The business house that Jack built

Preface

• I.ENGTHY preface to a book is a kind of admission by

^ ^ the author that he has done something for which he owes the public either an apology or an explanation. The author of this work feels confident that those who read it will be entertained, instructed and benefited ; hence no apology for its existence is needed. Then, the motive of the work is made so plain that no explanation is neces’ sary ; hence it would appear that nothing remains but to make the formal introduction to the world.

Dear Public : This is the Business House that Jack Built. May the acquaintance prove pleasant to you and profitable to

THE AUTHOR.

t

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k

N t i is the House that Jack Built.

This is the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.

This is the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.

This is the cat that caught the rat that ate the malt that lay in the .house that Jack built.

This is the dog that worried the cat that caught the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.

This is the cow with the crumpled horn that tossed the dog that worried the cat that caught the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.

This is the maiden all forlorn that milked the cow with the crumpled horn that tossed the dog that worried the cat that caught the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.

This is the man all tattered and torn that married the maiden all forlorn that milked the cow with the crumpled horn that tossed the dog that worried the cat that caught the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.

This is the priest all shaven and shorn that terminated matters to the satisfaction and happiness of all the virtuous characters.

The foregoing beautiful allegory has hitherto been considered and treated as a common nursery jingle, when a little

X investigation should satisfy the most obtuse mind that its mission was a far higher one than a mere tickling of the fancy by a ludicrous repetition of words and phrases. To us it seems perfectly plain that the house that Jack built was a great commercial house. The malt was its immense business ; the rat was some dishonest employe ; the cat the virtuous and faithful one ; the dog was evidently some outside accomplice of the wicked clerk ; the cow with the crumpled horn was intended to typify crooked practices, which the maiden all forlorn (manifestly science) milked or drew out. The man all tattered and torn of course represents truth, and the inevitable marriage shows that the reward of virtue is happiness.

The Business House that Jack Built.

Chapter I INTRODUCING JACK

believe that the only time that little Jack Wharton was ever called John was on the day of his christening.

There are names just as there are garments, which are recognized as misfits.

Sometimes the name, which is too long and large for the individual, is cut down, just as Thomas becomes Tom, and Richard, Dick. Now a boy may be named John, and if he turns out to be a good, honest, well-meaning boy, of about the average of human goodness, and no very startling propensities tending to reverse the revolutionary motion of the world, the chances are that he will always be called John.

If, however, he proves to have decided individuality, is possessed of “snap” and vim, with a peculiar dash and force which means business, social qualities which have a recognized attractive power and which have the happy faculty of bringing minds to a common level, it becomes almost a certainty that he will be called Jack.

Our little hero, who was twelve years old when our story opens, was a practical illustration of this principle. He was known everywhere and by everybody as Jack. Even the minister saw the incongruity of addressing as J-o-h-n this little bundle of nerve force.

One day Jack was silent for five consecutive minutes. Had this been noticed it would have given rise to feelings of alarm, for such a thing had never been known to occur before. The explanation came when Jack suddenly exclaimed :

“ Uncle Tom ! ”

“ Well, Jack,” responded the individual addressed.

The Business House that Jack Built.

“ I ’ve got an original conundrum for you, Uncle Tom.”

“ Well, out with it.”

‘ ‘ Here it is, then : Can you tell me the difference between me and a certain carpenter’s tool ? ”

“Why, of course,” said Uncle Tom, who was very literal indeed, and was never known to comprehend a joke until the point was explained entirely away. “It is because one is a boy and the other is a machine.”

“Missed it!” exclaimed Jack, triumphantly. “Give it up? Well, the difference is that I am plain Jack, while the other is a jack plane I ”

THK DIFFERENCB IS THAT I AM PLAIN JACK, WHILE THE OTHER IS A JACK PLANE.

“Ah !” said Uncle Tom, solemnly, not a whit the wiser regarding the points of difference. Jack’s father, however, happened to hear it, and his face assumed a troubled expression. He had for a long time been trying to discover the bent of Jack’s genius in order to educate him for his business or profession. Like other boys. Jack had his impulses in every direction. When he went to the circus, he felt quite sure that the height of his ambition would be attained if he could only become a clown. As the opposite extreme, when he noted the wonderful power of a preacher’s visit in causing yellow-legged pullets to render up their lives and the cupboards and closets to disgorge their hidden treasures; more wonderful still, to sweeten cross old Aunt Jane almost to a smiling point, he felt that next to being a clown he would certainly like to be a preacher. There was one drawback, however, to this calling. That was the necessity (to use his own words) for being so “ all fired good.”^ But Jack, of course, judged wholly by exteriors.

But, to resume :

» What was there about Jack’s conundrum to cloud his father’s brow and fill his mind with the gravest apprehensions ? It was the painful thought that this, his only son, instead of being a bright light in the world, an ornament to society and a blessing and help to his fellow creatures, might rush headlong in the other direction by becoming an American Humorist ! Can you wonder at the father’s sadness over the contemplation of this possible future ? How to prevent such a catastrophe — this was the problem which for several hours the father’s mind was exercised in trying to solve. After some time his countenance cleared,, and, looking up, he said in a tone of semi-inquiry :

“Jack ?’’

“Yes, sir,’’ responded the boy.

“ Come here and sit down,’’ said Mr. Wharton, “ I ’ve something serious to say to you.’’

Jack didn’t like this kind of an introduction. With him serious and unpleasant were one and the same path which led to destruction — of his pea^^e of mind. He was fully satisfied that he was going to “catch it,” although he hadn’t time to run over his catalogue of offenses to determine what particular one he was about to expiate. He instantly sat down beside his father as indicated, and prepared for the inevitable.

“Jack,” asked his father, “ do you know how old you are? ”

“Old enough to know better, I s’ pose,” answered Jack, anticipating the expected reproof.

Mr. Wharton smiled at his son’s natural mistake, and said : “ You are mistaken in the purpose of my question, my boy. I have n’t called you here to scold you, but to talk to you in regard lO

The Business House that Jack Built.

to a very important matter. Now, I ask again, do you know how old you are ? ”

“Yes, sir; twelve, going on thirteen, since the seventeenth day of last March.”

“Just so; and how many years have you been going to school ? ”

“ Mostly six.”

“ And what have you learned at school in that time ? ”

“ Lemme see,” said Jack, meditatively. “ I learned base ball, Arithmetic, jacks, mumble-peg, writing, skittles, geography, pomp-pomp pull-away, follow-my-leader, grammar, egg-sucken’ — no, I learned that at camp-meetin’ — and — O, slathers and slathers of other things.”

“ Well, Jack, you are so very proficient in many of those branches that I think it is high time for you to graduate. Now, sir, you expect to be a man some day, and I want you to be a credit to yourself and family. I want to prepare you to fill some honorable place in business or in one of the professions. Now, have you ever considered what you would like to be when you grow up ? ”

“Well, pa,” answered Jack, after some consideration, “I helieve I ’d like to be an Injun chief, or the captain of a pirate boat, or a bare-back circus rider, or a policeman — and — I ain’t certain, but I think I ’d like to be president.”

“Just as might be expected; you have no idea of what you want. However, that’s natural at your age, and it only leaves me the responsibility of deciding for you. Now, after considering the matter very seriously, I have decided to give you a kind of preparatory course of business training.”

“ What kind of a training is that, pa ? ” asked Jack, who had a misgiving that its character was not wholly unlike the discipline his liveliness had so frequently led him to undergo at school.

“ Business training,” replied Mr. Wharton, “ is the preparation afforded by a knowledge of the principles, practices and customs of business. I don’t know as you will ever be a merchant or follow clerical pursuits, but it is very certain that whatever you may be, a knowledge of the right method of conducting business affairs is something you can not afford to be

II The Business House that Jack Built

without. So, as a very good way for you to continue your education for a time, by observation and practice, I am going to have you go into business.”

“ O, cracky, pa ! ” exclaimed Jack, all animation, “ gimme ten thousand dollars and I ’ll start a bank.”

“Indeed,” answered his father, gravely, “you are quite certain that you know how to run a bank successfulh^ ? ’ ’

“ Well, pa, perhaps I don’t know every little thing about banking, but I could learn as I went along, j^ou know.”

“ Of course 5^ou could, and one of the first things you would , learn would be the ease with which you could lose ten thousand dollars. Older heads by far than yours. Jack, are every day making plans just as heedless as yours. Men will put their capital into a business they know nothing about, and in that blind-folded condition dash ahead, expecting to gain money and experience at the same time. I suppose, my son, you know how to swim ? ’ ’

“You bet!”

“Leave off using those low, vulgar expressions, Jack. To you it seems manlike, but to sensible men it appears very foolish. These gymnastic distortions of speech are as much out of place in a conversation as it would be to salute company in the drawing room by standing on your head and cracking your feet together. But, to return to our topic of conversation : I infer that you know how to swim. Now let me ask you, did you learn by jumping at once into deep water and trusting that you would learn to swim out ? ’ ’

‘ ‘ Why no, pa, of course not. I never went in water over my head until I could swim a long, long ways in shallow water.”

‘ ‘ And you were very prudent in so doing. In that respect you displayed more caution than many business men show. It would be possible for a person, ignorant of the art of swimming, to jump into a deep pond and finally struggle out, but it must be remembered the chances are against him. So a person engaging in business about which he knows nothing has to fight against ten chances of failure to one of success.”

“ But, pa, I ’ve seen boys who could n’t swim a stroke go out ever so far in the deepest water, and they did n’t get drowned.”

“ Ah, and how do you account for that. Jack ? ”

“ I d’no, unless it was because they got on a slab.”

“ Yes, and to carry out the illustration, all that keeps some business men afloat are the faithful slabs in the form of honest and intelligent employes, who carry them through the deep places. But suppose a swimmer selects a slab which is rotten, and which instead of buoying him up pulls him down, you can see he has gained nothing by his imaginary support. I have no doubt there are thousands of business men to day who know comparatively nothing about their financial condition, trusting everything to their clerks. It is well for a person to have confidence in those associated with him, but a blind and ignorant confidence is nothing but recklessness. But my sermonizing is making you sleepy. Jack, so I ’ll merely assign you your course of business training and let you off. I want to let you know, then, that I am going to try to get you a place in the large wholesale house of John Williamson. I shall write my letter to him this evening, and I want you. Jack, to write yours.”

” Why, what have I to write about, pa ? ”

“ I want you to make a formal application to Mr. Williamson for a position in his house. From your letter he will be able to form some idea of your character. Write the letter and bring it to me ; I shall probably be afibrded the opportunity of making some few corrections. Now, off to your task at once.”

Off bounded Jack, muttering, when out of his father’s hearing : ” Pa thinks I do n’t know how^ to write a business letter. Just wait till he sees what I can do, and maybe he won’t open his peepers ! O, no, of course he won’t ! ”

This last was intended as a masterly stroke of sarcasm. He had his own ideas regarding a business letter, and the following chapter will show what they were.

The Business House that Jack Built.

Chapter II. JACK S BU'SINKSS BETTER

fE left Jack in a slightly indignant frame of mind because his father had expressed a want of confidence in his ability to write a business letter. He determined to show him that in this respect, at least, he was an underrated boy. Under the inspiration of this purpose he lost no time in getting his writing materials together and commencing his task. It was quite evident that he intended to make this the master effort of his life, for fully two hours had expired before this letter was completed and enclosed in an envelope, duly addressed. But an expression of triumph was on his face, and it was quite evident that he felt that in this document he had a crushing rejoinder to his father’s imputation of his ignorance of the art of correspondence. So off went Jack with skip and bound to confront him with this evidence of his epistolary abilities. He soon found him, and he happened to be at liberty to give his son’s letter an immediate examination. Uncle Tom was in the room, and as he handed the letter to his father, he bestowed upon that sympathetic individual a wink, as a sly hint that certain rich developments might be expected. Uncle Tom nodded his head in a very sagacious manner and his countenance assumed an expression of profound wisdom. The predicted developments came, but were not quite of the nature that Jack expected. Mr. Wharton first examined the superscription on the envelope and remarked : “You have the address all here, Jack; the name, postoffice, county and state, but ^ou have commenced it on the upper portion of the envelope, continuing it to the extreme right and leaving no room for the stamp or postmark. Of course these may be attached to the lower part of the letter, but it gives the letter an odd, slovenly and careless appearance. This letter is liable to have the name almost obliterated by the postmark,

H which would not be the case if you commenced the superscription so as to occupy about the lower half of the envelope, leaving^ the upper half for stamp and postmarks. There is another fault about this address which is much more serious than the one I have just alluded to : What is the meaning of all these contortions of lines and curves ? ’ ’

“ Why, pa, those are flourishes,” exclaimed Jack, feeling at heart very indignant at hearing his chirographic embellishments described as contortions.

“Ah,” commented Mr. Wharton, “they are flourishes, are they ? And what particular use are they intended to serve ? ”

“To make the address look nice.”

“ To-make-the-address-look-nice,” mused Jack’s father, holding the letter out at arm’s length and examining it apparently very critically. “ Well, perhaps it serves the purpose, but I am afraid it would excite the admiration of only a select few. But seriously, Jack, this idea of using these chirographic embellishments on a business letter is not only useless, but it is in exceedingly bad taste. When you go out into the garden to work you don’t put on all the finery you can command, with a bouquet at your button-hole, a perfumed handkerchief in your pocket and a fashionable fancy necktie around your neck. Of course not ; you have sense enough to see that when you ga into the garden to work you dress for work and nothing else. Very well ; the mission of a business letter is business, not fine art or estheticism, but business, which means nothing less than work. So I condemn this envelope, and require you to address another, neatly and plainly, and without unnecessary strokes or curves.”

Jack now felt that his triumph would be a modified one.

Mr. Wharton broke the seal, took out the communication and continued his criticisms :

“You commence with the fault which I presume gives more trouble to the recipients of business letters than all others combined. You neglect to give your full postoffice address on the date line. In this case you have given the name of your town, but not your state, and if you will look in the postoffice directory you will find that nearly every state has a postoffice of this name. I have had my patience severely tried scores

The Business House that Jack Built.

of times by people who wrote important communications needing immediate attention, which I could not give, simply because the only address they gave was the name of their town. Of course I was accused of inattention to business, and rarely had an opportunity of informing the writers of these communications that the fault was theirs, not mine.”

Jack had no defense to make, and his father continued : “I am sorry to see the same bad taste displayed in the penmanship of your letter that I noted on the envelope. All these extra curves and fanciful strokes take time to execute, and in business time^ is money. Pen art is a nice accomplishment and perfectly proper in its place, but it no more belongs to a business letter than an oil painting to a blacksmith shop.”

Jack fidgeted uneasily in his chair and began to feel that his father’s criticisms were becoming pointed.

Mr. Wharton resumed : “You commence your letter with the words, ‘ dear sir.’ To whom are you writing it ? Perhaps I have got hold of the wrong communication.”

” The letter is directed on the envelope to John Williamson,’^ answered Jack.

“So I perceive, but the envelope is not the letter. The envelope contains on it the message to the postoffice department, and when the letter arrives at its destination the envelope is thrown into the waste basket. There is no evidence on this sheet that the letter was intended for Mr. Williamson. Should it be lost on the street or get into wrong hands there are no means in it of identifying the owner. Always comjnence a letter, after dating it, by giving the full name and address of the person you are sending it to. Without this the letter is not complete. Besides this, every business house copies its letters by means of a copying press, and it is sometimes very important to know whether a letter was properly addressed when it was sent out. And now for the message itself.”

Mr. Wharton read the letter over very carefully, but Jack, with all his vivid powers of imagination, could not detect on his father’s features any strong marks of approval. We will take an author’s liberty of glancing over Mr. Wharton’s shoulder and reading Jack’s letter.

Here it is :

The Business House that Jack Built.

i6 i he Business House that Jack Built.

“Well, Jack,” observed Mr. Wharton, as he refolded the letter, “I must say that there is a consistency in your letter throughout. In your penmanship you use three strokes when one would answer the purpose better, and in your composition you have at least three superfluous words to one which is necessary to convey the meaning. Your high-sounding adjectives and grandiloquent expressions correspond quite well with your penmanship, which is buried in worse than useless flourishes. A business letter is one of the machines of commerce, and the simpler you' can make a machine the better it will work. Every useless word in a letter should be ciit off, just as you reniove every unnecessary part of a machine. There is nothing more beautiful in a business letter than directness, simplicity and plainness. This letter would utterly destroy your chances for securing a position with Mr. Williamson, even should I be so foolish as to allow you to send it. So burn this, Jack, just as you would any other piece of fireworks, and then write Mr. Williamson a business letter. Say what you intend to say concisely, clearly and with only one meaning. Remember that the less words you can use to convey your meaning, the more valuable the letter will appear to Mr. Williamson. Of course much of the business correspondence of the present day is dictated to an amanuensis, but the same rules should apply in dictation. Time in business is money, and none of it should be wasted in a business letter. Business correspondence, I am sorry to say, is too much neglected in our system of popular education. Business colleges make a specialty of this branch of education, but in our public schools it is either entirely neglected or given occasional attention in a hap-hazard way. Now, try again, Jack, and I warn you that I shall insist upon your keeping on trying until you produce a letter that I shall not be ashamed to have sent to Mr. Williamson.”

This was a far different termination of this scene than our little hero had expected, and with head bowed in humility. Jack went off, feeling, as he afterwards expressed it to Uncle Tom, “ like a wet rag.”

He at once applied himself to his work, and after writing and destroying about half a dozen letters, he returned to his father with the following result :

i8

The Business House that Jack Built.

// /rfs ay^

The letter was a model of simplicity and plainness, and it was quite evident that Mr. Wharton approved the entire production, for he remarked : “Jack, that letter is business, and this lesson in correspondence will prove one of the most valuable you ever learned. If you can reform other mistakes in life as readily as you have this one, your future should be a great success.’* Jack felt so good over his final triumph that he felt compelled to bound into the yard and turn a series of hand-springs. He then dashed off to the postofiSce and mailed this most important letter.

The Business House that Jack Built.

Chapter III

jack’s departure.

A FEW days Jack received an answer to his letter, stating very briefly that his application had been favorably considered and that he might come to the city and he would be assigned a position in the office. Jack now considered that his fortune was as good as made. He had given the matter very careful consideration and had mapped out his future career. It ran something in this wise : For the first three months he would perform common office duties. Then his great talents and business tact would be discovered, and he would be made assistant bookkeeper. Then, in the course of a few months, something would happen which would compel the head bookkeeper to vacate his position, and he. Jack Wharton, would naturally be called to fill it.

But this position would not be held by him long, for his genius would find more scope as Business Manager. Thus matters would stand for some time, until his fidelity to the business would be rewarded by being admitted as a partner. Then would follow a career of grand commercial triumphs, culminating in the retirement of his aged partner, and leaving him occupying the proud and honored position, sole proprietor of the great Business House that Jack Built.

Now my readers must not conclude that our little hero was a visionary because he laid out such wild plans. He was simply full of energy and courage, and had sufiicient confidence in his own abilities to believe that he could win. Fvery young man needs to be inspired with just that kind of courage. A boy who looks at the future with fear and trembling, and is constantly tormented with doubts of his ability to succeed, is a pitiable object, and if he ever rises when a man, above commonplace, it will be by the intervention of a miracle or by the influence of a strong-minded wife.

The Business House that Jack Built.

* But the time for Jack’s departure, after the longest week he had ever experienced, arrived. His father decided to go with him and see that he was properly settled down. Uncle Tom, to whom Jack had imparted all his confidences, and who fully believed everything his promising nephew told him, was quite as much interested as any of the party. The following conversa. tion between him and Jack took place on the morning of his departure :

“ And so. Jack, you are going to be a great merchant ! Well, well ! who would have thought it ? Why it seems but a few months ago that you were a little boy, playing marbles, turning hand-springs and running away to go in swimming, and now here you are, ready to draw your checks for millions, buying whole shiploads of wheat and sending it off to foreign countries. Like as not you ’ll be buying a controlling interest in a railroad or legislature, jockey-club, pool or custom-house ring, and get so rich you won’t know what to do with your money.”

Uncle Tom had read of these forms of investments, and judging solely from their popularity thought they must be very desirable.

”0, no. Uncle Tom,” answered Jack, deprecatingh^ “I shan’t have anything of that kind to do for months and months yet. I expect to have to take a very low position at first.”

” Well, now, Jack, I do n’t see the sense of that. You admit yourself that you are competent to fill any position in an office.”

” Yes, but how are my employers going to find it out before I work a while ? ’ ’

“Why, tell them ! ” answered Uncle Tom, very positively. “Own up like a man, that you ’ve got talents and want to use ’em where they ’ll do the best service. For instance, now, how many letters could you write for ’em in a day ? ”

“ O, six or eight, at the lowest calculation.”

“Just think of that, now ! Six or eight letters in a day ! Now it takes me a whole day to write one letter ; and then if I ’m in anyways particular about the spelling and the capital letters, it takes longer than that. But six or eight in one day — cracky ! but won’t that astonish ’em ! ”

It will be seen that Uncle Tom’s ideas of the requirements of a business house were crude — very crude.

“O, I’ll show ’em a thing or two, Uncle Tom,” answered Jack, very complacently.

“ Then you are going to make a very serious mistake,” said Jack’s father, who had entered the room in time to catch the closing remark. “This is an error arising in many cases from an excess of zeal, but it is one that has proven fatal to the prospects of many a young aspirant. Uet me advise you to enter upon your duties with a’l ideas of exciting surprise at any dexterity you think you may possess kept in the background. There is only one aim that I would have you keep prominently in mind, and that is thoroughness of execution. Time is a secondary consideration. When you are assigned a task your first thought should be how to do it in the very best way. No matter how insignificant it may appear, you should remember that what is worth doing at all is worth doing well. You will gain more approbation from your employers by doing one thing well, if you take a whole day for it, than by doing a hundred things in the same time and doing them imperfectly. But you must be actuated by a loftier purpose than the approbation of others. Do whatever you undertake well, not because it will secure approval, but from a feeling in your own mind that everything should be done right on principle. Show that you are thorough, not because others require it, but because it satisfies yojurself, and you will, in the end, establish a much better reputation for yourself than by marking out your duties by the line of policy.”