Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 February 1894 — EARNING A “JOB." [ARTICLE]

EARNING A “JOB."

How a Man Who Minded HU Own Bailness Secured Employment. * “It’s an old story, boys,” said the speaker, “but it may suggest an idea in these hard times, when so many men are out of work, and rich men who would like to holp them do not know how to go about it. Stephen Girard, the philanthropist, was a man who admired industry as strongly a-i he detested laziness. Early one morning, while the millionaire was walking around the square, near his residence, a man named John Smith, who had worked on Girard’s fine buildings as a laborer, applied to him for assistance. “ ‘Assistance—work—ha? You want to work?’ “ ‘Yes,, sir; it’s a long time since I’ve had anything to do.’ “ ‘Very well, I shall give you some. You see dem stone yondar:’ “ ‘Yes, sir.’ “ ‘Very well; you shall fetch and put them in this place. You see?’ “ ‘Yes, sir.’ “ ‘And when you done, come to mo at my bank.’ “Smith diligently performed his task, which he accomplished about 1 o’clock, when he repaired to Mr. Girard and informed him that it was finished, at the same time asking him if he would not give him something more to do. “ ‘Ah, ha! oui. You want more work? Very well; you shall go place dem stone where you got him. Understandez? You lake him back.’ “Away went Smith to his work. He finished putting the stones back by sunset, and then called on Mr. Girard for his pay. “ ‘Ah, ha! you all finish?’ “ ‘Yes, sir.’ “Very well. "How much money shall I give you?’ “ ‘One dollar, sir.’ “ ‘Dat is honest. You take no advantage. Dare is your dollar.’ “ ‘Can I do anything else for you, sir?’ “ ‘Oui. Come here when you get up to-morrow. You shall have some work.’ “Next morning, on calling, Smith was not a little astonished when told that he must ‘take dem stone back again,’ nor wai his astonishment diminished when the order was repeated for the fourth and last time. However, he was one of that philosophic kind of persons who mind their own business, and he went on with his job with all the apparent indifference imaginable. When he called on Mr. Girard in the evening and informed him that the stones ‘were as they were,’ he was saluted in the most cordial manner by the eccentric Frenchman. “ ‘Ah, Monsieur Smith, you shall be my man. You mind your own business; you do what is told you; you ask no questions; you no interfere. You shall work for me.’ ’’Thereafter the man was attached to Girard’s service for years, and later became a very wealthy man—his first start in the world arising from the fact that he obeyed orders and minded his own business.