Bound to Succeed; or, Mail Order Frank's Chances

by Robert Sidney Bowen

  CHAPTER IX

  SENSE AND SYSTEM

  Frank was up and stirring before six o’clock the next morning. He feltlike a person beginning life brand-new again.

  When his mother appeared half-an-hour later, she found everything tidiedup, including Frank himself, who hurried through a good, heartybreakfast with an important business engagement in view.

  “You will excuse me for calling at your home instead of the office,”said Frank to Mr. Buckner, a little later.

  “That’s all right, Frank,” declared the insurance man, shaking handsheartily with his early caller. “Time is money, and of course you wantto utilize it to the best advantage. Well, what’s the news?”

  Frank recited the progress of the day previous. When he came to tell ofthe sale of the old junk at Riverton, his host laughed till the tearsran down his cheeks.

  “You’ll do, Frank,” he observed with enthusiasm--“decidedly, you’ll do!You got the moving done at just half what I expected to pay, andcollected twenty dollars and a half we never knew a word about.”

  “Then you want me to go on getting the burned stuff in order, do you?”inquired Frank.

  “Certainly--that was all understood, wasn’t it? I’ll try and drop aroundto-day or to-morrow and take a look at the plunder, just out ofcuriosity. As to getting it in shape for my client’s inspection, I leavethat in your able charge exclusively.”

  “Thank you,” said Frank.

  Nelson Cady was piping a cheery whistle in front of the store when Frankgot home.

  “Got no letter yet,” he announced in his old important way, “so I reckonI can give you a lift, Frank.”

  “Good for you,” commended Frank. “You know how to work all right whenyou want to, Nelson.”

  Frank unlocked the store door with a proud sense of proprietorship. Bothentered the long, rambling room.

  “Now then, Nelson,” said Frank, “I offer you ten cents an hour, and makeyou superintendent of the little plant here.”

  “What am I expected to superintend?” asked Nelson.

  “Did you notify any of the boys?”

  “Oh, yes--I could get an army of them, if needed.”

  “I think about half-a-dozen will answer,” said Frank.

  “They’ll be here shortly all right,” responded Nelson. “It’s vacation,and--there’s the first arrival now.”

  A curly-pated, eager-faced little urchin popped in through the opendoorway.

  “Hey, Nelse, am I early enough?” he asked anxiously.

  “Five cents an hour,” announced Frank, with a welcoming smile.

  “Oh, my!” cried the little fellow--“five times twenty-four is, let mesee--a naught and two to carry, a dollar and twenty cents. Whoop!”

  “Here, here, you don’t suppose we’re going to work all day and allnight, too, do you?” said Nelson. “Eight hours will tire you out soonenough.”

  “Forty cents a day, then,” cried the little fellow. “Say, I’ll be rich!”

  Within the next ten minutes as many as a dozen other boys arrived. Thenews of Frank Newton having work to be done, had spread like wildfireamong juvenile Greenville. All hands begged for employment, but Frankcould not hire all of them. He engaged first boys whose families neededhelp, and promised the others they should work as substitutes when anyof the original employes dropped out of the ranks.

  “Now then, friends,” said Frank, as soon as the hiring business wasdisposed of, “Nelson Cady will direct what you are to do. You had betterall of you go home first and put on the oldest duds you can find, forthis is going to be dirty work. Look here, Nelson.”

  Frank had got a big piece of chalk at a carpenter’s shop on his way homefrom the interview with Mr. Buckner.

  With this he now divided the floor space of one whole side of the storeinto sections about six feet square.

  “You see, Nelson,” he said to his superintendent, “first you tip overone of those big packing cases onto the floor.”

  “All right, Frank.”

  “Then begin picking out an article at a time. Suppose it is a hammercomes first: write with chalk on the edge of a section ‘Hammers,’ andthen group all the hammers you find by themselves.”

  “I understand,” nodded Nelson.

  “Label all the squares plainly. Mass everything of its class in distinctheaps. That is the first start in your work.”

  Frank had some of his regular village chores to do. He was gone over anhour attending to various duties.

  As he came back to the store again, Frank was spurred up by the busy humof industry. Half-a-dozen urchins peering enviously in at the open frontdoor made way for him. He gave them a kind word and stepped inside totake a sweeping view of his juvenile working force.

  A great rattlety-bang was going on as the boys pulled over the heap ofdebris. Hands and faces were grimed. There were some blistered fingers,but the boys were working like bees in a hive.

  The chalked-off sections had begun to grow in number. One was labelled“Needles.” Frank stared in some wonder. There were papers of needleswhole, and others with half their original paper coverings burned away,of loose needles, some rusted and blackened, some still bright andshining; there seemed to be thousands upon thousands.

  Then there was a lot of pieces of lawn mowers, blades, wheels, screws,cogs and axles. Hinges of all sizes and qualities showed up prominently.Pocket knives, scissors and carpenter tools were likewise greatly inevidence.

  One pile was growing rapidly with the minutes. This was a heap of applecorers. It was a contrivance with a small wooden knob. A screw held atapering piece of thin metal, which penetrated the centre of an apple.Then a twist was supposed to cut out the core.

  From letters in the zinc box which Frank had read, he knew thatpurchasers of this device had complained about it greatly. In the firstplace it was arbitrarily set for one uniform cut. No matter whether theapple to be operated on was large or small, the hole made was exactlythe same. If the fruit was hard and crisp, according to the letters ofcomplaint the corer split the apple. If it was soft, the corer mushedthe apple. There were already sorted out several hundreds of thesecorers. Frank wished he could get hold of them and improve them.

  Frank looked over all the selected stuff in view. Then he went in turnto the village blacksmith, the local hardware store and to a druggistfriend. He returned with some sponges, soft rags, sandpaper and a can ofoil. He chalked off new spaces at the rear end of the store, three beingdevoted to each article labelled. Then he ordered his helpers to gradethe various utensils dug out of the debris. Thus, hammers: those burnedbeyond practical use were put in heap one, second best, heap two; thosethat were only slightly marred were placed in heap three.

  When Mr. Buckner came to the store the following day at noon the workhad progressed famously. The insurance man was greatly gratified at thelayout.

  “Sense and system,” he said, and told Frank he was proud of him.

  Certainly Frank had proceeded on a routine that was bound to bring goodresults. What he called the finished product was now strongly inevidence. He had divided his working force. Five of the small boyshelped him in getting all the salable stuff sorted by itself.

  Mr. Buckner’s client did not put in an appearance until the followingTuesday. By that time the place looked more like a real hardware storethan a repairing shop.

  All the best stuff was classified and neatly laid out. The hardware manfrom Lancaster made one sweeping inspection of the various piles ofmerchandise. There was quite a delighted expression on his face as heturned to Frank.

  “Young man,” he said, “Mr. Buckner prepared me to meet a brisk,enterprising fellow of about your size, but the way you have handledthis business is a marvel.”

  Frank flushed with pleasure.

  “Right at the start,” continued his visitor, “I offer you a good,permanent position in my store at Lancaster at eight dollars a week.”

  “I thank you greatly,” replied Frank, “but I have partly decided on someother p
lans with my mother.”

  “All right. If you change your mind, come to me. Now then, to size upthis proposition in detail.”

  The speaker looked into and over everything. When he had gone one roundhe picked up an empty red cardboard box and began to cut it up intosmall squares.

  “I seem to have made a fine investment, Buckner,” he said to theinsurance man. “There’s over two hundred dollars in those lawn mowerparts alone. The regular stuff like tools and cutlery are good foras much more. See here, Newton: I am going to put one of thesered cardboard squares on all the lots I wish you to ship to me atLancaster.”

  “Yes, sir,” nodded Frank.

  “Get some strong boxes and pack the stuff well, send by freight.”

  The hardware merchant now went from pile to pile, placing the red bitsof cardboard on about two-thirds of the stuff.

  “Aren’t you going to take those needles?” inquired Buckner, noticingthat his client had passed them by. “Why, there’s fully a million ofthem.”

  “No use for them.”

  “And this big pile of apple corers?”

  The hardware man shrugged his shoulders.

  “No,” he said plumply. “They busted Morton. If he couldn’t make them go,I can’t.”

  “And those other heaps of second-best stuff?” inquired Frank. “I shouldthink they would sell for something.”

  “And spoil the sale of good-profit goods. No, no. That’s poor businesspolicy. I shall make double good as it is. Just dump the balance intosome junk shop. Whatever you get for it you can keep, Newton.”

  “Oh, sir,” interrupted Frank quickly, “you hardly estimate the realvalue there. Why, anyone taking the trouble to put those needles up intopackages could clean up a good many dollars. There’s a lot of sewingmachine needles there, too. They are worth three for five centsanywhere.”

  “All right,” retorted his employer with an expansive smile. “You do it,Newton, I won’t. Take the stuff with my compliments, and thank you inthe bargain for all the pains you have gone to in turning me out afirst-class job.”

  “Takes your breath away, does it, Frank?” said Buckner, with a friendlynudge. “It will give you some interesting dabbling to do for quite atime to come, eh?”

  “Yes, indeed,” murmured Frank, his eyes shining bright with pleasure. Hewas fairly overcome at the unexpected donation. He seized the hardwareman’s hand and shook it fervently. “Sir,” he said gratefully, “I feelthat you have given me my start in life.”

  “Have I?” laughed his employer lightly. “Glad. Well, the matter’ssettled,” he continued, consulting his watch--“I must catch my train.”

  “One little matter, please,” said Frank, advancing to the zinc box andthrowing back its cover.

  He rapidly described what it contained, including the lists of namesand the mail order routing cards.

  The hardware man listened in a bored, impatient way.

  “Don’t want any of the truck,” he said. “Burn it up, do what you wantwith it. Get that freight on to me quick as you can, Newton. Bucknerhere will settle your bill for services. Good-bye.”

  Frank Newton stood like one in a dream after his visitors had departed.

  A great wave of hope, ambition, the grandest anticipations filled hismind.

  “Mine!” he said, passing slowly from heap to heap consigned to him as afree gift. “Mine,” he repeated, his hand resting on the zinc box. “Atleast fifty dollars in cash out of the work I have done, and the basisof a regular business in what that man has given me. Oh, what a royalstart!”