d have to do then would be to discharge me,”
assured Clyde. “I’ve always thought I would be, though,
ever since I heard of you and your big company.”
This last remark pleased Samuel Griffiths. Plainly he and
his achievements had stood in the nature of an ideal to this
youth.
“Very well,” he said. “I won’t be able to give any more time
to this now. But I’ll be here for a day or two more, anyhow,
and I’ll think it over. It may be that I will be able to do
something for you. I can’t say now.” And he turned quite
abruptly to his letters.
And Clyde, feeling that he had made as good an
impression as could be expected under the circumstances
and that something might come of it, thanked him profusely
and beat a hasty retreat.
The next day, having thought it over and deciding that
Clyde, because of his briskness and intelligence, was likely
to prove as useful as another, Samuel Griffiths, after due
deliberation as to the situation at home, informed Clyde that
in case any small opening in the home factory occurred he
would be glad to notify him. But he would not even go so far
as to guarantee him that an opening would immediately be
forthcoming. He must wait.
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Accordingly Clyde was left to speculate as to how soon, if
ever, a place in his uncle’s factory would be made for him.
In the meanwhile Samuel Griffiths had returned to
Lycurgus. And after a later conference with his son, he
decided that Clyde might be inducted into the very bottom
of the business at least—the basement of the Griffiths
plant, where the shrinking of all fabrics used in connection
with the manufacture of collars was brought about, and
where beginners in this industry who really desired to
acquire the technique of it were placed, for it was his idea
that Clyde by degrees was to be taught the business from
top to bottom. And since he must support himself in some
form not absolutely incompatible with the standing of the
Griffiths family here in Lycurgus, it was decided to pay him
the munificent sum of fifteen dollars to begin.
For while Samuel Griffiths, as well as his son Gilbert,
realized that this was small pay (not for an ordinary
apprentice but for Clyde, since he was a relative) yet so
inclined were both toward the practical rather than the
charitable in connection with all those who worked for them,
that the nearer the beginner in this factory was to the clear
mark of necessity and compulsion, the better. Neither could
tolerate the socialistic theory relative to capitalistic
exploitation. As both saw it, there had to be higher and
higher social orders to which the lower social classes could
aspire. One had to have castes. One was foolishly
interfering with and disrupting necessary and unavoidable
social standards when one tried to unduly favor any one—
even a relative. It was necessary when dealing with the
classes and intelligences below one, commercially or
financially, to handle them according to the standards to
which they were accustomed. And the best of these
standards were those which held these lower individuals to
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a clear realization of how difficult it was to come by money—
to an understanding of how very necessary it was for all
who were engaged in what both considered the only really
important constructive work of the world—that of material
manufacture—to understand how very essential it was to
be drilled, and that sharply and systematically, in all the
details and processes which comprise that constructive
work. And so to become inured to a narrow and abstemious
life in so doing. It was good for their characters. It informed
and strengthened the minds and spirits of those who were
destined to rise. And those who were not should be kept
right where they were.
Accordingly, about a week after that, the nature of Clyde’s
work having been finally decided upon, a letter was
dispatched to him to Chicago by Samuel Griffiths himself in
which he set forth that if he chose he might present himself
any time now within the next few weeks. But he must give
due notice in writing of at least ten days in advance of his
appearance in order that he might be properly arranged for.
And upon his arrival he was to seek out Mr. Gilbert Griffiths
at the office of the mill, who would look after him.
And upon receipt of this Clyde was very much thrilled and
at once wrote to his mother that he had actually secured a
place with his uncle and was going to Lycurgus. Also that
he was going to try to achieve a real success now.
Whereupon she wrote him a long letter, urging him to be,
oh, so careful of his conduct and associates. Bad
companionship was at the root of nearly all of the errors
and failures that befell an ambitious youth such as he. If he
would only avoid evil-minded or foolish and headstrong
boys and girls, all would be well. It was so easy for a young
man of his looks and character to be led astray by an evil
woman. He had seen what had befallen him in Kansas City.
But now he was still young and he was going to work for a
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man who was very rich and who could do so much for him,
if he would. And he was to write her frequently as to the
outcome of his efforts here.
And so, after having notified his uncle as he had requested,
Clyde finally took his departure for Lycurgus. But on his
arrival there, since his original notification from his uncle
had called for no special hour at which to call at the factory,
he did not go at once, but instead sought out the important
hotel of Lycurgus, the Lycurgus House.
Then finding himself with ample time on his hands, and
very curious about the character of this city in which he was
to work, and his uncle’s position in it, he set forth to look it
over, his thought being that once he reported and began