on and his moods.

Her greatest reward was in the friendship of the careful, diligent Mr.
Fein.

Sec. 2

She never forgot a dinner with Mr. Fein, at which, for the first time,
she heard a complete defense of the employer's position--saw the office
world from the stand-point of the "bosses."

"I never believed I'd be friendly with one of the capitalists," Una was
saying at their dinner, "but I must admit that you don't seem to want to
grind the faces of the poor."

"I don't. I want to wash 'em."

"I'm serious."

"My dear child, so am I," declared Mr. Fein. Then, apparently addressing
his mixed grill, he considered: "It's nonsense to say that it's just the
capitalists that ail the world. It's the slackers. Show me a man that we
can depend on to do the necessary thing at the necessary moment without
being nudged, and we'll keep raising him before he has a chance to ask
us, even."

"No, you don't--that is, I really think you do, Mr. Fein, personally,
but most bosses are so afraid of a big pay-roll that they deliberately
discourage their people till they lose all initiative. I don't know;
perhaps they're victims along with their employees. Just now I adore my
work, and I do think that business can be made as glorious a profession
as medicine, or exploring, or anything, but in most offices, it seems to
me, the biggest ideal the clerks have is _safety_--a two-family house on
a stupid street in Flatbush as a reward for being industrious. Doesn't
matter whether they _enjoy_ living there, if they're just secure. And
you do know--Mr. Truax doesn't, but you do know--that the whole office
system makes pale, timid, nervous people out of all the clerks--"

"But, good heavens! child, the employers have just as hard a time. Talk
about being nervous! Take it in our game. The salesman does the
missionary work, but the employer is the one who has to worry. Take some
big deal that seems just about to get across--and then falls through
just when you reach for the contract and draw a breath of relief. Or say
you've swung a deal and have to pay your rent and office force, and you
can't get the commission that's due you on an accomplished sale. And
your clerks dash in and want a raise, under threat of quitting, just at
the moment when you're wondering how you'll raise the money to pay them
their _present_ salaries on time! Those are the things that make an
employer a nervous wreck. He's got to keep it going. I tell you there's
adv