as the opportunity presented itself, do a part of that job in
addition to his own. As a stenographer, he tried always to clear off
the day's work before he closed his desk. This was not always
possible, but he kept it before him as a rule to be followed rather
than violated.

One morning Bok's employer happened to come to the office earlier than
usual, to find the letters he had dictated late in the afternoon before
lying on his desk ready to be signed.

"These are the letters I gave you late yesterday afternoon, are they
not?" asked the employer.

"Yes, sir."

"Must have started early this morning, didn't you?^

"No, sir," answered Bok. "I wrote them out last evening before I left."

"Like to get your notes written out before they get stale?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good idea," said the employer.

"Yes, sir," answered Bok, "and I think it is even a better idea to get
a day's work off before I take my apron off."

"Well said," answered the employer, and the following payday Bok found
an increase in his weekly envelope.

It is only fair, however, to add here, parenthetically, that it is
neither just nor considerate to a conscientious stenographer for an
employer to delay his dictation until the end of the day's work, when,
merely by judicious management of his affairs and time, he can give his
dictation directly after opening his morning mail. There are two sides
to every question; but sometimes the side of the stenographer is not
kept in mind by the employer.

Bok found it a uniform rule among his fellow-workers to do exactly the
opposite to his own idea; there was an astonishing unanimity in working
by the clock; where the hour of closing was five o'clock the
preparations began five minutes before, with the hat and overcoat over
the back of the chair ready for the stroke of the hour. This concert
of action was curiously universal, no "overtime" was ever to be thought
of, and, as occasionally happened when the work did go over the hour,
it was not, to use the mildest term, done with care, neatness, or
accuracy; it was, to use a current phrase, "slammed off." Every moment
beyond five o'clock in which the worker was asked to do anything was by
just so much an imposition on the part of the employer, and so far as
it could be safely shown, this impression was gotten over to him.

There was an entire unwillingness to let business interfere with any
anticipated pleasure or personal engagement. The office was all