the messenger
boys to usher him through the building.

Now it may be that this man had no appointment with the president, but
that he has used it as a pretext to break through. In this case, the
secretary answers, after consulting his schedule, that the president has
never heard of such a person and has no such appointment. A man of this
sort is not worth a minute's consideration. He has shown himself
dishonest at the outset with a petty contemptible dishonesty, and the
temptation is to pitch him out on his head. But the young man says
quietly:

"His secretary says that the president has no appointment with you. I am
afraid you have come to the wrong place. It must be some other Mr.
Beacon."

There is a note of finality in his voice which convinces the visitor
that there is no use in going further.

The next visitor is a woman who has come to have lunch with a friend of
hers who works in the accounting department.

"It is fifteen minutes before time for lunch," the young man answers. "I
can call her now, of course, but if you would rather not disturb her,
I'll tell her that you will wait for her in the reception room until she
comes for you."

The woman thanks him and agrees that it will be much better not to
disturb her. The young man offers her a chair and a magazine and
invites her to make herself comfortable.

It grows monotonous in the telling for him to ask each of the visitors
exactly the same questions (never exactly the same, of course) in the
same cordial tone of voice and to tell them to make themselves
comfortable in exactly the same way, but the means of attaining success
in such a place lies in the fact that he greets each visitor as if he
were the only one he had to attend to, and that he is, for the time
being, at least, completely at the visitor's service. It is not so much
what the young man says as the way he says it. "Good morning" can be
spoken in such a way that it is an insult.

_The Girl at the Telephone._ It is nerve-racking to stand at the door to
receive callers, but it is much more so to sit at the switchboard and
receive messages. The only point of contact is through the voice, but it
is remarkable how much of one's personality the voice expresses. If you
are tired your voice shows it; if you are cross your voice tells it; if
you are worried, your voice betrays it. It is possible for one
(everyone) to cultivate a pleasing voice. The telephone companies have
learned this, and ther