Argosy, Vol. 123, No. 2 — page 151: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

CLOTHES FOR A WEEK. and it took one year for his application to go through. Brown, hard, alert, he ar- rived at the school determined to win a com- mission with high honors; then get over- seas. On the drill field and in the class-room he stood out from his fellows. There seemed to be every indication that his university ex- perience would be repeated. He foresaw his own triumph. Finally, after drill tactics, and hygiene, bayonet and gas-mask and rifle practice, de- ployment and reconnoitering and a host of varied detail, there came—toward the end of the course—map-making. Equipped with tripods and boards and mil and stride scales, the candidates were sent out to dia- gram a given plot of ground several acres in extent. It was necessary first to circle the boundaries of the tract; then fill in the mi- nutia of contour and drainage, of houses, fields, and brush, of roads and fences and barriers. It was in the nature of an examination. ‘Without the ability to read and make maps no commission would be given. Jack’s standing in everything else made it a matter of no question if his mapping was good. He proposed to turn in the best one of his class. He started out, humming a tune under his breath and micaSuEne his angles ‘with meticulous care. The completion of the initial circuit is comparatively easy. But Jack, attempting to reproduce every little curve of the road faithfully, gave himself too many angles. Sighting along a board with the naked eye has none of the accuracy of running a line with a transit. When he returned to his starting place he found his lines had failed to meet by over half a mile. Of the class, he was probably “‘ out ” the most. The highest form of mental efficiency is not that which never makes a mistake, but rather that which, losing no time through over-cautiousness or fear of errors, assumes their possibility and probability, and catches and corrects them quickly. Had Jack cultivated a wider perspective in the study of a blueprint, and had he worried less over its minor detail, the roof of the foundry in Cleveland might never have collapsed. . 283 Army map-making is a rough and ready method of achieving quick, approximate re- sults. Jack could have bent his lines to force a meeting and turned at once to the mass of detail to be located within the area. . His result would have been approximately correct. His standing would have re- mained exceptionally high. Instead, coloring hotly at the proof of his inaccuracy when accuracy was impossible, he started out again slavishly to rectify each angle, and so used up all his time. At the end of his second circuit he was still “ out ” the half-mile. The armistice saved him the knowledge of whether he won or lost his commission. The class, due for graduation on December 15th, was discharged to civil life on Novem- ber 23rd. For a while he drifted again. Then, in the Baltimore shipyard, he received his les- son. Working as a common laborer, he was one of a gang engaged in rearranging a mass of heavy castings in the foundry yard. A large electric crane, overhead, lifted and dropped them into place with striking ra- pidity, the men arranging the chains for hoisting and steadying the pieces as they were lowered. Suddenly the operator in the crane mis- calculated, and dropped a motor block into the center of the gang with a sickening, non- resonant crash, catching the arm of one man and crushing it utterly. The foreman pushed through the excited group as the victim was extricated and rushed to the company hospital. Red-faced, he called the man from above, discharging him summarily. The superintendent, who happened to be in the foundry, intervened. He faced the man, who was pale and trembling visibly. ‘‘ You’ve been with us for a long time, John! You can stay, but I will put you on another crane. The men here would be nervous, and you would be ill-at-ease yourself!” ‘* B-but—” the foreman, indignant, stam- mered —‘‘ the fellow will lose his arm, Mr. McKenney; and-—” ‘“ Every one makes mistakes!” The su- perintendent was firm. ‘ John here will be less likely to drop anything on anybody now than a new man; can’t you see that? He’s NOOK C@