,
green leaves and all, he feels sure that he has before him a man of
economy, common sense, and good judgment! The story does not say what
happens when the young man refuses celery altogether. Another uses
cherry pie as his standard and judges the young man by what he does with
the pits. There are three ways to dispose of them. They may be lowered
from the mouth with the spoon, they may be allowed to drop unaided, or
they may be swallowed. The last course is not recommended. The first is
the only one that will land a job. But tests like this work both ways
and one is rather inclined to congratulate the young men who were turned
down than those who were accepted.

All this aside, an employer does want to know something about the table
manners of an employee who is to meet and dine with his customers. An
excellent salesman may be able to convince a man of good breeding and
wide social training if he tucks his napkin into his bosom, drinks his
soup with a noise, and eats his meat with his knife, but the chances are
against it.

A man who is interested heart and soul in one thing will think in terms
of it, will have it constantly in his mind and on the tip of his tongue.
But the man of one subject, whatever that subject may be, is a bore. It
is right that a man should live in his work, but he must also live
outside of it. One of the most tragic chapters in the history of
American life is the one which tells of the millions and millions of men
who became so immersed in business affairs that they lost sight of
everything else. The four walls of the narrow house which in the end
closes around us all could not more completely have cut them off from
the light of day. It is a long procession and it has not ended--that
line of men passing single file like convicts down the long gray vaults
of business, business, business, with never a thought for the stars or
the moon or books or trees or flowers or music or life or love--nothing
but what casts a shadow over that dismal corridor.

These are dead men with no thought
Of things that are not sold or bought.

* * * * *

In their bodies there is breath,
But their souls are steeped in death.

It is not a cheerful picture to contemplate (and it seems a good long
way away from table manners), but the men who form it are more to be
pitied than blamed. They are blind.

VI

TELEPHONES AND FRONT DOORS

"If the outside of