When Evangeline read the little note asking her to step into
Mr. Willing’s office, she thought of course the new things from
Hasenheimer’s had come, and that Mr. Willing would ask her if she could
come back that evening to help unpack and place them. But it was Mrs.
Willing’s voice which called “Come in!” to her knock, and the moment
she opened the door she knew by the expression on Mr. Willing’s face
that something important was on the way.
Mr. Willing waited till she and his wife had gone through the necessary
greetings and then brought it out flatly, “Mrs. Knapp, Miss Flynn has
just told us that, because of certain changes in her family affairs,
she will be leaving us next month.”
He went on talking after this, but Evangeline did not need to hear him.
She knew everything that he would say before he said it--all except the
salary! That was certainly more than Miss Flynn had ever had! And to
begin with! There was only one idea in her head. How soon could she fly
to a telephone to tell Lester the good news. She could never wait till
she went home that evening. She loved Lester for her certainty that it
would make him as happy as she was, that he would not feel jealous or
hateful. How _good_ Lester was!
She saw on the faces of the two people opposite her a reflection of
what must be on her own. They understood what the moment was to her.
And to them too. She felt in their voices as they talked to her a
new relationship towards her, a new respect. They needed her as she
needed them. She was important to them and their splendid work. It was
wonderful to be really useful in a big thing!
“Yes, indeed, Mrs. Willing!” she assented with all her heart, as the
younger woman said, “We feel that you can understand our position. It
is not just a store to us, you see. It is our Life Work.”
This seemed a little flamboyant and feminine to Mr. Willing, who said
correctively, “We think it rather a remarkable opportunity, all things
considered, for giving good store service. With the support the store
would naturally get from the town and the farming region around us, we
expect,” he coughed, “we hope to double the business before so very
many years.”
“Oh, more than that!” cried his wife. “Of course this is confidential,
Mrs. Knapp. We wouldn’t want it to go any further. But since we think
of you as in on the ground floor with us.... If with Mr. Willing’s
poor old uncle’s rusty machinery the store actually paid expenses,
there’s simply no telling what can be done with a modern organization
such as my husband has worked out in his mind. Better wages, lower
prices, and what merchandise!”
“My idea of _good_ merchandise, Mrs. Knapp,” said Mr. Willing
seriously, “is that it shall be a liberal education in taste.”
Mrs. Willing put in spiritedly, “Give us ten years’ time and see if the
Saturday evening crowds don’t look different in this town. The clothes
they wear now must give them an inferiority-complex right down to the
marrow of their bones!”
“Give us ten years’ time,” said Mr. Willing, laughing, “and see if
there is a single golden-oak, Morris-chaired ‘best room’ left in town!”
Evangeline felt dazzled by all that was happening; her promotion;
sitting here in such an intimate way with the proprietors of the
business; having them talk in this wonderful way of their wonderful
conception of what the business really was. It was her conception too.
Every word found an echo in her heart, although she had not had the
education to express it brilliantly as they did. But she was uneasy
at being away from her post so long. What would Miss Flynn think?
The exquisite surprise it was to realize that it no longer made any
difference what Miss Flynn thought! She felt an inch taller.
Mr. Willing said now, “I’ve been wanting to have a talk with you about
things in general, and now’s as good a time as any. We want you to
understand the situation in a comprehensive way, in a large way. There
are certain elements in the retail dry-goods business which give rise
to considerable concern on the part of....”
“Off on polysyllables!” thought his wife. She cut in briskly, with
the effect of scissors snipping in two a slowly unwinding tape, “It’s
the mail-order houses and the ten-cent stores we’re afraid of. It’s
frightful how they steal the business of country people away from
where it belongs. The first thing that has to be done is to give them
our dust. And it can be done by making the store known for such good
personal service and such real attention to customers’ needs that
they’ll _enjoy_ coming to the store. And once they’re inside the
doors....”
“After all, how even the best of women see things in a little, narrow,
concrete way!” thought Mr. Willing. “Nothing big and constructive
in their minds.” Aloud he said with simplicity and dignity, “I was
brought up on a farm myself, Mrs. Knapp, and a very poor farm. And I
have a very special feeling about our country customers. I know how
few occasions there are in farm life for civilized mingling with our
fellow-men, how little brightness and color there is in country life.
It is my ambition to make every trip to our store as educative as an
afternoon tea-party for the women-folk on a farm. And I want every
purchase at our counters to help every fine big farm-boy to shuck off
his awkward countrified ways that put him at such a disadvantage beside
any measly, little, cock-sure, tenement-house rat!” Experiences of his
own past burned in his voice, “We’re counting on you, Mrs. Knapp, to
train your girls to have just the right manner with country customers.
_You_ know, cordial, but respectful, friendly, but no soft-soap
business.”
“I know _just what you mean_!” Evangeline burst out suddenly, with such
an earnest conviction that they stopped talking for an instant to enjoy
her oneness with them. Yes, she would do. She would do.
“My ideal,” said Jerome, “is service. What I want the store to be is
a little piece of the modern world _at its best_, set down within
reach of all this fine American population around us. I want to select
for them the _right things_, the things they never could select for
themselves for lack of training. With modern methods such as my wife
and I are familiar with, a quicker turn-over with better salespeople,
we can raise--not wages--but commissions to keep efficiency up to the
notch. And we can lower prices and sell goods that will put our people
on a level with big-city people. For I have long felt, Mrs. Knapp,
that the alarming American exodus to the cities comes from a nagging
sensation of inferiority that would disappear with the possession of
really satisfactory merchandise. You see,” he said, smiling at her,
“that in our small way, we will all be contributing to the highest
interests of the country.”
“Of course on a sound business basis,” put in his wife.
“Oh, of course on a sound business basis,” repeated the proprietor of
the store.
The three shook hands on it with unanimity.