Those two calls gave me an insight as to how real business was conducted. Neither of them certainly delayed much when they heard about it, and they must have had some means of finding out things promptly.

But I shuddered to think of my narrow escape. If the place had burned down I'd have been absolutely ruined.

I wondered if Stigler would--oh, but no, it wasn't possible the man would do such a thing. I saw him as he was coming home. "Had quite a fire, didn't yer?" was his remark. "Sorry for yer"--but his tone belied his words.

I wondered!

CHAPTER XXVII

PROFIT-SHARING PLANS

Our weekly meetings had certainly cultivated a better spirit among my small staff. Even in the case of Wilkes it had had quite an effect. He was only a boy, but we allowed him to sit in the meetings because I wanted to make him feel that he was part of the organization. Ever since we started them he had been much better in his delivery of parcels. He was more courteous and attentive; he felt he was one of the firm. He was not the slipshod, careless, happy-go-lucky boy he was once, but a careful boy, studying the interests of the business certainly more than we clerks had done when I was at Barlow's. I think that retailers could do a lot to build up self-reliance and self-respect among the boys they have.

At our next Monday meeting the fire was discussed. Jones suggested that we have a big fire sale. At this Wilkes broke in eagerly:

"But what would we have to sell? I thought at a fire sale you had to sell stuff that got damaged by the fire."

There was more wisdom in that remark than he knew.

Jones replied: "Everybody in town knows we've had a fire; but they don't know how bad it was, and we can put in the sale a lot of old stuff we want to get rid of, and get away with it, all right."

"Hum," remarked La.r.s.en. "That would be a fake, wouldn't it?"

Here I broke in. "It's a good suggestion, Jones but I don't think we want to have a fire sale. We had no stuff damaged, to speak of, and it would, as La.r.s.en says, be a fake sale, if we had one; and I believe we'll win out in the end by saying and doing nothing that is going to be other than the truth."

Jones was inclined to be sulky at this, and my first impulse was to speak to him sharply; but I remembered, fortunately in time, my previous lesson never to talk to an employee angrily, and furthermore, that this was a directors' meeting, where each was privileged to say what he wished without regard for position. I realized that Jones had made the suggestion in all sincerity, thinking it was to my interest, so I said:

"You know, Jones, that I have made several suggestions that we decided not to adopt, for no one of us knows all the best of it. In some ways that's a good suggestion of yours, and, if we'd had a little more stuff damaged to justify it, I think I'd have been very much tempted to have a fire sale. But, as it is, don't you think we had better exert ourselves in making a big push on perfect Christmas goods, rather than emphasizing damaged goods? You see, if we had a fire sale, some people might hesitate about buying from us for a little while, even after the sale, thinking that we would be trying to sell them fire-damaged goods."

"Well, won't they think that now?" he asked, somewhat mollified.

"By Jove, perhaps they will," I returned. "How would you suggest overcoming that?"

La.r.s.en was about to speak, but I checked him. I wanted to have Jones feeling good-natured again.

"Of course we could advertise it," he said.

"That seems a good, sensible suggestion. All right, we'll advertise that no goods were damaged by the fire."

That removed the last shred of resentment on the part of Jones.

I told Betty about this when I came home, and she exclaimed: "Why, you're a regular Solomon, you are!"

"Explain yourself," I commanded.

"Why, your tact in handling Jones. You'll be a real manager of men, yet, if you go on like that!"

"Huh, that's where I'll differ from Solomon, then. He was a real manager of women only, wasn't he?"

"Now you're getting impudent," and she kissed me.

Well, after we had disposed of the fire sale question, we brought up the matter of whether we should, or should not, sell toys at Christmas time.

La.r.s.en was strongly in favor of it, but I was rather against it.

"We've a hardware store," I argued, "and that's a men's shop. Toys are kids' business."

"You say we have a men's store, eh," was La.r.s.en's rejoinder. "More women than men come into the store. Women buy ninety per cent. of all retail goods sold in the country. Why not we get women's and children's trade?

Get youngsters coming into the store. When they grow up they come for tools."

Wilkes was strongly in favor of it, but I had an idea that it was so that he could play with the toys. Jones was against it--he thought it undignified.

After an hour's discussion we were just about where we were at the beginning, and the matter was held over until the next meeting. I decided in the meantime to talk it over with Betty, and then I thought to myself: "If I'm going to talk this over with Betty why not get the others to talk it over with their women-folk?" That seemed to me a good idea, and I made the suggestion to the others. So La.r.s.en agreed to talk it over with his wife, Jones with his sweetheart, and Wilkes with his mother.

I had a long talk with Betty and Mother over the toy situation. Betty was for it. Mother was against it. So there we were. What's a poor man to do when opinions are so divided? I decided to wait a while.

Betty made a bully good suggestion, and that was to have the boys up to dinner some night. I had been thinking of that; but then she added: "And have La.r.s.en bring his wife, Jones his young lady and have Wilkes bring his mother."

"Good heavens," I exclaimed, "what is this to be--a gathering of the Amazons? Or are you planning to make a union of you women to run us out of business!"

"Don't try to be funny, boy dear--because, whenever you try it, you fail miserably. You know your humor is very much like an Englishman's--it's nothing to be laughed at!"

"But what's the idea?" I persisted.

"Now you promise you won't laugh if I tell you?"

"Sure," I said, grinning all over my face.

"There you are! You promise with one hand, and grin with the other. Oh, pshaw!" she said, when I laughed. "You know what I mean!"

I saw she was getting a little provoked, so I said: "Go ahead, I won't laugh."

She handed me a newspaper clipping in which some big steel man said that, whenever he wanted to hire executives, he always tried to find out something about their home surroundings, in the belief that the home influence, to a big extent, makes or mars a man's business efficiency.

"You see, boy dear," said Betty, "you never saw Jones' girl, and you never saw Mrs. La.r.s.en. Of course, Mrs. Wilkes we do know--we know she used to do washing before she married again. She's a dear body, and I know it would please her to come. And if you please her, she's going to make Jimmie work all the harder."

"I see! You're going to turn into a female gang driver!"

"Now, if you knew Mrs. La.r.s.en, it would perhaps give you more insight into La.r.s.en's character than you have now. You would know what his home influences are, and whether they are helping him or hindering him. And Jones' young lady--she may or may not be a girl who is likely to help him; and if she isn't--"

"If she isn't, I suppose I've got to tell him to change his girl, or fire him! That's a crazy idea!"

"I didn't say that. But, if she isn't the right kind of girl, you can't afford to look upon Jones as a permanency, that's all."

"You're making the suggestion for the best, I know; but I think it's a foolish idea."