TO WORK FOR THE PENN PUBLISHIHO COMPACT 



Gilbs When you got out of school, how did you set about 



finding a Job? Did you find one right away? 

 Cogginai I want to one Job and they dispensed with m& 



proii^tly on account of ray penmanship. 

 0ilb: Was this a clerical Job of some sort? 

 Coggins: Tes. X did go to business college there for 



awhile and I learned* • .at least, I took bookkeeping. 



Then, father had known the Penn Publishing Company 



and they wanted an ex>rand boy. 

 GilbJ So you went to work as an errand boy? Appropriately 



in the fir» that published Horatio Alger (lau^ter). 

 Coggins } In those days boys were very cheap and they weren't 



very valuable. 

 Gilb: What were you paid when you first started to work? 

 Coggins s #3 a week. Tou could hire a boy for |2. 

 Oilb! Tou had to li^w at home, obviously. 

 Coggins s Oh yes. Well, I did that anyway. No, I didn't 



have a family to support on l3* But that was an 



errand boy's established rate and they could get 



all the boys they wanted. Jobs were scarce | boys 



weren't. 



Later I got to filling orders, packing and 



shipping books. 



