because he found he could inculcate in
them the spirit of sympathetic relationship and good understanding such
as Kalvin desired. He was not making the progress which Summerfield was
making with really less means at his command, but then, on the other
hand, this was a rich company which did not ask or expect any such
struggle as that which Summerfield had been and was still compelled to
make for himself. The business ethics of this company were high. It
believed in clean methods, good salaries, honest service. Kalvin liked
him, and he had one memorable conversation with Eugene some time after
he came there--almost a year--which stuck in his memory and did him much
good. Kalvin saw clearly wherein both his strength and his weakness lay,
and once said to Fredericks, his business manager: "The one thing I like
about that man is his readiness with ideas. He always has one, and he's
the most willing man to try I ever knew. He has imagination. He needs to
be steadied in the direction of sober thought, so that he doesn't
promise more than he can fulfil. Outside this I see nothing the matter
with him."

Fredericks agreed. He liked Eugene also. He did as much as he could to
make things smooth, but of course Eugene's task was personal and to be
worked out by him solely. Kalvin said to him when it became necessary to
raise his salary:

"I've watched your work for a year now and I'm going to keep my word and
raise your salary. You're a good man. You have many excellent qualities
which I want and need in the man who sits at that desk; but you have
also some failings. I don't want you to get offended. A man in my
position is always like a father who sits at the head of a family, and
my lieutenants are like my sons. I have to take an interest in them
because they take an interest in me. Now you've done your work
well--very well, but you are subject to one fault which may sometime
lead into trouble. You're a little too enthusiastic. I don't think you
stop to think enough. You have a lot of ideas. They swarm in your head
like bees, and sometimes you let them all out at once and they buzz
around you and confuse you and everyone else connected with you. You
would really be a better man if you had, not less ideas--I wouldn't say
that--but better control of them. You want to do too many things at
once. Go slow. Take your time. You have lots of time. You're young yet.
Think! If you're in doubt, come down and consult with me. I'm older in