upon
the finishing floor whom it was far better for him to let alone. With all
his truculence, he was too good a politician to lay his tongue to the man
tagged with an invisible, but none the less protective, tag of a man
higher up. And so Joe Lathrop let loose his vials of wrath upon those
whose continuance upon the payroll depended upon merit alone. One of these
was Robinson.

HATED FOR HIS EFFICIENCY

Robinson had been finishing piano frames upon this floor for twenty
months. He was a young married man, in good health, ambitious, faithful,
loyal, skilful, and efficient. He was a man who worked far more with his
brains than with his hands. He understood the principles of piano
construction, and was, therefore, no rule-of-thumb man. He had studied his
work and, as a result, had continually increased both its quantity and
quality Robinson was not self-assertive, perhaps a little taciturn, but
there was something about him which made people respect him. Over the
dinner pails at noon there had been many a conjecture on the part of
Robinson's fellow-workers that he was in line for promotion and that he
might be made assistant foreman at any time.

Joe Lathrop knew that Robinson's quiet efficiency and attention to
business had not escaped the superintendent's eye. He felt that the day
might come almost any time when, on account of his "just one li'l' drink,"
or its consequences, he might have to yield his scepter to the younger
man.

DISCHARGED WITHOUT CAUSE

Along about nine o'clock of this particular morning, Lathrop was
brow-beating one of the men for some fancied fault near the place where
Robinson was working. Seeing Robinson quietly doing his work, paying no
attention to the wrangle so near him, only further irritated the suffering
foreman.

"Robinson," he yelled. "You have been here long enough to know better than
this. What do you mean by standing there like a wooden post right beside
this man and letting him make such a botch of these frames?"

Robinson, of course, being a wise man, kept his own counsel, and went on
with his work. He could not acknowledge himself at fault when he was not
at fault. His manhood revolted. His business was to concentrate upon his
own work. Since he could not acknowledge the fault, he therefore said
nothing. This, of course, was just what Lathrop did not want.

"Speak up," he bawled, "explain yourself."

"I have my own work to attend to, Mr. Lathrop, as you know," he said