An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser

with the size and brand of the collar. The sole business of

the assistant foreman in charge here, as Gilbert well knew,

after maintaining due decorum and order, was to see that

this stamping process went uninterruptedly forward. Also

that after the seventy-five to one hundred thousand dozen

collars were duly stamped and transmitted to the stitchers,

who were just outside in the larger room, to see that they

were duly credited in a book of entry. And that the number

of dozens stamped by each girl was duly recorded in order

that her pay should correspond with her services.

For this purpose a little desk and various entry books,

according to size and brand, were kept here. Also the

cutters’ slips, as taken from the bundles by the stampers

were eventually delivered to this assistant in lots of a dozen

or more and filed on spindles. It was really nothing more

than a small clerkship, at times in the past held by young

men or girls or old men or middle-aged women, according

to the exigencies of the life of the place.

The thing that Whiggam feared in connection with Clyde

and which he was quick to point out to Gilbert on this

occasion was that because of his inexperience and youth

Clyde might not, at first, prove as urgent and insistent a

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master of this department as the work there required. There

were nothing but young girls there—some of them quite

attractive. Also was it wise to place a young man of Clyde’s

years and looks among so many girls? For, being

susceptible, as he might well be at that age, he might prove

too easy—not stern enough. The girls might take

advantage of him. If so, it wouldn’t be possible to keep him

there very long. Still there was this temporary vacancy, and

it was the only one in the whole factory at the moment. Why

not, for the time being, send him upstairs for a tryout? It

might not be long before either Mr. Liggett or himself would

know of something else or whether or not he was suited for

the work up there. In that case it would be easy to make a

re-transfer.

Accordingly, about three in the afternoon of this same

Monday, Clyde was sent for and after being made to wait

for some fifteen minutes, as was Gilbert’s method, he was

admitted to the austere presence.

“Well, how are you getting along down where you are

now?” asked Gilbert coldly and inquisitorially. And Clyde,

who invariably experienced a depression whenever he

came anywhere near his cousin, replied, with a poorly

forced smile, “Oh, just about the same, Mr. Griffiths. I can’t

complain. I like it well enough. I’m learning a little

something, I guess.”

“You guess?”

“Well, I know I’ve learned a few things, of course,” added

Clyde, flushing slightly and feeling down deep within himself

a keen resentment at the same time that he achieved a half-

ingratiating and half-apologetic smile.

“Well, that’s a little better. A man could hardly be down

there as long as you’ve been and not know whether he had

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learned anything or not.” Then deciding that he was being

too severe, perhaps, he modified his tone slightly, and

added: “But that’s not why I sent for you. There’s another

matter I want to talk to you about. Tell me, did you ever

have charge of any people or any other person than

yourself, at any time in your life?”

“I don’t believe I quite understand,” replied Clyde, who,

because he was a little nervous and flustered, had not quite

registered the question accurately.

“I mean have you ever had any people work under you—

been given a few people to direct in some department

somewhere? Been a foreman or an assistant foreman in

charge of anything?”

“No, sir, I never have,” answered Clyde, but so nervous that

he almost stuttered. For Gilbert’s tone was very severe and

cold—highly contemptuous. At the same time, now that the

nature of the question was plain, its implication came to

him. In spite of his cousin’s severity, his ill manner toward

him, still he could see his employers were thinking of

making a foreman of him—putting him in charge of

somebody—people. They must be! At once his ears and

fingers began to titillate—the roots of his hair to tingle: “But

I’ve seen how it’s done in clubs and hotels,” he added at

once. “And I think I might manage if I were given a trial.” His

cheeks were now highly colored—his eyes crystal clear.

“Not the same thing. Not the same thing,” insisted Gilbert

sharply. “Seeing and doing are two entirely different things.

A person without any experience can think a lot, but when it

comes to doing, he’s not there. Anyhow, this is one

business that requires people who do know.”

He stared at Clyde critically and quizzically while Clyde,

feeling that he must be wrong in his notion that something

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was going to be done for him, began to quiet himself. His

cheeks resumed their normal pallor and the light died from

his eyes.

“Yes, sir, I guess that’s true, too,” he commented.

“But you don’t need to guess in this case,” insisted Gilbert.

“You know. That’s the trouble with people who don’t know.

They’re always guessing.”

The truth was that Gilbert was so irritated to think that he

must now make a place for his cousin, and that despite his

having done nothing at all to deserve it, that he could

scarcely conceal the spleen that now colored his mood.

“You’re right, I know,” said Clyde placatingly, for he was still

hoping for this hinted-at promotion.

“Well, the fact is,” went on Gilbert, “I might have placed you

in the accounting end of the business when you first came if

you had been technically equipped for it.” (The phrase

“technically equipped” overawed and terrorized Clyde, for

he scarcely understood what that meant.) “As it was,” went

on Gilbert, nonchalantly, “we had to do the best we could

for you. We knew it was not very pleasant down there, but

we couldn’t do anything more for you at the time.” He

drummed on his desk with his fingers. “But the reason I

called you up here to-day is this. I want to discuss with you

a temporary vacancy that has occurred in one of our

departments upstairs and which we are wondering—my

father and I—whether you might be able to fill.” Clyde’s

spirits rose amazingly. “Both my father and I,” he went on,

“have been thinking for some little time that we would like to

do a little something for you, but as I say, your lack of

practical training of any kind makes it very difficult for both

of us. You haven’t had either a commercial or a trade

education of any kind, and that makes it doubly hard.” He

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340

paused long enough to allow that to sink in—give Clyde the

feeling that he was an interloper indeed. “Still,” he added

after a moment, “so long as we have seen fit to bring you

on here, we have decided to give you a tryout at something

better than you are doing. It won’t do to let you stay down

there indefinitely. Now, let me tell you a little something

about what I have in mind,” and he proceeded to explain

the nature of the work on the fifth floor.

And when after a time Whiggam was sent for and appeared

and had acknowledged Clyde’s salutation, he observed:

“Whiggam, I’ve just been telling my cousin here about our

conversation this morning and what I told you about our

plan to try him out as the head of that department. So if

you’ll just take him up to Mr. Liggett and have him or some

one explain the nature of the work up there, I’ll be obliged

to you.” He turned to his desk. “After that you can send him

back to me,” he added. “I want to talk to him again.”

Then he arose and dismissed them both with an air, and

Whiggam, still somewhat dubious as to the experiment, but

now very anxious to be pleasant to Clyde since he could

not tell what he might become, led the way to Mr. Liggett’s

floor. And there, amid a thunderous hum of machines,

Clyde was led to the extreme west of the building and into a

much smaller department which was merely railed off from

the greater chamber by a low fence. Here were about

twenty-five girls and their assistants with baskets, who

apparently were doing their best to cope with a constant

stream of unstitched collar bundles which fell through

several chutes from the floor above.

And now at once, after being introduced to Mr. Liggett, he

was escorted to a small railed-off desk at which sat a short,

plump girl of about his own years, not so very attractive,