the latter was in a
most receptive frame of mind. He had just come into two very important
advertising contracts which required a lot of imagination and artistic
skill to execute, and he had lost his art director because of a row over
a former contract. It was true that in very many cases--in most cases,
in fact--his customers had very definite ideas as to what they wanted to
say and how they wanted to say it, but not always. They were almost
always open to suggestions as to modifications and improvements, and in
a number of very important cases they were willing to leave the entire
theory of procedure to the Summerfield Advertising Company. This called
for rare good judgment not only in the preparation, but in the placing
of these ads, and it was in the matter of their preparation--the many
striking ideas which they should embody--that the judgment and
assistance of a capable art director of real imagination was most
valuable.

As has already been said, Mr. Summerfield had had five art directors in
almost as many years. In each case he had used the Napoleonic method of
throwing a fresh, unwearied mind into the breach of difficulty, and when
it wearied or broke under the strain, tossing it briskly out. There was
no compunction or pity connected with any detail of this method. "I hire
good men and I pay them good wages," was his favorite comment. "Why
shouldn't I expect good results?" If he was wearied or angered by
failure he was prone to exclaim--"These Goddamned cattle of artists!
What can you expect of them? They don't know anything outside their
little theory of how things ought to look. They don't know anything
about life. Why, God damn it, they're like a lot of children. Why should
anybody pay any attention to what they think? Who cares what they think?
They give me a pain in the neck." Mr. Daniel C. Summerfield was very
much given to swearing, more as a matter of habit than of foul
intention, and no picture of him would be complete without the
interpolation of his favorite expressions.

When Eugene appeared on the horizon as a possible applicant for this
delightful position, Mr. Daniel C. Summerfield was debating with himself
just what he should do in connection with the two new contracts in
question. The advertisers were awaiting his suggestions eagerly. One was
for the nation-wide advertising of a new brand of sugar, the second for
the international display of ideas in connection with a series of French
perf