I told him that I wanted to begin right at the bottom and work up, that I wanted to devote my life to this one occupation and this one employment.
The superintendent beamed as he listened.

He told me that I was the right stuff for success, and that he believed in encouraging American youth that wanted to rise.

Why, employers were always on the lookout for young fellows like me, and alas, they found them all too rarely.

My ambition was fine and worthy, and he would see to it that I got my chance.

(And as I listened with swelling heart, I wondered if it was his daughter I was to marry.) "Before you can go out on the road and learn the more complicated and higher details of the profession," he said, "you will, of course, have to work in the car-house with the men who install and repair the motors.
(By this time I was sure that it was his daughter, and I was wondering how much stock he might own in the company.) "But," he said, "as you yourself so plainly see, you couldn't expect to begin as a helper to the car-house electricians.