“Is he straight?”
“Straight as a gun-barrel. You can depend upon him in every spot
and place.”
This was said of a boy who had asked for a place and had given
as a reference the gentleman who made this firm reply.
How straight is a gun-barrel? In the factory where guns are made
the metal is rolled and prest and ground and polished until the
most practised eye can not detect the slightest curve in it
anywhere. Not until it is so can it be permitted to go out of
the factory. Over and over again it must be tested and tried
until it is as perfect as men and machines can make it. If the
gun-barrel were not straight, no one ever could hit what he
aimed at; the bullet could not help flying wide of the mark.
And hitting the mark is the thing. “Straight” is a homely word,
but it is full of the deepest meaning. No one can ever reach
his aim, be it ever so high, unless he always does the true,
manly thing. One little mean, underhanded act, and his life
may be marred forever. The world wants men who are straight.
(Text.)--EDGAR L. VINCENT, _The Visitor_.
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