Popular Science Monthly 



649 



the standard in appearance, for which 

 service each boy pays a small weekly 

 rental. Three tailors are employed con- 

 stantly to keep the uniforms clean and 

 in repair. In the summer, washable 

 blouses are provided instead of coats. 

 The company maintains free baths for 

 the boys, with free towels and 

 soap. 



Each boy is 

 instructed in 

 simple matters 

 of courtesy. He 

 is taught when 

 and where to 

 remove his cap. 

 He is made to 

 feel that he is 

 identified with 

 an important 

 commercial 

 house, and that 

 his deportment 

 should be such 

 as to be worthy 

 of his company. 

 He knows that if he does not conduct 

 -himself properly he will be reported to 

 the manager. His oversights are entered 

 upon the index card, and adverse entries 

 count against him when the time comes 

 for promotion. In this practical manner 

 the boy is taught that good manners 

 bring their reward in dollars and cents. 



The company also maintains a small 

 circulating library for the use of the 

 boys, a former messenger acting as 

 librarian. Every boy in the messenger 

 service is entitled to the free use of this 

 library. 



The company desires to assist every 

 boy to fit himself for something better, if 

 the boy cares to do so; and to further 

 this object, a typewriter is placed in the 

 messengers' waiting-room. Any boy is 

 at liberty to practice upon it while wait- 

 ing for calls. A set of telegraph instru- 

 ments has also been installed, with an 

 inside connection, so that any ambitious 

 boy may learn telegraphy and carry on 

 communication with another boy at the 

 end of the line in the same room. 



Especially commendable work which 

 Mr. Geigle performs is in training his 

 boys to be men. A messenger boy is sub- 

 jected to many experiences which rarely 

 come to the boy employed in a business 



house. The boy's honesty and integrity 

 are tested hourly by the very nature of 

 his service, and he himself is subjected to 

 the wily approaches of those who would 

 profit by his commissions. Thus the boy 

 is compelled to be doubly 

 fortified, first entrenched 

 .'ithin his own consciousness 

 lest he be tempted to do 

 wrong; and secondly, 

 he must be ever watch- 

 ful for the tempta- 

 tion from without 

 Avhich would 



Great quantities of clothes for messenger boys 

 are kept in the stock room. Each new applicant 

 is fitted with a suit of correct size. The 

 necessary alterations are made in the company's 

 tailoring department 



ensnare him 

 and despoil his 

 employers. 



Among sev- 

 eral hundred 

 boys, it some- 

 times happens 

 that one is not 

 so careful or 

 particular in 

 some matters 

 as he should be. 

 This lapse is reported to the manager, 

 and the boy comes before him for ex- 

 planation. A boy is never discharged 

 for a first ofifense, unless it be of a very 

 serious nature. Instead, the manager 

 talks it all over with him in the desire 

 to be helpful rather than harsh. The 

 boy is given an opportunity to try again 

 in another location, from which reports 

 are also made. Should the boy fail even 

 a second time to progress satisfactorily 

 he is given still another trial, with the 

 earnest, patient counsel of the manager 

 to show him the right course to pursue. 



Making Weather Forecasts with Flowers 



WEATHER conditions may be pre- 

 determined by means of a unique 

 arrangement, easily prepared by anyone. 

 Procure a bouquet of paper flowers. 

 They may be made or purchased, but 

 their colors must be pink and blue. Dip 

 the flowers in a saturated solution of 

 chloride of cobalt and allow to dry. 

 Repeat the process five or six times; and 

 place the flowers in a suitable ^•ase. 



When wet weather is approaching, 

 the flowers retain their original colors, 

 but when it is going to be dry, the pink 

 flowers become purple and the blue ones 

 turn green. 



