GOOD WORK OR NONE.
IT is a rule that a workman must follow his employer's orders, but no one has a right to make him do work discreditable to himself. Judge M, a well-known jurist, living near Cincinnati, loved to tell the anecdote of a young man who understood the risk of doing a 'shabby job, even when directed to. The Judge had on one occasion to send to the village after a carpenter, and a sturdy young fellow appeared with his tools.
"I want this fence mended to keep out the cattle. There are some unplanned boards—use them.
It is out of sight from the house, so you need not take time to make it a neat job. I will only pay you a dollar and a half."
The Judge then went to dinner, and coming out, found the man carefully planning each board.
Supposing that he was trying to make a costly job of it, he ordered him to nail them on at once just as they were, and went to his business. When he returned, the boards were all planed and numbered, ready for nailing.
"I told you this fence was to be covered with vines;" he said angrily. "I do not care how it looks."
"I do," said the carpenter, gruffly, carefully measuring his' work.. When it was finished, there was no part of the fence so thoroughly done.
"How much do you charge?" asked the Judge.
"A dollar and a half," said the man, shouldering his tools.
The Judge started. "Why do you spend all that labor on the job, if not for money?"
"For the job, sir."
"Nobody would have seen the poor work on it."
"But I should have known it was there. No, I'll take only a dollar and a half." And he took it and went away.
Ten years afterward the Judge had the contract to give for the building of several magnificent public buildings. There were many applicants among master builders, but the face of one caught his eye. "It was my man of the fence," he said.
"I knew we should have only good, genuine work from him. I gave him the contract, and it made a rich man of him." It is a pity that boys are not taught in their earliest years that the highest success belongs only to the man, be he carpenter, farmer, author, or artist, whose work is most sincerely and thoroughly done.
Living Age.