Determined to Work

Determined to Work By Will Dobson To almost every young man of this western country there conies a time in life when he must have money but can no longer go to his father for it. He must have a job. His father may be able and willing to provide one for him. More likely not. When this time comes it is not enough that the young man be willing to work. He must be determined. He must not merely wait and wish for the job; he must go out after it. He must do more than ask if there is an opening; he must use his eyes and brains in seeing what needs doing, and then show his prospective employer in a convincing way that the job does need doing and that he himself is the one to do it. He must be de- termined. Determination convinces and persuades where mere willingness has no effect. Determination is the original self- starter for which there is no substitute. It is the story of Young John Edmonds that set me going along this line. The reader probably knows of other cases just as inspiring and strengthening to the backbone, but it will do no harm to read of John. Whatever may be your opinion of the story, as a story, it has at least the merit of being absolutely true. When John came to that time when he must have a job, there was no father to provide it for him. His mother was a poor widow with five smaller children to support. John had always been a good worker for his mother, but now it was time to get out and plan his own course. No worse time could have been chosen for the ordeal. Our valley was in the grip of what was called the "Cleveland hard times." The crisis was ushered in by the death of the family cow. She had broken into a neighbor's alfalfa field with the usual result. "Jack," as we called him always, skinned the carcass and took the hide to the storekeeper. Merchant Henderson made it his practice to trade merchandise for hides, and was the only hide buyer the valley afforded. But he told Jack he was not buying hides any more. Being, as I have said, determined, Jack argued the case. Finally Henderson, out-talked, led the stubborn boy out to a big shed back of the store. "See!" he waved his hand, "where could I put another hide?"

DETERMINED TO WORK 913 "Well, but—" "But nothing. I can't sell one. I can't give one away; and they're spoiling on my hands. They're a dead loss. Now do you see that I don't want any more?" So Jack had to give in at last and miserably shuffle home again with "Blossom's" unappreciated hide. But he was not through yet. He had at home a wonderful book that called itself One Thousand Practical Formulas. A book agent had hypnotized his mother into taking it, but no one of the family had ever read much in it. That evening Jack surprised the fam- ily by getting this book down and reading with an amazing diligence. At last he slapped his knee with a satisfied whack. "I knew it was here: I got it!" was his cryptical exclama- tion. "Now what?" his mother asked. "It's a pickle for hides. It can be used on green or dry hides, and they'll keep indefinitely. I guess that must mean for years." "Well, I'm sure we don't want to keep Blossom's hide for years," his mother objected. "What we want is to sell it. We need the storepay." "Well, but ma," Jack protested, "I'm going to pickle all Brother Henderson's hides for him so they won't spoil on his hands. Then he'll buy our hide. Besides I'll have a job for awhile, anyhow." Henderson was doubtful when Jack explained the virtues of the pickling preparation, but Jack was not to be turned away. He went home and prepared some of the mixture and tried it on Blossom's hide. Then he took the hide and showed the skeptical storekeeper. Before he was through he had won consent to treat the shedful of hides and pelts. That was his first job, and it was much more profitable than pleasant, you may be sure. By the time he had finished pickling hides another job presented itself. He was hired to help drive a bunch of steers to the railroad, more than a hundred miles away. The steers were driven all day, then must be herded all night. On this trip Jack's willingness was taken advantage of most shamefully. Not only did the lazy punchers give him the hardest of the work in daylight, but he was given a double dose at night. The night was divided into four watches. Jack's was the third. Jack was the only one who did not have a watch. So he was to be called up at two o'clock in the morning and stand guard until the morning star came up. But guard number two figured out a scheme to avoid loss of sleep. As soon as called up he would simply turn his watch on to two o'clock and march over to Jack's bed and get him up, showing him the fake time. It was considered a good joke, and was told on him with

914 IMPROVEMENT ERA great enjoyment on the way back from the railroad. But it was no joke for Jack, for the overload coupled with exposure to some extremely bad weather, left him in a condition where he should have been under a doctor's care. However, three days after he arrived home, another job was offered. He told his mother he hadn't time to be sick. The county was sending a force to work out ten thousand dollars on a road through a canyon ninety miles from home and in a very lonely and desolate country. In spite of his mother's ob- jections, Jack went with the road crew. He said the trip would make him well. He did get better on the way. But pick and shovel work proved too hard for him in his condition. In a week he was so stiff from rheumatism and so weak and full of pain, that the other hands insisted on taking turns carrying him from work to the ranch house a half-mile away where the road crew boarded. There came a morning when he had to admit himself whipped. He couldn't get into his overalls, but had to go back to bed. He told me afterwards that this nearly broke his heart. He had never been tied down to a bed before. He had been at one time champion wrestler in our crowd as well as one of its fastest sprinters. But his determination was still on the job. His brain was as active as ever. There were three families on the ranch, with thirteen chil- dren in all. Jack had heard of the failure of rancher Kennedy to find a teacher for their little school that year. He had been offering fifty dollars a month and board, good pay in those days. When Kennedy came in at the noon hour to offer sympathy and help to the invalid, what was his consternation to have the half dead Jack demand the job of teacher. With his usual de- termination, too, he held to his demand until he won out. It was a week before he was able to get out and stagger over to the log granary which served as a schoolhouse. But the county superintendent visited that school before the year was out, and though Jack had never had special training for the work, the superintendent recommended him for the school for the coming year. The children, too, as well as their parents, begged him to promise to come next year. But when he went home another job took his attention. There was an old dilapidated telegraph line to the home settlement which a big telephone company had bought and made into a telephone line. But it was going to pieces, and the big company did not consider it worth the needed repairs. So word was sent to the people of the town that the company would no longer maintain the line. The company offered to sell the whole line, eighty miles long, for a hundred dollars, in case the citizens wanted to take it over and maintain it rather than be

DETERMINED TO WORK 915 cut off from the world. A meeting of the citizens was called, but it accomplished nothing more than to roast that hard- hearted telephone company. Nobody wanted the old line. Jack happened to go to the meeting. He had been reading about telephones. The subject interested him. He looked for the use of them to spread far and wide in a few years. When the citizens dispersed without arranging to buy that line, he resolved to buy it. He had only twenty dollars towards it, and no security. But he went out next morning determined to bor- row the rest. It was a long day, but not long enough to borrow eighty dollars. Many men listened until he came to the purpose for which he wanted the money. But they thought he was crazy. However, Jack was at it again next morning. There was a stubborn old Scotchman in the town with all the traits of thrift and penny-counting for which the Scotch are famed. He had the money, but had never been known to let go of any. But Jack worked on his stubbornness and finally made the loan. He made the old man think he was in for a fight with the whole settlement if he loaned the money. This roused the old man's fighting blood, as Jack had planned. This was the beginning of Jack's real success. That old line grew to cover two counties, with phones in nearly every home. Today Jack has to his credit the creation of one of the best farms in his valley from what was discarded as waste land — two hundred acres of productive soil. Two big irrigation systems were engineered and made successful through his lead- ership. He has been a builder of roads and homes, and active in all civic improvement. But the only achievement of which he will boast is his fine family. He says he won his mate by being determined. So again let us insist: it isn't enough to be willing. It is necessary to be determined. Cedar City, Utah