in the usual wireless way, that there was a finisher needed at the big
factory Lathrop still owed Terrence for a good many of his "li'l' drinks."
Furthermore, Terrence, by virtue of some mysterious underground
connection, pulled mysterious wires, so that an invitation from him was a
command. For these reasons, also, Joe Lathrop found it discreet in his own
eyes to engage on the spot Tim Murphy, a very dear friend of Mulvaney
and, according to Mulvaney's own impartial testimony, a very worthy and
deserving man.

BREAKING IN AN INCOMPETENT

Valuable hours and moments of the company's time were consumed in
initiating Tim Murphy into the employ of the company. There were certain
necessary processes in the paymaster's department, the accounting
department, the liability department, the tool room, and the medical
department.

Now, while Murphy had had some experience in finishing piano frames, he
was utterly unfamiliar with the make of piano produced in this factory.
Likewise, he was ignorant of the customs, rules, and individual methods
which obtained in the factory. This meant that his employers paid him good
wages for five or six weeks while he was finding his way around. It was
good money spent without adequate return in the way of service. In fact,
during these weeks, the company would probably have been better off
without Tim Murphy than with him, for he spoiled a good deal of his work,
took up a great deal of his foreman's time which ought to have been
applied in other directions, broke and ruined a number of valuable tools
and otherwise manifested those symptoms which so often mark the entrance
into an organization of a man propelled by pull rather than push.

The trouble in Tim Murphy's corner continued to halt and disorganize the
work in the department so that there were still further delays and losses
up and down the line. All this was bad enough, but by the end of five
weeks of Murphy's attachment to the payroll he had demonstrated that he
was not only incapable, indolent, careless, and unreliable, but that he
was a disorganizer, a gossip, and a trouble maker.

BAD EFFECT UPON OTHER EMPLOYEES

Finally the superintendent, who in some mysterious way had managed to
escape the entanglement of underground wires running from Terrence
Mulvaney's saloon, issued a direct, positive order to Foreman Lathrop, and
Murphy's place in that factory knew him no more. Nor was Murphy
astonished or disappointed. He had been expe