AN ANXIOUS MOMENT
“Mr. Keene will see you. Go in there, boys.” The pretty young woman
emerged from an inner office with this welcome announcement. Resuming
her seat at her typewriter, she began clicking the keys industriously.
“At last,” breathed Teddy Burke, with an impatient twitch of his head.
“You go first, Harry.”
Harry stepped rather diffidently forward and over the threshold of Mr.
Keene’s office, Teddy following closely at his heels. The only occupant
of the room, the man at the desk, looked up from a letter he was
reading as the boys entered. His shrewd, dark eyes took in his callers
at one sweeping glance. “Well, boys,” he began in quick, business-like
tones, “what can I do for you?”
“We came to see about getting work, sir.” Harry found himself answering
in the same business-like tones of the superintendent.
“How old are you?”
“I am sixteen.”
“And how old are you?” He turned to Teddy.
“Fifteen, sir.”
“Have you a certificate?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Let me see it.”
Teddy drew his certificate from an inner pocket. It was rolled up and
fastened with an elastic band. His first thought after receiving his
mother’s permission to go to work had been for the obtaining of the
necessary certificate.
The shrewd-eyed man examined it carefully. “Why did you leave school?”
he asked quietly.
Teddy blushed rosy red. Then looking rather defiant, he said clearly,
“I couldn’t get along with the teacher. But I’ve had enough of school.
I want to work.”
Their interrogator smiled slightly. Then his eyes sought Harry’s face.
“And did you have trouble with the teacher, too?”
“No, sir. I am obliged to go to work to help my mother support us. I
left school of my own free will.”
“You will have to bring your certificate of birth. We must know
positively that you are as old as you claim to be.”
Harry’s face fell. He had hoped that they would be able to start work
at once, provided they were lucky enough to obtain positions.
The brown-eyed man studied the two boys in silence. Teddy braced
himself and put on as dignified an expression as he could muster. Harry
returned the scrutiny with calm, steady eyes. Still without speaking,
Mr. Keene touched the buzzer at one side of his desk. The next instant
the pretty girl appeared.
“Miss Mason, give these boys application blanks to fill. Show them
where to sit to write,” he directed. “When you have filled them, boys,
bring them to me.”
“We’re goin’ to get a job, all right,” whispered Teddy, as, with their
application blanks in their hands, they followed their attractive guide
to a long table where another boy sat, laboriously filling in the
spaces on the big white card. Teddy’s thin little face was aglow with
triumph as he slipped into a chair beside the first-comer and began a
curious inspection of his own application blank.
“Don’t be too sure,” murmured Harry. “We may fill out these blanks and
then Mr. Keene may tell us that he will send for us if he needs us.”
“Looks like a bill-of-fare, doesn’t it?” grinned Teddy, as he opened
the blank, which was folded twice like a programme, and had printed
matter on all four sides. “Let me see. What’ll I have to eat. Oh,
excuse me! I mean, What’s your full name?” Teddy’s voice rose a little
higher with each word.
“Sh-h-h,” warned Harry. “Be more quiet, Teddy. You don’t want to be
told to keep still, even before you’re hired, do you?”
There was nothing goody-goody or priggish in Harry’s tone, so Teddy did
not resent his new friend’s warning. While Harry, unconsciously drawn
toward the mischief-loving, black-eyed youngster, spoke as he might
have to a brother, if he had had one.
“All right. I’ll be good.” Teddy seized a fresh hold on his application
card and glowered at it with a purposely threatening scowl that made
Harry smile in spite of himself. Then the little boy laid it down, and
seizing a pen from the rack in front of him, dipped it energetically
into the ink, spattered a few drops on the table and settled himself
to his task. There were a great many questions to answer, such as,
“Have you ever before been employed?” “Are you the sole support of your
family?” “How many persons are dependent upon your earnings?” “Will
you cheerfully obey the rules of this establishment?” and “Would you
consider it your duty to report any disobedience of the rules of the
store on the part of your fellow employees?”
“I’m not goin’ to say, ‘yes’ to this,” whispered Teddy, pointing with
his index finger to the objectionable rule. “Catch me reporting
anybody. I’m no telltale. That’s a nice idea--running to the
superintendent’s office with every little thing.” Teddy sat back in his
chair, disgust written on every feature.
“I don’t think it means every little thing, Ted.” Harry soberly scanned
the paragraph. “I think it means the big things like stealing, or
damaging store property or something like that. Wouldn’t you report
another fellow if you saw him taking what didn’t belong to him?”
“No; I’d make him put it back,” declared Ted stoutly.
“But he might steal it again when your back was turned,” argued Harry.
“Do you think a boy who would steal would be a safe person to employ in
a big place like this, full of beautiful and expensive things? I don’t.
Why, if such things weren’t looked after and reported, a whole lot of
the employees might be tempted to take what didn’t belong to them.
First thing you know the store might fail and then everyone in it would
be without work.”
“I guess that’s so,” admitted Ted, visibly impressed by Harry’s
somewhat far-fetched argument for strict honesty of purpose as well as
deed.
“Of course it’s so,” nodded Harry. “Why, I wouldn’t put my name on
this card if I weren’t ready and willing to obey all the rules of this
store.”
“Well, I don’t suppose I would, either,” admitted Teddy. “I thought
if I got clear of school and went to work I could do as I pleased. But
this doesn’t look like it.” He wagged his head in disapproval of the
card.
“Oh, well, here goes.” He wrote “Yes” in a large, boyish hand after the
contested question.
A brief silence ensued. The boys wrote their answers carefully. They
wished to hand Mr. Keene neatly written applications.
“There, it’s done.” Harry heaved a little sigh of relief. Laying down
his pen he turned to the first page of his application blank and
began to read over what he had written. Teddy finished writing soon
afterward. His application filled, Harry busied himself with watching
what went on about him, while he waited for Teddy. The outer office,
which they were in, was much larger than the inner one. About it were
scattered several desks. There was one large desk at one side of the
room, but it was closed. The boy wondered vaguely to whom it belonged.
It must belong to a person of importance. It was by far the largest
desk in the office. At a smaller desk a little to one side sat a young
man. He was busily engaged in transferring something from cards to a
large book that looked for all the world like the teacher’s register in
school. The cards were about the size of a post-card and from where he
sat Harry could see that they were ruled into little squares and had
printing at the left-hand side. He guessed that these were the record
cards of the boys of the great establishment, and he afterward found
his guess to be correct.
“All right. I’m done.” Teddy finished writing with a flourish, and rose
from the table.
“Better look your blank over, first,” advised Harry. “I went over mine.”
“Oh, bother,” ejaculated Teddy impatiently. Nevertheless, he sat down
again and read over what he had written. “Say,” he turned to Harry.
“What salary did you put down?”
“Four dollars a week,” returned Harry. “I think I can earn it.”
“I put down three. They’ll never give you four to start with. I guess
two and a half’ll be about what we’ll get.”
“I won’t take that.” Harry’s boyish mouth set in a determined line. “A
big boy of sixteen who can’t earn at least four dollars a week doesn’t
amount to much. I think I’m worth four dollars a week, so I put it
down. If I don’t get that, I’ll surely get three. A boy I know, who
works in Arnold’s store, says that when you apply for a position in a
store you must always ask for more salary than you expect to get. But
that isn’t why I put down four dollars. I set it down because I know I
can earn it.”
“I guess I’ll change mine.” Ted picked up his pen, hesitated, then laid
it down. “Oh, what’s the use of changing it now. I’ve written three,
I’ll stick to it and see what happens. Come along. That man in there’ll
think we are pretty slow.”
The boys once more made their way to Mr. Keene’s office. He was busy
for the moment with a tall, cross-looking man who turned at the
interruption and glowered at the two boys like a veritable ogre, then
resumed his conversation with Mr. Keene in quick, harsh tones.
“Some crank,” whispered the irrepressible Ted to Harry.
Harry gave his companion a sly poke. Teddy subsided with his usual
cheerful grin. But low-spoken as was Teddy’s rude comment, the
cranky-looking man had heard. Instead of attributing it to Teddy,
however, he glared straight at Harry, as, his business with Mr.
Keene finished, he passed the waiting boys and stalked on out of the
office. Luckily, at the very instant Teddy had made this careless but
uncomplimentary comment, Mr. Keene had been called upon to answer the
telephone on his desk. He was still talking when the disagreeable man
left his office and under cover of it Harry said sternly, “Cut it,
Teddy.”
Teddy, whose quick eyes had noted that the cross-looking man had
silently blamed Harry for the rude remark, became at once unduly solemn.
“Here are our applications, sir.” Harry was again spokesman. He laid
his application blank on Mr. Keene’s desk. Teddy followed suit.
Mr. Keene looked searchingly at the two eager, boyish faces. Long
experience in the handling and training of promising youth had taught
him to read boy nature. In Harry’s and Teddy’s features he saw much
that appealed to him, and before reading their meagre histories and
expectations as set down on the blanks before him, he had determined
to give them a chance. However, he merely said, “Very well, young men.
You may come here to this office at half past seven o’clock to-morrow
morning and I will see what I can do for you. Bring your certificates
with you.”
“Thank you, sir. Good morning,” said Harry politely.
“Thank you, sir. Good morning,” repeated Teddy hastily.
“Good morning,” returned Mr. Keene pleasantly.
Neither boy spoke until they had left the outer office behind. Then
Teddy Burke gave vent to his disappointment. “We don’t know any more
about whether we’re going to work here than we did when we came in,” he
grumbled.
“It looks hopeful to me,” was Harry’s cheery response. “I’m going home
and think just as hard as I can that I’m going to get the position. Mr.
Keene looked so nice and kind, I don’t believe he’d tell us to come
back in the morning if he didn’t intend to give us a trial.”
“Maybe not.” Teddy’s tones expressed lingering doubt. “I’ll try to make
myself believe I’m goin’ to get it, too. If we don’t, we’ll just have
to go somewhere else to find work.”
Harry nodded emphatically.
“The fellows up at West Park School will wish they were me, if I do get
it. Won’t it be great not to have to go to school any more?”
“No, it won’t.” Harry’s face fell, as the memory of the school life
which he had been obliged to leave rose before him. “I wish I _could_
go to school.”
“Not for mine,” reiterated Ted slangily. “I’m all done with school
forever and ever.”
But even as he boasted of his freedom from the school-room, a most
astonishing surprise was hurrying to catch up with Teddy Burke.