•JO 



GLEAN1X(;S IN V.EE CILTL'KE. 



•Jan. 



are done, when they only mean they are just 

 going to do them. Xever, under any circum- 

 stances, say a thing is done until it is done. 

 About three-fourths of the people who apply 

 for situations will now and then forget to 

 send a coriespc indent (and probable custom- 

 er) a price list when he asks for it. I once 

 sent to a large l)usiness firm for a price list 

 of tlieir machinery. Tliey wrote me a cour- 

 teous letter, saying the list had been sent. 

 I waiteil sevcrid weeks, and did not get it. 

 They wrote another (M)urteons letter, with 

 an huml)le apology foi- tlie clerk who should 

 have attended to 'A.nnd didn't .^cnd it then: 

 Tlie third time 1 made out to get the price 

 list, and sent them an order for several hun- 

 dred dollars' worth of machinery. Many 

 clerks seem to think it is a small thing to 

 m.ike a fuss about. Ijecause now and then 

 tliey omit such a little item as mailing a 

 price list ; but after tracing the matter up. 

 and finding the same clerk had done tins 

 two or three times, I usually say, with my 

 past experience, that he had better be set 

 to work somewhere where such mistakes 

 would not do very much harm. 



Seventh Uint. —When you write to a. cor- 

 respondent that something will be sent him, 

 make it your business to inquire and under- 

 stand how this promise is to be made good. 

 Last summer we were, for a few days, out 

 of A B C books; and as the friends were in 

 a hurry for their goods, the shippers were in- 

 structed to send the goods along, and that 

 the ABC oook would follow at our own ex- 

 pense. "Well, one of the clerks wrote this to 

 a large number of customers; and as she 

 was new in the business she supposed some 

 arrangement had been made for mailing the 

 books wtien out of the press, but did not in- 

 quire into it. The letters were distributed. 

 and complaints kept coming for several 

 months afterward. *'Is it possible you have 

 not gotthose A EC books done yetVand such 

 like statements. A search revealed the fact 

 that the promise was noted on the back of 

 the letter, but it was then distributed, and 

 that was the end of it. Therefore, when 

 you make a promise, make it your business 

 to find out how this promise is to be kept, 

 iind do not rest satisfied until you know; 

 for your own reputation, as well as your cus- 

 tomer's welfare, is involved. These letters, 

 after liaving been answered, should have 

 been cairied to the mailing clerk, to be 

 placed under her weight, labeled, " Awating 

 A 15 C books." The books have been piled 

 up in the vaults several months, while these 

 friends were watching tlie mails anxiously 

 and patiently. 



Eiyhlh 7//>(/.— Xot only keey. the top of 

 your desk free from rubbish and accunnda- 

 tions, but be sure you know the contents of 

 every drawer in y()ur desk, and do not har- 

 bor any rubbisli there. Be prepared, if pos- 

 sible, to answer every letter within a few 

 hours after it has l)een" juit into your hands ; 

 and when you are done with il. push it for- 

 ward (luickly to the next cleik. as sc^on as 

 jiossible. Some clerks will keep letters lying 

 on their desks when it seems as if no one 

 could read them without feeling touched at 

 the writer's pleading to have his goods hur- 

 ried along. I have found letteis that had 



been lying several days when the writer 

 said, " JMr. Root, do not let a train leave aft- 

 er this gets into your hands, without put- 

 ting my goods aboard;"' and yet the clerk 

 Avho had the letter in charge read it over 

 listlessly, and laid it down again until two 

 or three trains had passed. Witli the view 

 of remedying this tronlile, most of the desks 

 are supplied with a weight, reading like this : 

 '' Immediate attention," and my instructions 

 have been that .so/iu,^oi7 of an" answer must 

 be given to all such letters before another nuiil 

 leaves the ott^ice. Yow may think this an 

 easy thing to be managed ; but, my friends, 

 it is one of the hardest things to attain of 

 any thing I have ever tried in my life. 

 Even during the dull season, when clerks 

 have only enougli to do to keep them part of 

 the day. "they will let mails leave once and 

 even twice before the paper under the imme- 

 diate-attention weight has l)een looked at. 

 One new at the business would say, ''Turn 

 them off and get better ones." I "tell you, 

 1 have tried dilferent people initil I am sick 

 and tired of it. The inertia of lumianity, if 

 I may so term it, seems to be the obstacle in 

 the way, and it pains me to l)e obliged to say 

 that nien do not average nearly as well a"s 

 women. In spite of every thing I can do 

 they will answer letters and leave them lying 

 just where tliey last had them. A man can 

 not be made (so far as my experience goes) 

 to be as neat and orderly "and systematic in 

 this question of v.ork of correspondence, as 

 a woman ; and it is only once in a great 

 while that we find a n-nmcxn who is fully up 

 to all I have mapped out heretofore. There 

 are a/fH", however, and we sometimes find 

 them where we least expected it. One 

 whom the world has never noticed much, 

 perhaps, and whom nobody would suspect of 

 Iiaving rare business traits, suddenly devel- 

 ops, Avheii put to the test, a faculty "of man- 

 aging all these difficult little matters I have 

 mentioned. While her comrades plod on at 

 perhaps 7:^ cents an hour, she walks up rap- 

 idly into 8i, 10, 11. 12^,, 14. 15. ]7i, and then 

 20 cts., perhaps, in a short space of time 

 comparatively. There is something encour- 

 aging about this, my young friends ; when a 

 girl or boy begins to catch tlie spirit of prompt- 

 ness andaccuracy, he usually improves fast. 

 It may take him a good while to go from 1) 

 cts. per hour to 10 ; but he will go from 11 to 

 12 and 12Hn a much quicker time; 14 and 

 15 come frequently in a few months. Pret- 

 ty soon he goes up to 20, and then he be- 

 comes able to take charge of a room full 

 of hands, and works at a salary, without 

 being obliged to report time every day. 



I susi)ect, my friends, it is not only clerks 

 in the otlice who need what T have "written 

 above, hot very likely it is boys and girls, 

 and men and women in every department in 

 life. '-He that is faithful in few things 

 shall be made ruler over many things;" and 

 I have, contrary to my first intention, put 

 this lure in the journal for the benefit of all 

 of you. as well as for the clerks in the office. 

 Occasionally we liave clerks who think I am 

 foolish and iiotional, and that they have more 

 wisdom than I. .May be they are"right about 

 it ; but I have learned by past experience, 

 that I succeed when my helpers fall into my 



