.
But knowing that won't make it any easier for me when I get canned."

"What's the use crossing the bridge before you get to it? I read the other
day of a man who studied law, was admitted to the bar, and made money on
it, all after he was seventy years old."

"Think there's any chance for me? Can I learn anything at my age?"

"You learned something just now, didn't you?" asked Socratic.

"Yes, I guess I did."

"Well, if you can learn one thing, you can learn a hundred, can't you?"

"Guess so."

"Will you?"

"I sure will."

If you are a worker and not a shirker--if you are a lifter and not a
leaner--if you have done your best to succeed in your present vocation,
and are still dissatisfied, and feel that you could do better in some
other line of work, we hope that this book has been of some assistance to
you in determining your new line.

If, however, you have never attempted your best--if you have never worked
your hardest--if you have grown weary, and laid down your burden in the
face of difficulties and obstacles--if you have neglected your education,
your training, your preparation for success, then, before you make a
change, before you seek vocational counsel, do your best to make good
where you are. It may be the one vocation in which you can succeed.

PART TWO

ANALYZING CHARACTER IN SELECTION OF EMPLOYEES

CHAPTER I

THE COST OF UNSCIENTIFIC SELECTION

People used to thank God for their sickness and pain--at the same time
naively praying Him to take back His gift. This inconsistency was due to a
combination of ignorance and the good old human foible of blaming some one
else. Folks did not know then, as well as they do now, that they had the
stomachache because they were too fond of rich dainties. The cause of the
pain being mysterious, they went back to first principles and blamed (or
thanked) God for it. They believed that God afflicted them for their good
and His glory, but their belief was hardly practical enough to keep them
from praying Him not to do them too much good or Himself too much glory.

Bodily ills are no different from our other troubles. In case of doubt as
to their origin, it is far more convenient to blame some supernatural
source for them than to take the blame upon ourselves. In support of this,
take the attitude of employers toward strikes and lockouts, their most
outbreaking and violent troubles. These are named in all of our contracts
along with lightning