He merely glanced at this tiresome bill, turned to the bookkeeper, and said: "Please pay this bill." As I was studying the same plumber's bills in great detail, checking every item, if only for a few cents, and finding it to be greatly to the firm's interest to do so, this casual way of conducting affairs did not appeal to me.

I had trained myself to the point of view doubtless held by many young men in business to-day, that my check on a bill was the executive act which released my employer's money from the till and was attended with more responsibility than the spending of my own funds.

I made up my mind that such business methods could not succeed.
Passing bills, collecting rents, adjusting claims, and work of this kind brought me in association with a great variety of people.

I had to learn how to get on with all these different classes, and still keep the relations between them and the house pleasant.

One particular kind of negotiation came to me which took all the skill I could master to bring to a successful end.
We would receive, for example, a shipment of marble from Vermont to Cleveland.