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Cornell University 
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 The original of this book is in 
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 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013810522 
 
CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 BY 
 
 FRANK PARSONS, Ph.D. 
 
 LATE DIRECTOR OF THE VOCATION BUREAU AND BREADWINNERS' INSTI- 
 TUTE, CIVIC SERVICE HOUSE, BOSTON ; AUTHOR OF " YOUTH AND 
 THE WORLD," " THE CITY POR THE PEOPLE," ETC., ETC. 
 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
 
 HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 
 
 (jJTfce niuctsiflc ptc0? CambriDge 
 
DEDICATION 
 
 To Mrs. Quincy A. Shaw, the progressive daughter of 
 Agassiz, whose far-sighted and beneficent philanthropy 
 has done so much for the young people of Boston, and 
 indirectly through the spread of her institutions, for young 
 people throughout the country, this book is dedicated in a 
 spirit of reverent affection and respect. 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTE 
 
 The manuscript of this book was practically ready for 
 publication when Professor Parsons died. For a year 
 prior to his death he had given a large part of his time to 
 Vocation Bureau work. Some of the material here used 
 appeared in articles in The Arena, and a number of the 
 " cases " in Part III have been published in the daily 
 papers of Boston and New York. The appearance of these 
 articles brought hundreds of letters of inquiry from all 
 parts of the United States, expressing interest in the effort 
 to give scientific vocational counsel to the young. That 
 Professor Parsons would have carried the plan to a greater 
 completeness had he lived, there is no doubt ; but the work 
 that he did do is of such value that it is believed many will 
 be grateful to get such information about it as can be given 
 in this volume. 
 
 Whatever doubts there may be of the practicability of 
 giving expert vocational counsel to young men and wo- 
 men, there are certain simple truths upon which the plan 
 is based, and which I believe no one will deny. 
 
 1. It is better to choose a vocation than merely to " hunt 
 a job." 
 
 2. No one should choose a vocation without careful 
 self -analysis, thorough, honest, and under guidance. 
 
 3. The youth should have a large survey of the field of 
 vocations, and not simply drop into the convenient or acci- 
 dental position. 
 
 4. Expert advice, or the advice of men who have made a 
 careful study of men and of vocations and of the conditions 
 
viii INTRODUCTORY NOTE 
 
 of success, must be better and safer for a young man than 
 the absence of it. 
 
 5. Putting it down on paper seems to be a simple matter, 
 but it is one of supreme importance in this study. No 
 young man can make the self-analysis which Professor 
 Parsons calls for on paper without gaining a distinct bene- 
 fit, a guide, a rudder, a plan which will reduce very greatly 
 his liability to become a mere piece of driftwood upon the 
 industrial sea. 
 
 A thoughtful reading of the " cases " in Part III will give 
 the reader a fair test of the practical application of the plan 
 and its freedom from dogmatism or any undue claim to the 
 word " scientific." In practical helpfulness to the scores of 
 people who have applied to the Bureau it has established 
 its worth and its sanity ; and I am convinced that it will be 
 reproduced in other communities, and eventually, in its 
 fundamental principles, in our educational system itself. 
 
 Ralph Albertson. 
 Boston, May 1, 1909. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PART I. THE PERSONAL INVESTIGATION 
 
 I. The Importance of Scientific Method 
 
 II. The Principles and Methods Involved 
 
 III. Counselors and Applicants 
 
 IV. Extended Discussion of Personal Data 
 V. The Method in Outline 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 14 
 
 26 
 45 
 
 PART II. THE INDUSTRIAL INVESTIGATION 
 
 VI. The Conditions of Efficiency and Success in 
 
 Different Industries 49 
 
 VII. Classifications of Industries 65 
 
 VIII. Industries Open to Women 66 
 
 IX. The Use of Statistics 71 
 
 X. The Movement of the Demand for Workers 74 
 
 XL The Geographical Distribution of Workers 83 
 
 PART III. THE ORGANIZATION AND THE WORK 
 
 XII. The Vocation Bureau . 91 
 
 XIII. The School for Vocational Counselors . . 93 
 
 XIV. Supplementary Helps 96 
 
 XV. Sample Cases Ill 
 
 XVI. Conclusions 160 
 
PART I 
 THE PERSONAL INVESTIGATION 
 
THE IMPORTANCE OF SCIENTIFIC METHOD 
 
 No step in life, unless it may be the choice of a husband or 
 wife, is more important than the choice of a vocation. The 
 wise selection of the business, profession, trade, or occu- 
 pation to which one's life is to be devoted and the develop- 
 ment of full efficiency in the chosen field are matters of the 
 deepest moment to young men and to the public. These vital 
 problems should be solved in a careful, scientific way, with 
 due regard to each person's aptitudes, abilities, ambitions, 
 resources, and limitations, and the relations of these ele- 
 ments to the conditions of success in different industries. 
 If a boy takes up a line of work to which he is adapted, 
 he will achieve far greater success than if he drifts into an 
 industry for which he is not fitted. An occupation out of 
 harmony with the worker's aptitudes and capacities means 
 inefficiency, unenthusiastic and perhaps distasteful labor, 
 and low pay; while an occupation in harmony with the 
 nature of the man means enthusiasm, love of work, and 
 high economic values, — superior product, efficient ser- 
 vice, and good pay. If a young man chooses his vocation 
 so that his best abilities and enthusiasms will be united with 
 his daily work, he has laid the foundations of success and 
 happiness. But if his best abilities and enthusiasms are 
 separated from his daily work, or do not find in it fair 
 scope and opportunity for exercise and development; if 
 his occupation is merely a means of making a living, and 
 the work he loves to do is side-tracked into the evening 
 hours, or pushed out of his life altogether, he will be only a 
 fraction of the man he ought to be. Efficiency and success 
 
4 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 are largely dependent on adaptation. A man would not 
 get good results by using his cow to draw his carriage and 
 his horse for dairy purposes ; yet the difference of adapta- 
 bility in that case is no more emphatic than the differences 
 in the aptitudes, capacities, powers, and adaptabilities of 
 human beings. 
 
 We guide our boys and girls to some extent through 
 school, then drop them into this complex world to sink or 
 swim as the case may be. Yet there is no part of life where 
 the need for guidance is more emphatic than in the transi- 
 tion from school to work, — the choice of a vocation, ade- 
 quate preparation for it, and the attainment of efficiency 
 and success. The building of a career is quite as difficult 
 a problem as the building of a house, yet few ever sit down 
 with pencil and paper, with expert information and coun- 
 sel, to plan a working career and deal with the life problem 
 scientifically, as they would deal with the problem of build- 
 ing a house, taking the advice of an architect to help them. 
 
 Boys generally drift into some line of work by chance, 
 proximity, or uninformed selection; and the high per- 
 centage of inefficiency and change experienced by many 
 employers in their working force, and the cost it entails 
 in employment expense, waste of training, and low-grade 
 service, are largely due to the haphazard way in which 
 young men and women drift into employments, with little 
 or no regard to adaptability, and without adequate pre- 
 paration, or any definite aim or well-considered plan to 
 insure success. 
 
 The aim of this book is to point out practical steps that 
 can be taken to remedy these conditions through expert 
 counsel and guidance, in the selection of a vocation, the 
 preparation for it, and the transition from school to work. 
 No person may decide for another what occupation he 
 should choose, but it is possible to help him so to approach 
 the problem that he shall come to wise conclusions for 
 himself. 
 
II 
 
 THE PRINCIPLES AND METHODS INVOLVED 
 
 In the wise choice of a vocation there are three broad 
 factors: (1) a clear understanding of yourself, your apti- 
 tudes, abilities, interests, ambitions, resources, limitations, 
 and their causes ; (2)- a knowledge of the requirements and 
 conditions of success, advantages and disadvantages, com- 
 pensation, opportunities, and prospects in different lines 
 of work; (3) true reasoning on the relations of these two 
 groups of facts. 
 
 Every young person needs help on all three of these 
 points. He needs all the information and assistance he can 
 get. He needs counsel. He needs a vocational counselor. 
 He needs careful and systematic help by experienced minds 
 in making this greatest decision of his life. 
 
 The more light he can bring to bear on the problem 
 from his own observation, reading, and experience, the 
 better it will be for the clearness and strength of the con- 
 clusions arrived at, and the permanent value of the results 
 attained. The first step, therefore, is self-study. 
 
 To win the best success of which one is capable, his best 
 abilities and enthusiasms must be united with his daily 
 work. He needs, therefore, to investigate himself in order 
 to determine his capacities, interests, resources, and limi- 
 tations, and their causes, so that he may compare his apti- 
 tudes, abilities, ambitions, etc., with the conditions of suc- 
 cess in different industries. 
 
 The schedule of personal data outlined later in these 
 pages may be used as part of the process of self-investiga- 
 tion and self-revelation. The answers the young man or 
 
6 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 woman makes to these questions afford much light on the 
 problem under consideration, not only by their direct re- 
 lations to it, but indirectly also ; for a careful counselor can 
 read between the lines a great deal about the accuracy, 
 clearness, directness, and definiteness of thought, care, 
 thoroughness, modesty or conceit, mental make-up, and 
 special characteristics of the young man's character and 
 ability. In addition to the schedule study, the counselor 
 puts whatever questions and makes whatever tests the case 
 may call for, on the general principle already stated. 
 
 When I hand this schedule to a young man I talk to him 
 somewhat as follows : — 
 
 "Some of these questions can be answered very definitely. In 
 respect to others, the character questions for example, you can 
 only make estimates more or less imperfect and subject to re- 
 vision. Some questions you may not be able to answer at all 
 without assistance and careful testing. But do the best you can. 
 Consider every question carefully, try to form a good judgment 
 on it, and state the tests or evidence you rely on in making your 
 judgment. A thorough study of yourself is the foundation of a 
 true plan of life. Deal with the matter as though correct conclu- 
 sions would mean ten thousand dollars to you. A true judgment 
 of yourself may mean more than that. Stand off and look at your- 
 self as though you were another individual. Look yourself in 
 the eye. Compare yourself with others. See if you can remember 
 as much as the best of your companions about a lecture or a play 
 you have heard together, or a passage or book you have both read. 
 Watch the people you admire, note their conduct, conversation, 
 and appearance, and how they differ from people you do not 
 admire. Then see which you resemble most. See if you are as 
 careful, thorough, prompt, reliable, persistent, good-natured, and 
 sympathetic as the best people you know. Get your friends to 
 help you form true judgments about yourself, and, above all 
 things, be on your guard against self-conceit and flattery. Test 
 every element of your character, knowledge, mental power, ap- 
 pearance, manners, etc., as well as you can. And then bring the 
 study to the counselor. He will help you revise it, make further 
 tests, suggest the means of judging questions not yet satisfacto- 
 rily answered, and consider with you the relations between your 
 
PRINCIPLES AND METHODS INVOLVED 7 
 
 aptitude, abilities, etc., and the requirements, conditions of suc- 
 cess, advantages and disadvantages, opportunities and prospects 
 in the various callings you might engage in, and also consider the 
 best means of preparation and advancement to secure the full- 
 est efficiency aid success in the field of work you may decide 
 upon." 
 
 The study made by the applicant reveals much more 
 to the counselor than is contained in the answers made to 
 schedule points. He can read between the lines important 
 messages as to care, accuracy, memory, clearness and de- 
 finiteness of thought, directness or irrelevancy, conceit or 
 modesty, common sense, etc., which help to indicate the 
 suggestions that ought to be made in the individual case. 
 
 Besides this study by the applicant on his own account, 
 the counselor usually questions him at some length in a 
 private interview. Ancestry, family, education, reading, 
 experience, interests, aptitudes, abilities, limitations, re- 
 sources, etc., are inquired into with a vigor and directness 
 that are not possible in a written research. The memory 
 is tested and the general intelligence so far as possible, 
 the senses also and delicacy of touch, nerve, sight, and 
 hearing reactions, association-time, etc., where these facts 
 appear to be important elements in the problem. For 
 example, an artist needs, among other things, good visual 
 memory and delicacy of touch ; a dentist should have keen 
 sight, delicate touch, correlation of hand and eye, and 
 plenty of nerve; and if the verbal memory is defective or 
 the auditory reactions are slow, it would probably be diffi- 
 cult to become a thoroughly expert stenographer. So again, 
 slow sight and hearing reactions would be one indication 
 against the probability of becoming highly expert as a 
 telegrapher or a thoroughly competent chauffeur. The 
 workers in some psychologic laboratories think the tests 
 of reaction-time are liable to too much variation from 
 special causes, difference in the stimulus, attention, emo- 
 tional conditions, etc., to be of much practical value. But 
 
8 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 the Yale experiments on sight and hearing reactions seem 
 to afford a clear basis for taking such facts into account 
 in forming a rational judgment, and that is the opinion of 
 a number of investigators of high authority. When the 
 normal reactions, and the extreme reactions under intense 
 stimulation and keen attention, are carefully tested and 
 compared with the average results, the data certainly af- 
 ford some light on the individual's probable aptitude and 
 capacities. Other things equal, a girl with slow normal 
 hearing reactions could not expect to become so readily 
 and completely proficient in stenography as a girl whose 
 normal reactions are unusually quick. Tests of associa- 
 tion-time, memory-time, will- time, etc., may throw some 
 light on the probability of developing power in cross-ex- 
 amination, executive ability, fitness to manage large affairs, 
 etc. Rapidity and definiteness of memory and association, 
 promptness and clearness of decision, etc., are certainly 
 more favorable than their opposites to the development of 
 the powers just mentioned. Nevertheless, it must not be 
 forgotten that all such indications are only straws, hints to 
 be taken into account with all the other facts of the case. 
 The handicap of slow decision or imperfect memory may be 
 more than overcome by superiority in industry, earnestness, 
 vitality, endurance, common sense, sound judgment, etc. 
 For the purpose of aiding to get a comprehensive view 
 of the field of opportunity, we have a classified list of more 
 than two hundred ways in which women are earning 
 money, and similar classified lists of industries for men. 
 Another study has been made and is published herewith 
 in regard to the conditions of success in different indus- 
 tries : first, the fundamentals, applicable in large measure 
 to all industries; and second, the special conditions, ap- 
 plicable to particular industries or groups of industries. 
 For example, health, energy, care, enthusiasm, reliability, 
 love of the work, etc., are essential to the best success in 
 any industry; while power of expression with the voice is 
 
PRINCIPLES AND METHODS INVOLVED 9 
 
 peculiarly related to success in the ministry, law, and 
 public life; organizing and executive ability, knowledge of 
 human nature and ability to deal with it, power to manage 
 men harmoniously and effectively, are important factors 
 in business affairs of the larger sort ; and delicacy of touch, 
 coordination of hand and brain, fine sense of color, form, 
 and proportion, strong memory for combinations of sound, 
 etc., are special elements in artistic and musical success. 
 
 Opportunities, specific and general, in different lines of 
 work should be classified with reference to each of the 
 leading industries, and also with regard to the location of 
 industrial centres of various sorts and the geographical 
 distribution of demand. A table has been prepared show- 
 ing all the leading industries in Massachusetts, with their 
 relative development and geographical centres. Similar 
 tables can be made for other states and for the United 
 States. Attention is also given to the relative growth of 
 industries and the movement of demand. For instance, 
 census figures show that the per cent of progress in the 
 printing trade in Massachusetts is four times the per cent 
 of progress for the whole group of manufacturing and me- 
 chanical industries. Again, industrial education is grow- 
 ing very rapidly, and the demand for competent teachers 
 of commercial branches and the mechanic arts, woodwork, 
 machine work, etc., is much greater than the supply. As 
 data develop on these lines, more and more complete and 
 perfect information relating to immediate and specific 
 openings and opportunities for employment, and to the 
 general and permanent demand in different occupations, 
 will be made available. Data in regard to pay, conditions 
 of labor, chances of advancement, etc., should also be col- 
 lected and systematized. 
 
 There is possibility here for cooperation with employ- 
 ment agencies of the right kind, with very valuable and 
 helpful results. 
 
 We have in tabular form the courses given in the lead- 
 
10 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 ing vocational schools, and are making simple tables of all 
 the day and evening courses in or near our city that have 
 a vocational bearing, noting the length of each course, its 
 beginning, time per day and week, age and conditions 
 of admission, cost, opportunities of earning money while 
 studying, etc., so that young men and women can see at a 
 glance all the institutions that give such courses as they 
 may desire and the relative advantage as to time, cost, and 
 conditions. 
 
 Special effort is made to develop analytic power. The 
 power to see the essential facts and principles in a book or 
 a man or a mass of business data, economic.facts, or politi- 
 cal and social affairs, reduce these essentials to their lowest 
 terms and group them in their true relations in brief dia- 
 grams or pictures, is invaluable in any department of life 
 where clear thinking and intellectual grasp are important 
 elements. This analytic power is one of the corner-stones 
 of mastery and achievement. To develop it we give the 
 student class of applicants samples of good analytic work, 
 and ask them to read a good book and analyze it, or make 
 an investigation and reduce the facts to analytic form. 
 After they have had some practice in analysis, we use the 
 following more extensive contract, which calls for a dozen 
 items or such portions of them as the counselor may deem 
 best to ask for. 
 
 In reading under agreement with the Vocation Bu- 
 reau dated make a page or more of keynotes on the 
 
 following points, and talk them over with the counselor for the 
 mutual benefit of all concerned. 
 
 Put page reference after each point you note. 
 
 1. Facts. The half-dozen facts that seem to you most impor- 
 
 tant. 
 
 2. Events. The leading events or landmarks of the book. 
 
 3. Principles. The half-dozen principles you think most vital, 
 
 4. Characters. The chief characters (if the book deals with 
 
 characters) and their most striking characteristics. 
 
 5. Ideas. The most interesting and inspiring ideas. 
 
PRINCIPLES AND METHODS INVOLVED 11 
 
 6. Suggestions. The most helpful suggestions and their ap- 
 
 plication to your life. 
 
 7. Beauty, Use, Humor. Passages that are specially beauti- 
 
 ful, novel, useful, or humorous. 
 
 8. Interests and Reasons. The things that interest you most 
 
 of all, and the reasons they interest you. 
 
 9. Ethics, Morals. The ethical aspects, or right and wrong 
 
 of the book and its characters, events, ideas, and principles. 
 
 10. Common Sense. Criticisms as to purpose, method, make-up, 
 style, etc. What you would say to the author if he asked you 
 (a) how you liked the book, (6) what you liked best, (c) what 
 you did n't like, and (d) how you think it could be improved. 
 
 11. Comparison, Rank. Comparison of the book with others 
 you have read, and the rank you would give it. 
 
 12. Applications. General utility of the book, — application 
 of its facts, teachings, etc., to individuals, society, govern- 
 ment, industry, civilization, etc. 
 
 I find it best to have at least fifteen minutes' private talk 
 with the applicant before he begins his personal study 
 (and half an hour or an hour is better still, if it can be 
 had), in order to question him about his education, reading, 
 and experience, how he spends his spare time and his 
 money, the nature of his interests and ambitions, and the 
 general outline of his problem. Sometimes the case is pretty 
 clear at the first interview ; sometimes a good deal of study 
 is needed to get the right clue. If the boy is undeveloped 
 and inexperienced and shows no special aptitudes, he 
 is advised to read about various industries in Fowler's 
 "Starting in Life" and other vocational books, and visit 
 farms, factories, carpenter shops, machine shops, labora- 
 tories, electric works, railroad depots, buildings in course 
 of construction, newspaper offices, photograph studios, 
 courts, banks, stores, etc., talk with the workers and super- 
 intendents, too, if he can, try his hand at different sorts of 
 work on the farm, in the care of animals, in the factory, 
 office, and store, so as to get an experience sufficient to 
 bring out his aptitudes and abilities, if he has any, and to 
 
12 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 form a basis for an intelligent judgment as to what he shall 
 try to do in the world. 
 
 Breadth is important as well as specialization. A man 
 cannot be fully successful, nor secure against the changes 
 constantly occurring in industry, unless he knows a good 
 deal besides the special knowledge immediately applicable 
 to his business. There is no way in many cases to bring 
 true interests and aptitudes into clear relief, except through 
 variety of experience. An interest in a certain line of work, 
 or the lack of interest, may be the result of knowledge or 
 of ignorance, an indication of power or of weakness. A 
 boy often takes a dislike to his father's occupation because 
 he sees the inside of it and knows all its " outs," while he 
 does not know the disadvantages of other occupations in 
 respect to which he is familiar only with the outside. It 
 may be that a wider experience will develop some new in- 
 terest and aptitude, stronger than any that is now in evi- 
 dence. Many boys might be equally successful either in 
 business, or farming, or some mechanical line, or one of 
 the professions. Any honorable work in which there was 
 a fair chance for advancement would interest them after 
 they had passed the initial stages and got sufficient skill 
 and understanding of the calling to work with reasonable 
 facility and certainty. In such cases the choice of an occu- 
 pation is largely the question of opportunity and industrial 
 demand. If the father, or uncle, or any relative or friend 
 has a good business into which the boy can grow with a 
 prospect of adaptation and efficiency, the burden of proof 
 is on the proposition that this foundation should be aban- 
 doned and another building started on a new site. If there 
 are excellent openings in forestry, scientific agriculture, 
 business and office management, skillful art-craft, teach- 
 ing the mechanical arts, etc., such facts must have full 
 weight in cases where outside opportunity, East or West or 
 South, is a determining factor. The question of resources,S 
 ability to take expensive courses of instruction and wait 
 
PRINCIPLES AND METHODS INVOLVED 13 
 
 long years for remunerative practice or position, is also 
 very important. But the fundamental question that out- 
 ranks all the others is the question of adaptation, — the 
 question of uniting, so far as may be possible, the best 
 abilities and enthusiasms of che developed man with the 
 daily work he has to do. 
 
HI 
 
 COUNSELORS AND APPLICANTS 
 
 I like to begin with a general talk to a class or a club or 
 some other organization or group of students or young 
 people, presenting the matter in some such form as this : — 
 
 If you had a million dollars to invest, you would be very care- 
 ful about it; you would study methods of investment, and get ex- 
 pert counsel and advice from those familiar with such things, and 
 try to invest your money so it would be safe and would pay you 
 good dividends. Your life is worth more than a million dollars to 
 you. You would not sell it for that. And you are investing it day 
 by day and week by week. Are you studying the different methods 
 of investment open to you, and taking counsel to help you decide 
 just what investment you had better make in order to get the 
 best returns upon your capital? 
 
 The Vocation Bureau has been established to help you in 
 this. One of the most important steps in life is the choice of an 
 occupation. If you take up a line of work to which you are 
 adapted or can adapt yourself, you are likely to be happy and 
 successful. If a man loves his work and can do it well, he has 
 laid the foundation for a useful and happy life. But if his best 
 abilities and enthusiasms do not find scope in his daily work, 
 if his occupation is merely a means of making a living, and the 
 work he loves to do is side-tracked into the evening hours or 
 pushed out of his life altogether, he will be only a fraction of the 
 man he ought to be. Efficiency and success are largely dependent 
 on adaptation. You must learn what you are best adapted to do, 
 and get started in that line. 
 
 You may not be able to get into the right line of work at first. 
 You may have to earn your living for a while in any way that 
 is open to you. But if you study yourself and get sufficient know- 
 ledge of various industries to determine what sort of work you 
 are best adapted to, and then carefully prepare yourself for effi- 
 
COUNSELORS AND APPLICANTS 15 
 
 cient service in that line, the opportunity will come for you to 
 make use of the best that is in you in your daily work. 
 
 Lincoln tried farming, lumbering, rail-splitting, and running 
 a flat-boat. He was a teacher, postmaster, captain in the Black 
 Hawk War, storekeeper and surveyor. But whatever he did to 
 earn a living, he was always spending his spare time in reading 
 good books and in telling stories and discussing public questions. 
 He kept studying himself also, and he concluded that his special 
 abilities were his great physical strength and his power to ex- 
 press himself in a forceful and attractive way which made people 
 like to hear him talk. His bodily strength fitted him for such 
 heavy work as blacksmithing, and he debated with himself 
 whether he would learn that trade or the law. It would be com- 
 paratively easy to get a start in blacksmithing, for little capital 
 would be required and he could earn his living probably at once, 
 whereas it would cost much time and money to make himself a 
 good lawyer and get practice enough to support him. While 
 physical power and an easy open way invited him to blacksmith- 
 ing, he knew that his higher powers — his distinguishing traits 
 of mind and character — adapted him to public life and the law, 
 and he obeyed the call in spite of the difficulties in the way. He 
 found friends to help him in his studies and his entrance to civic 
 life and legal practice. He was elected to the legislature of Illi- 
 nois when he was twenty-five years old, and began the practice 
 of law in Springfield when he was twenty-eight. 
 
 You know the rest; how he gradually built up a good practice, 
 went to Congress, became a power in his state, and was chosen 
 chief executive of the nation in 1860 at the age of fifty-one. If 
 he had remained a storekeeper, or a surveyor, or a boatman, we 
 probably never would have heard of him. He would have done 
 his work well and made an honest living, and put his spare time 
 into telling stories and discussing public questions with his neigh- 
 bors. His best power and enthusiasm would have been separated 
 from his work. They would have sought an outlet in his leisure 
 hours, while his work would have been simply a means of earn- 
 ing a livelihood. He studied himself to find out and develop his 
 best abilities, and persevered in preparing for and entering upon 
 a field of usefulness in which his highest aptitudes, abilities, and 
 enthusiasms could find full scope and expression and be united 
 with his daily work, and that was one of the fundamental reasons 
 for his great success. 
 
16 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 Have you found out in what direction your chief abilities lie, 
 in what line you are best adapted to achieve success, and the 
 methods and principles to be followed in your upward progress ? 
 If not, is it not time you began to study yourself and your possi- 
 bilities with a view to making a clear decision and building up 
 a successful career in the calling to which your aptitudes, capaci- 
 ties, interests, and ambitions best adapt you ? 
 
 Some of the cases that have come before the Bureau are 
 then described, in order to show how the system works, 
 and an invitation is given to any who desire a consultation 
 to make an appointment with the counselor. Sometimes 
 a considerable part of the audience responds to this invi- 
 tation. After a talk to a class of thirty or forty boys, for 
 example, the teacher and all the larger boys made appoint- 
 ments which kept the counselor busy for over two weeks. 
 
 Many applicants also come individually in response to 
 the circulars that have been distributed, or press notices 
 that have appeared from time to time. 
 
 The first interview with an applicant generally requires 
 from fifteen minutes to an hour. I question him at suffi- 
 cient length to get a general idea of his situation, sometimes 
 asking him to write the answers to the questions in my pres- 
 ence, but more frequently noting the answers myself directly 
 in my Vocation Register, a notebook of convenient size 
 which I can easily carry about with me. 
 
 I begin by getting the name and address of the appli- 
 cant, and then ask him to state his problem as briefly and 
 concisely as possible, taking not more than one or two 
 minutes in the recital. This frees his mind at the burning 
 point, and makes him feel that you have got at the kernel 
 of his difficulty at the start, so that he is more ready and will- 
 ing than he otherwise would be to go through a careful 
 questioning about all sorts of details which must follow if 
 the counselor is to gain a thorough understanding of the 
 case. 
 
 The sole condition of this interview is that we shall be 
 
COUNSELORS AND APPLICANTS 17 
 
 perfectly frank with each other. That is the only way in 
 which we can get at the valuable results that are desired. 
 
 I use, as a rule, a course of questioning substantially 
 as follows : — 
 
 Age? 
 
 Height ? 
 
 Weight ? 
 
 Health record ? How much time have you lost from illness in 
 the last two years ? Five years ? Ten years ? 
 
 What tests of endurance have you undergone ? 
 
 How far can you walk ? 
 
 How much can you lift ? 
 
 Is your digestion good? 
 
 Are there any hereditary diseases in your family ? If so, what ? 
 
 Where were you born? 
 
 What is your father's business ? His father's business ? The 
 business of your mother's father? Of your uncles on both 
 sides ? Of your brothers, if you have any ? The extent 
 and importance of the business in each case ? What oppor- 
 tunity have you to enter the business in each case ? Are you 
 drawn toward your father's business, your uncle's, etc., or 
 do you dislike it ? Will your father open the way for you to 
 make a success in his line ? Same with uncle, brother, etc. ? 
 
 Sometimes the family bent toward a given line of work, 
 teaching, for example, or mechanical industry, is so marked 
 as to furnish one indication of the probable direction in 
 which a young man's aptitudes may be found to lie. 
 Sometimes, also, the opportunity for entering upon the 
 business in which the father or brother or uncle is engaged 
 is so excellent as to furnish a strong reason for carefully 
 considering that course. 
 
 These considerations, as a rule, I do not mention at the 
 time, but reserve them until the end of the examination, 
 or such time as I may choose to make suggestions to the 
 applicant in regard to his choice of occupation. 
 
 I next question the applicant about his education, read- 
 ing, etc. 
 
18 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 What schooling have you had ? 
 
 In what studies did you make the best records ? 
 
 In what studies did you make the worst records ? 
 
 What studies did you like the best? 
 
 What did you like the least ? 
 
 What rank did you take, on the whole, in school or at college ? 
 
 Did you do your very best with your studies, or was your time 
 and interest largely taken up with other matters, athletics, 
 social affairs, etc. ? 
 
 What reading have you done on your own initiative not required 
 in connection with school work? Books, magazines, news- 
 papers ? 
 
 What are your favorite books of all you have read ? 
 
 What are your favorite authors ? 
 
 Have you read any history ? If so, what ? 
 
 Economics ? 
 
 Government ? 
 
 How do you spend your spare time ? 
 
 Tell me how you spent each evening of last week ? 
 
 When you have a holiday, what do you do with it? 
 
 What is it that interests you most ? 
 
 If you were at the World's Fair, what would most attract you ? 
 What would you go to see first ? 
 
 What are your ambitions ? 
 
 What man in history, or what living man, would you be like if 
 you could choose? 
 
 Such questions tend to throw light on the aptitudes and 
 interests of the applicant, and also on his weak points and 
 diversions. 
 
 Next I question the youth in regard to his experience. 
 
 When did you first go to work? At what age? 
 
 What did you do first? 
 
 How did you get that work ? Did the employer come after you, 
 or did you get the work upon your own personal application, 
 or through the efforts of your parents or friends ? 
 
 What pay did you get at the start? 
 
 How long did you stay ? 
 
 Did you like the work? 
 
 Did it meet with the commendation of your employer or 
 
COUNSELORS AND APPLICANTS 19 
 
 those in authority over you? Or did they find fault with 
 you? 
 
 Why did you leave ? 
 
 What pay were you getting at the end ? 
 
 What work did you do next ? 
 
 Repeating in regard to this second and all following ex- 
 perience all the questions asked in relation to the first work 
 done, and any others which may be suggested by the circum- 
 stances of the case. 
 
 Have you saved your money and invested it ? If so, how ? 
 
 How do you spend your money ? 
 
 Is there any one dependent upon you for support ? 
 
 Do you smoke? 
 
 Do you drink ? 
 
 By the time this course of questioning is finished the 
 counselor is able, as a rule, to classify the applicant with 
 a reasonable degree of accuracy. The applicants fall 
 into two main classes : First, those having well-developed 
 aptitudes and interests and a practical basis for a reason- 
 able conclusion in respect to the choice of a vocation. 
 Second, boys and girls with so little experience or manifes- 
 tation of special aptitudes or interests that there is no basis 
 yet for a wise decision. The latter are asked to read books 
 and magazine articles about various occupations, and as 
 they read to visit various industrial institutions, watch 
 the men at work, talk with them, ask them how they like 
 their work and their pay and if there is anything they do 
 not like and what it is, if they would advise a young man 
 to enter their line of work or not, and why. The boy is 
 asked in some cases to try his hand at various occupations, 
 — farming, taking care of animals, carpentry, machin- 
 ist's work, setting type, selling goods, etc., — to broaden 
 and deepen his practical experience, and bring to light 
 and develop any special capacities, aptitudes, interests, and 
 abilities that may lie dormant in him or be readily acquired 
 by him. After some weeks or months of such reading. > n - 
 vestigation, and practical self-development, the applicant 
 
20 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 may come back and have another interview, when it may 
 be possible to arrive at some definite conclusion as to what 
 line of work it may be best for him to prepare himself for. 
 
 In dealing with the first class of applicants it is often 
 possible to make quite definite suggestions even at the first 
 interview, as will be seen by any one who will carefully 
 study the records of actual cases printed in this volume. 
 
 With such applicants I generally ask at the close of the 
 questioning above suggested : — 
 
 If all the boys in Boston were gathered here together and a 
 
 naturalist were classifying them as he would classify plants 
 
 and animals, in what division would you belong ? 
 In what respects, if any, would you excel the mass of young 
 
 men, and in what respects, if any, would you be inferior to 
 
 most? 
 Would the classifying scientist put you in the mechanical 
 
 group or the professional group, the executive group or the 
 
 laboring group ? 
 Would he class you as artistic, as intellectual, or physical, 
 
 quick or slow, careful or careless, enthusiastic or unenthu- 
 
 siastic, effective or ineffective, etc. ? 
 
 This focuses the attention of the young man on the 
 characteristics that have been brought out during the 
 interview, and helps him to place himself in the class 
 where he belongs. Then we take the tables that show the 
 conditions of success in different lines of industry, and go 
 over them together in connection with what has been 
 brought out in relation to the young man, to see if any 
 valid conclusions can be drawn as to the true relations be- 
 tween the interests, aptitudes, and ambitions of the appli- 
 cant and the advantages and disadvantages, and the con- 
 ditions of success in different industries. 
 
 If the youth already has a good start or an excellent op- 
 portunity in some line of work for which he is reasonably 
 well qualified, the question may come whether it is not bet- 
 ter for him to follow up this opportunity than to go off and 
 
COUNSELORS AND APPLICANTS 21 
 
 try to build up a career in a new line which, though it may 
 be somewhat more attractive to him, is far less easy of ac- 
 cess and much less certain to produce successful results. 
 
 With both classes of applicants it is a common thing for 
 the counselor, after a little questioning, to give the youth 
 one of the Bureau's sheets of instructions, and a leaflet 
 on personal investigation together with a standard blank 
 book which we buy at the rate of one dollar a hundred, 
 and ask the applicant to make a careful study of himself 
 with the help of his friends, answering in the book so far as 
 possible all the questions in the list, and then come back 
 for another interview. 
 
 The case may be so clear that this is not necessary ; but 
 where the questions of the counselor do not bring out de- 
 cided aptitudes and abilities or clear indications of wise 
 policy in the choice of an occupation, this fuller study should 
 be made by the applicant, and it is an excellent thing for 
 him to make it in any case, though not by any means 
 essential in all. 
 
 While I am questioning the applicant about his prob- 
 able health, education, reading, experience, etc., I carefully 
 observe the shape of his head, the relative development 
 above, before, and behind the ears, his features and ex- 
 pression, color, vivacity, voice, manner, pose, general air 
 of vitality, enthusiasm, etc. 
 
 The answers to the questions above suggested and the 
 way in which the answers are given generally afford a 
 good idea of the young man's mental development; his 
 memory, reason, imagination are practically an open book 
 to one who will question him carefully in detail for half 
 or three quarters of an hour. And his business experience, 
 the attitude of employers toward him and his attitude' 
 toward them, his reasons for leaving this, that, and the 
 other place, all afford evidence of his disposition, effi- 
 ciency, and general character. 
 
 But special tests may be applied wherever the counselor 
 
22 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 may deem it best. For instance, the memory may be 
 tested by reading to the applicant from some book of good 
 English sentences of 10, 15, 20, 30, 50 words, and asking 
 the applicant to repeat the sentence read. He may also 
 be asked to read himself and then repeat or write the 
 sentences. If he can remember only 10 or 12 words cor- 
 rectly, his verbal memory is poor ; if he can remember 
 40 or 50 words, it is pretty good. The readiness and cer- 
 tainty with which he can give dates and details in regard 
 to his business experience and of his past life is in itself 
 an excellent memory test. 
 
 Sometimes the counselor may wish to test the nerve and 
 delicacy of touch. One way to do this is to have a series 
 of very small circles a sixteenth or a thirty-second of an 
 inch in diameter, and giving the applicant a fine-pointed 
 pencil, ask him to put a dot precisely in the centre of each 
 little circle and one exactly in the middle between each 
 two circles, and make a certain mark at a given point on 
 each of the circles in the group. 
 
 Rapidity can be judged by testing the swiftness of 
 reading and writing and walking, and if a psychologic 
 laboratory or some psychologic apparatus is available, it 
 is easy to apply much more accurate tests through the 
 phenomena of reaction-time, association-time, etc., than 
 are readily available without scientific apparatus. 
 
 If the applicant's head is largely developed behind the 
 ears, with big neck, low forehead, and small upper head, 
 he is probably of an animal type, and if the other symp- 
 toms coincide he should be dealt with on that basis. 
 
 If the voice is harsh, or unpleasant, or lacking in vitality, 
 I generally give the youth a lecture on the value of voice 
 culture and the use of clear, sweet, well-modulated tones 
 in conversation. 
 
 If the face is blank and expressionless, a talk about the 
 economic value of the smile is in order. 
 
 If the handshake is listless or wet, clammy or too force- 
 
COUNSELORS AND APPLICANTS 23 
 
 ful, it is well to call the young man's attention to his 
 defects in this respect. So if the manners are in any way 
 objectionable or undeveloped, the boy should be frankly 
 but kindly told and urged to correct his errors. 
 
 In other words, the counselor should use the utmost 
 frankness and kindliness in a friendly effort to enable the 
 applicant to see himself exactly as others see him, and 
 correct whatever defects may stand in the way of his ad- 
 vancement.- 
 
 If the young man has not developed a proper interest in 
 civic affairs, the counselor may try to quicken his develop- 
 ment as a citizen by making suggestions in relation to 
 books that he may read or organizations that he may join 
 in order to bring out that side of his nature. If the young 
 man has any bad habits, the counselor's questioning in re- 
 lation to how he spends his spare time, how he spends his 
 money, etc., is pretty apt to bring out the facts. And then 
 it is the counselor's duty, in a m jld and kindly but firm and 
 energetic way, to make suggestions that will show the young 
 man clearly the disadvantages of such habits and what will 
 be the outcome if he persists in following them. 
 
 The counselor will find it greatly to his advantage if he 
 will commit to memory the series of questions above sug- 
 gested, or their equivalent, so that he can ask them readily 
 without referring to any written or printed memoranda. 
 The spontaneity of the examination is very important in 
 securing the best results. The counselor should also fa- 
 miliarize himself with the specimen cases printed in this 
 book, so that they may be to him what the leading ques- 
 tions in the law become to a first-class judge or lawyer. 
 Every one of our leading questions should be firmly fixed 
 in the memory, so that when a new case occurs analogous 
 to one on record, the latter will immediately come to the 
 mind of the counselor to aid him in classifying the appli- 
 cant and making suggestions that may be most advan- 
 tageous to him. No close adherence to precedent is 
 
24 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 urged, of course, but only so clear and thorough a grasp 
 of our leading cases that they may be used to throw con- 
 stant light on the new problems that arise. The counselor 
 should also make a special effort to master and use the 
 concrete form of suggestions. Instead of simply saying to 
 the mistaken would-be doctor : " You would probably be 
 at a great disadvantage in the pursuit of that profession," 
 say to him, after bringing clearly to his mind the contrast 
 between himself and the ideal doctor, something like this : 
 " Do you want to run a race with an iron ball tied around 
 your leg, or would you rather enter a race where you can 
 run free like the rest?" So again, instead of saying to a 
 youth : " You have got a pretty good start where you are ; 
 why not stay and develop that? " put the matter in some 
 such form as this : " You have a house half or two thirds 
 built, the walls well up, almost ready to put the roof on; now 
 is it wise to leave the building you have so nearly completed 
 and go off to a new location, dig a new cellar and begin 
 building all over again, when you do not know that you will 
 like the new building any better than this one, after you 
 get it?" 
 
 This picture-method of presenting the case never fails 
 to interest the youth, and often proves far more convincing 
 than any form of direct statement that could be used. 
 
 The counselor should gather for himself all possible in- 
 formation in regard to the conditions of success in dif- 
 ferent lines of work and the distribution of demand in 
 different industries, supplementing our tables by original 
 research. He should also have full information in regard 
 to courses of study, so that he can aid the applicant in 
 choosing the best means of preparation for the calling he 
 decides upon. The counselor will do well also to gather 
 biographic data relating to the characteristics of leading 
 men in their youth, and the relation between these youth- 
 ful traits and the development of later life. If possible, a 
 picture of the boy and of the man in his maturity should be 
 
COUNSELORS AND APPLICANTS 25 
 
 secured to go with each one of these skeleton biographies. 
 Such pictures and materials may be obtained in many 
 cases from leading magazines and other publications, or 
 may be had in response to direct communication with the 
 men whose biographic data are wanted. Such skeleton 
 biographies will be found of the greatest interest to young 
 men and women who are trying to decide upon their life 
 work, and will prove most useful to the counselor in mak- 
 ing up his mind as to the classification of the applicant, his 
 future possibilities, and the suggestions it may be best for 
 the counselor to make to him. 
 
IV 
 
 EXTENDED DISCUSSION OF PERSONAL DATA 
 
 As I have already said, no general rule can be given that 
 will fit all cases. The method must be varied with the 
 varying personal situations. A fifteen-minute interview will 
 often bring the counselor to a definite opinion as to the ad- 
 vice to be given. In many cases, however, the problem is 
 extremely difficult, and the counselor will wish to go into 
 minute details with the applicant. For this purpose the 
 following form is given at the risk of some repetition. The 
 counselor can seldom take time to go into all this close 
 analysis with the applicant, but the questions should be 
 handed to the applicant, who can take them home and 
 make them the basis of a thorough self-study. 
 
 To the applicant for vocational counsel : — 
 
 After you have written the answers to the following questions 
 as far as you can, the counselor will meet you to discuss the 
 record and any other questions the counselor may wish to ask, 
 and to consider the problems of vocation, location, preparation, 
 and development that you may desire to deal with, — what occu- 
 pations you are best adapted to, the opportunities for employ- 
 ment in them, and the best means for the preparation and build- 
 ing up of a successful career. 
 
 The counselor will also aid you in coming to true conclusions 
 on points of the schedule regarding which self-judgment may be 
 difficult. But you should first do the best you can by self-exami- 
 nation, with such help as you may get from your family, friends, 
 teachers, employers, and critics. Ask them to tell you what they 
 think of you in relation to the various elements of manners, mind, 
 character, etc., given below, and assure them that you want to 
 know the truth, because you want to get acquainted with yourself. 
 
 If you hide your limitations and defects from yourself, you may 
 
DISCUSSION OF PERSONAL DATA 27 
 
 hinder your advancement quite as much as by neglecting your 
 abilities and opportunities. 
 
 All the information and assistance we can give are freely at 
 your service, but the more light you can bring to bear on the 
 problem from your own observation, reading, and experience, the 
 better it will be for the clearness and strength of the conclusions 
 arrived at, and the permanent value of the results attained. 
 
 The first step is self-study. To Know Thyself is the funda- 
 mental requisite. Efficiency, success, and happiness depend very 
 largely on adaptation to your work. You have therefore to inves- 
 tigate yourself, with the aid of the counselor and your friends, 
 in order to determine your capacities, interests, resources, and 
 limitations, so that you may compare yourself with the condi- 
 tions of success in different industries. 
 
 Perfect truth and frankness with yourself and the counselor 
 are absolutely essential to the best results. 
 
 Try to see yourself as others see you, and plan the future with 
 a real knowledge of the nature, resources, and conditions you 
 have to deal with, the purposes you may reasonably hope to ac- 
 complish, and the means by which you can move steadily toward 
 the best success of which you are capable. 
 
 Write your answers on ordinary letter sheets 8 x 10. Use only 
 one side of the paper. Number each answer to correspond with 
 the question. 
 
 Personal Record and Self-Analysis. 
 
 part I. 
 
 1. Name. 
 
 2. Address. 
 
 3. Where born and brought up. 
 
 4. Family you were born in; total number in it. 
 
 5. Ages of father and mother. 
 
 6. Nationality of father and mother. 
 
 7. Number and ages of brothers and sisters. 
 
 8. Business or occupation of father, brothers, uncles, and 
 
 other near relatives. 
 
 9. Health of family; sickness record. 
 
 10. Do you live with the family ? 
 
 11. Ancestry — grandfathers, great-grandfathers, etc., nation- 
 
 ality and residence. 
 
 12. Occupation and resources. 
 
28 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 13. Physique, health, hereditary diseases. 
 
 14. Length of life. 
 
 15. Characteristics, special traits of body, mind, and character. 
 
 16. Your age. 
 
 17. Married or single. Your family if married. 
 
 18. Height and weight. 
 
 19. Health. 
 
 20. Sickness record. 
 
 21. How much time have you lost by sickness in the last five 
 
 years ? 
 
 22. Strength: What tests have you undergone ? 
 
 23. What hard work have you done ? 
 
 24. How much have you lifted? 
 
 25. Endurance : How far have you walked in one State 
 
 . tri P ? t & 
 
 Give distance and number of hours w jth 
 
 it took. dates, 
 
 26. Courage: How have you acted when in ^ 
 
 danger, or suffering pain, disap- ^ you 
 pointment, or loss ? can. 
 
 27. Compare yourself as to strength, 
 
 endurance, and courage, with 
 others of your age, and with the 
 best standards you know or have 
 heard of. 
 
 28. Habits as to fresh air, exercise, bathing, and diet. 
 
 29. Do you sleep with your windows open ? 
 
 30. Do you breathe deeply in the fresh air every day? 
 
 31. How often do you bathe? 
 
 32. Have you studied physiology and hygiene ? 
 
 33. Habits as to smoking. 
 
 34. Drinking. 
 
 35. Use of drugs. 
 
 36. Other forms of dissipation. 
 
 37. Education and training. 
 
 38. General education. 
 
 39. In school, what schools ? 
 
 40. Best records in school, prizes. 
 
 41. Poorest records, in what ? 
 
 42. Out of school, by 
 
 43. Reading, what, how, results. 
 
DISCUSSION OF PERSONAL DATA 29 
 
 44. Favorite books. 
 
 45. Favorite authors. 
 
 46. Teaching ] 
 
 47. Working > What have you learned by these means ? 
 
 48. Association ) 
 
 49. Industrial education. 
 
 50 What courses and when? 
 
 51. Manual skill, drawing, use of tools, etc. 
 
 52. Sketches from memory (Consult with counselor about 
 
 filling in this question). 
 
 53. Experience and present use of time. 
 
 54. Positions held and work done, pay, and length of time in 
 
 each case. 
 
 55. Reasons for leaving in each case. 
 
 56. Attitude towards employers — cordial and sympathetic, 
 
 or not. 
 
 57. Do you watch for the bell to ring and stop as soon as it 
 
 stops ? 
 What are the prospects of rising where you are ? Are you 
 on friendly terms with your bosses ? Have employers 
 said anything in commendation or complaint ? 
 
 58. Do you realize that wages depend largely on the efficiency 
 
 and productive value of the workers ? 
 
 59. Do you hope to be an employer yourself some day ? 
 
 60. By what methods does advancement generally come, accord- 
 
 ing to your observation ? 
 
 61. Through what means do you hope to secure advancement* 
 
 62. Savings. 
 
 63. How do you spend your money ? 
 
 Why have n't you saved more of your money ? 
 
 64. Most interesting or notable things in your life. 
 
 65. Likes and dislikes, pictures, music, theatre, books, dogs, 
 
 horses, athletics, etc. 
 
 66. Favorite amusements. 
 
 67. How your evenings are spent. 
 
 68. How each evening last week was spent. 
 
 69. Dominant (or ruling) motives and interests. 
 
 70. What do you look for first in the newspapers ? 
 
 71. What would you buy and do next week if you had a million 
 
 dollars left you ? 
 
 72. Is there anything you would rather have than money ? 
 
80 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 73. If so, what? 
 
 74. On what occasions have you put forth your strongest 
 
 efforts ? 
 
 75. For what purposes ? 
 
 76. If you were to visit a great international exhibition like that at 
 
 St. Louis a few years ago, or the Centennial at Philadel- 
 phia, or the World's Fair at Chicago, where you could see 
 splendid grounds and buildings, beautiful fountains and 
 electric lighting effects, magnificent collections of manu- 
 factured goods, agricultural, dairy, forestry and mining 
 products from all the leading countries, machinery, paint- 
 ings and sculpture, educational and governmental exhibits, 
 men and women of many nations, wild animals, military 
 and naval displays, etc., etc., what would interest you most ? 
 
 What would you want to see first ? 
 
 What would claim your chief attention ? 
 
 What would come second in attractiveness for you? 
 Third? Fourth? 
 
 What would have least interest for you ? 
 
 77. If you could travel wherever you wished, what countries or 
 
 regions would you visit first ? 
 
 78. Why ? Give reasons for each of the countries or regions 
 you specially wish to see. 
 
 79. Ambitions. 
 
 80. What would you be and do if you could ? 
 
 81. If you had Aladdin's lamp and could have your every wish 
 
 fulfilled, what would be your first half-dozen wishes ? 
 
 82. Important things you have accomplished. 
 
 83. Distinguishing characteristics, J^'fei&Sffi 
 
 aptitudes, capacities, abilities, compared with you, in what 
 and attainments. respects, if any, would you 
 
 84. Limitations and defects to be -g ^^£4 
 
 recognized. to most? 
 
 85. Compare your distinguishing abilities and limitations with 
 
 the conditions of success in different callings, especially in 
 those that lie in the direction of your ambition, as shown 
 by the careers of men and women who have been successful 
 in that line, and of those who have failed in it. 
 
 86. Have you studied the lives of Lincoln, Franklin, Garfield, 
 
 Garrison, Phillips, Roosevelt, Gladstone, Wanamaker, 
 
DISCUSSION OF PERSONAL DATA 31 
 
 Edison, and others, so as to discover as far as you can the 
 laws of success, — why and how some men succeed, and 
 what are the causes of failure ? 
 
 87. Resources. 
 
 88. Financial. 
 
 89. Relatives. 
 
 90. Friends. 
 
 91. Organizations you are connected with and how. 
 
 92. Organizing ability. Evidence. What organizations have you 
 
 been instrumental in forming? 
 
 93. Describe briefly what you did, and the results. 
 
 94. Environment. 
 
 95. What places have you lived in ? 
 
 96. If towns, or cities, give street and number in each case. 
 
 97. Dates also, if possible, or.your age, as nearly as you can, in 
 
 each place. 
 
 98. Describe the neighborhoods of each residence. 
 
 99. Trees, grass, flowers, water, scenery? 
 
 100. Class of people you were living among in each case. 
 
 101. What did they work at ? 
 
 102. What were their amusements ? 
 
 103. What kind of life did they lead ? 
 
 104. Did you mingle with them freely ? 
 
 105. As one of them ? 
 
 106. If not, what were your relations with them and your 
 
 attitude toward them ? 
 
 107. Which, if any, of your residences were your own choice ? 
 
 108. Reasons for your choice in each case ? 
 
 109. Who selected the other residences ? 
 
 110. Why? 
 
 111. What sort of people do you prefer to live with now ? 
 
 112. Why? 
 
 113. What effect do you think your locational environment has 
 
 had on your ideals and ambitions, habits of thought and 
 action, industrial opportunities and adaptability ? 
 
 114. Would your opportunities and chances of suc- 
 
 cess be greater in a smaller place, or in the fo^tteopra- 
 
 country? ions you ex- 
 
 115. In the West or South? press on 
 
 1 16. In Europe, Africa, New Zealand, or Australia ? &ese P " 1 ** 
 
32 
 
 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 PART II. 
 
 The counselor will help you to reach correct conclusions on 
 these points, but you should first make the best judgments you 
 can by means of self-investigation and the help of your family, 
 friends, teachers, employers, critics, — any one who will tell you 
 what they really think about you. What they say may not be 
 wholly right, — they may make mistakes, or they may be preju- 
 diced in your favor or against you, — but their statements are 
 valuable evidence to be considered by you in making up your 
 mind what the truth really is. 
 
 Appearance, Manners, Conversation, etc. 
 
 Figure, slim, medium, thick-set, fat, 
 plump, angular, straight, or crooked, 
 bent, round - shouldered; hollow- 
 chested, bow-legged, or otherwise de- 
 fective. 
 
 Face, color, outline, features, symmetry, 
 expression. 
 
 Hair, color, quantity, outline, adapta- 
 tion to face and figure. 
 Dress, colors, fit, style, adaptation. 
 
 Do you give much attention to dress ? 
 
 How long does it take you to dress ? 
 
 How much do your clothes cost a year, 
 including hats, shoes, neckties, under- 
 wear, and all apparel ? 
 
 Do you take expert advice as to color, 
 style, fit, etc. ? 
 Neatness. Are your collars and cuffs 
 Caucasian ? 
 
 Are you careful to be clean and neat 
 in dress and person ? 
 
 Or do you wear your finger-nails in 
 mourning and your linen overtime ? 
 Postures, sitting and standing. 
 
 Are they refined, graceful, vigorous, or 
 the contrary ? 
 
 Do you stand straight or stooping ? 
 
 Do you sit upright, chest out, or loll a 
 limp heap in your chair ? 
 
 Look in the glass. 
 Watch yourself. 
 Get your friends to 
 look you over 
 in private and in 
 public, and tell you 
 confidentially what 
 they think of your 
 appearance, manners, 
 voice, etc. 
 You can do the 
 same for them if 
 they are willing. 
 
 Compare yourself 
 in every detail with 
 people you admire 
 and with those you 
 dislike, and study 
 how to acquire the 
 excellences of the 
 former and avoid 
 the faults of the 
 latter. 
 
 Get your family 
 and friends to help 
 you recognize your 
 defects, and tefl 
 you every time you 
 fail to come up to 
 the standard you set 
 for yourself. 
 
DISCUSSION OF PERSONAL DATA 33 
 
 Do you carry your chin forward, or your 
 
 head tilted to one side ? 
 Motions, rapid or slow, graceful or not, 
 
 excessive or not. 
 Smile, frequent, rare, or absent, intermit- 
 tent or perpetual, natural or forced, 
 
 friendly or supercilious, frank or cor- 
 dial, or cunning and unsympathetic, 
 
 attractive or repellent. 
 Do you smile naturally and easily and 
 
 feel the smile in your heart, or is your 
 
 face ordinarily expressionless, or tinged 
 
 with frowns, scowls, sneers, or in any 
 
 way uninviting or repellent ? 
 Do you realize the economic and social 
 
 value of natural, friendly, cordial 
 
 smiles, and of merry laughter, not 
 
 so loud or frequent as to become 
 
 annoying or monotonous ? 
 Do you cultivate smiling as one of 
 
 the winning graces that make life 
 
 richer ? 
 And do you cultivate smiles and laughter by right methods, — 
 
 not mechanically but at the root, by cultivating the merry 
 
 moods and friendly feelings that naturally express themselves 
 
 in smiles ? 
 Handshake, warm and cordial, or wet, clammy, listless, medium 
 pressure, no pressure, or a vice-like grip that makes the indi- 
 vidual regard you as a relic of the Inquisition, hasty, moderate, 
 or long-drawn-out, quiet, or with one or two movements, or 
 with pump-handle motions, more or less numerous and exten- 
 sive. 
 Do you shake hands like a steam engine, or a stick, or an icicle, 
 
 or like a cordial friend ? 
 Have you cultivated a handshake that is warm and hearty, 
 
 and yet not so strong as to be uncomfortable, nor so weak as 
 
 to seem indifferent ? 
 Manners, in general, quiet, noisy, boisterous, deferential or self- 
 assertive, listening politely or interrupting and contradicting. 
 Careful of etiquette at table or not. 
 Are you thoughtful of the comfort of others ? 
 
34 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 Are you frank, kindly, cordial, respectful, courteous in word 
 and actions? 
 
 Do you love people and show your friendliness in voice and 
 manner ? 
 
 Or do you feel and show indifference and dislike ? 
 
 Do you look people frankly in the eye ? ,Or do you avoid their 
 gaze ? If so ask yourself why. 
 
 Do you whistle or hum or make little noises with hands or feet, 
 where others may be disturbed thereby? 
 
 Have you any habits little or big that may be disagreeable to 
 others ? 
 Voice, inflections. — Is your voice soft or loud, clear, smooth, 
 musical, full of vitality; or rough, harsh, unmusical, clouded, 
 husky, nasal, languid, gloomy, discouraged? 
 
 Are you careful about modulation, emphasis, and inflection ? 
 
 Do you talk pretty much on one tone or a few tones, or do you 
 watch the tones of speech that please you in others and the 
 emphasis that gives form and color to spoken words, and 
 adopt the best examples for your own use ? 
 
 Are your inflections natural, cheery, courteous, respectful, 
 modest, musical; or aggressive, discourteous, self-assertive, 
 conceited, affected, unmusical, pessimistic, repellent? 
 
 Have you cultivated your voice ? 
 
 Do you take care to pronounce your words clearly and cor- 
 rectly ? 
 Conversation. — Can you readily enter into conversation with 
 new people? 
 
 Are you at ease with them ? 
 
 Do you try to find out what they would like to talk about and 
 make the conversation agreeable to them, or do you expect 
 them to listen to the things that interest you ? 
 
 Do you talk a good deal about yourself, your business, your 
 ideas, your ailments, and other accomplishments, or mostly 
 about public questions, or about the weather, the crops 
 and the current scandals, murder trials, etc. ? 
 
 Are you a good listener, sympathetic, and really trying to get at 
 the thought of your friend, or do you simply tolerate his talk 
 and spend the time in thinking what you will say when he 
 gets through? 
 
 Do you do most of the talking, or do you draw out your com- 
 panions and listen to them most of the time ? 
 
DISCUSSION OF PERSONAL DATA 35 
 
 Do you smile when they differ from you and quietly state the 
 facts and reasons for your view, or say you think there is 
 force in what they say and you will think it over; or do you 
 show irritation at their stupidity in disagreeing with you, 
 assert your conclusion and deny theirs with heat, and per- 
 haps call them hard names or slur their intelligence ? 
 Have you studied conversation as a fine art ? Do you prepare 
 for it, — look up or think up and fix freshly in mind some 
 pleasant and interesting things to say when you meet people ? 
 You can put on some good ideas, as well as a good coat and a 
 clean shirt, when you go out to spend the evening. 
 Personal atmosphere, cheery, animated, vivacious, full of good 
 
 nature, or solemn, sleepy, indifferent, taciturn, morose. 
 Mind and sense, powers of 
 attention, observation, mem- 
 ory, reason, imagination, in- 
 
 ventiveness, thoughtfulness, ffSJ^^Kjffi^ 
 receptiveness, quickness or you noted what powers you excel 
 stupidity, analytic power, in and what you are deficient in, 
 
 constructiveness, breadth, f 8 ^E^.^V "' °° mP T 
 
 ions ? What light do your records 
 
 grasp, in school and at work throw on 
 
 Faculties specially developed. the question ? 
 
 Faculties specially deficient. Ha , v . e J ou asked your family, 
 
 _ ,, r , J friends, and teachers to help you 
 
 rorm ot head. locate your strong points and 
 
 Sight, normal, near or far, color your weak ones ? 
 
 sense, acute or medium, or Have y° u considered how much is 
 , ... , due to capacity, and how much 
 
 color blindness. ^ to t^^g or the lack of it ? 
 
 Hearing, normal, defective, or 
 
 acute. 
 Smell, normal, defective, or 
 
 acute. 
 
 Knowledge 
 
 of self, motives, abilities, weaknesses, etc. State what 
 
 , , , means you 
 
 of human nature. have u '' ed t(J 
 
 of business or industry. get a know- 
 
 of government. ledge of these 
 
 of laws and causes. 
 
 of things, cities, countries, etc. 
 
 of language. 
 
 of law. 
 
 of medicine. 
 
 things. 
 
36 
 
 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 Mark the 
 classes of books 
 you are most 
 familiar with, and 
 the best books 
 you have read in 
 each class you mark. 
 
 of science, physiology, hygiene, psy- 
 chology, sociology, ethics, econom- 
 ics, physics, chemistry, metallurgy, 
 mechanics, agriculture, horticulture, 
 forestry, entomology, botany, zool- 
 ogy, biology, geology, astronomy, 
 mathematics, arithmetic, algebra, 
 geometry, analytic geometry, descrip- 
 tive geometry, calculus, quaternions, 
 surveying, engineering, architecture. 
 Mark the sciences you have studied in school with an (S), if 
 in college mark with a (C), and those you have read on your 
 own account mark (R), and give the name of the book and 
 author. 
 Of history and biography. 
 
 Of literature, fiction, philosophy, essays, humor, nature books, etc. 
 Skill. What ability have you to put your knowledge in action, to 
 express your ideas through your body ? 
 
 What training and skill of hand have you in indus- 
 try? 
 
 Do you draw, paint, or sculp ? 
 Do you play any instrument ? What ? 
 Can you read or speak in public ? 
 
 What have you done in this line ? 
 Can you act or imitate others ? 
 
 What have you done in this direction? 
 Do you sing ? What part, etc. ? 
 
 Can you impart your knowledge ? Can you teach ? 
 Character. 
 
 Nothing is more vital than this. Health, ability, and character 
 are the main factors in the best success. High character linked 
 with ability — power and training of mind and body — can 
 accomplish almost anything. 
 
 In examining your characteristics and making up your mind 
 what traits should be developed and what repressed or extin- 
 guished, there are some broad tests you can use to great advan- 
 tage. Ask yourself the following questions, and act on the an- 
 swers you get from your conscience and insight : — 
 (1) "Would I like to have a strong novelist, like Victor Hugo, 
 Walter Scott, Thackeray, Howells, or the author of 'Sher- 
 lock Holmes,' describe me just as I am, — acts, words, 
 
 Skill of 
 the hand 
 
 Public 
 Speaking. 
 
 Singing. 
 
DISCUSSION OF PERSONAL DATA 
 
 37 
 
 thoughts, motives, turning the light on so the whole world 
 would know the exact truth about me ? " 
 
 (2) "What changes would I like to make in the picture?" 
 
 (3) "Can I not make those changes, or many of them, in the 
 
 original?" 
 
 (4) "Am I the kind of man I wish my sister to associate with, 
 
 become intimate with, and marry? If not, am I fit to 
 associate with her and with my mother and other nice 
 people ? " 
 
 (5) "Am I the kind of man I'd like to see the world full of ? If 
 
 not, what improvements must I put on myself in order to 
 win my own approval, and attain the type of manhood 
 I would be willing to have increase and multiply and 
 occupy the planet?" 
 
 You can test yourself in greater detail by putting a cross be- 
 neath each word that is in capitals, in the following list of char- 
 acteristics, which seems to you fairly applicable to yourself. 
 
 If you judge yourself to come between the traits named, as if 
 you think you are neither painstaking nor reckless, put your cross 
 mark on the line between the two extremes. 
 
 Do not fail to read the side notes carefully, and act on their 
 suggestions to the best of your ability. 
 
 Do not place too 
 much weight on your 
 estimates of your own 
 character, but do your 
 best to form true judg- 
 ments by looking at 
 your acts and words 
 and motives and judg- 
 ing them as you would 
 if they were the acts, 
 words, and motives of 
 another person. 
 
 After marking the 
 words that seem to ap- 
 ply to you, submit the 
 paper to friends who 
 know you well, to see 
 if they agree with your 
 markings. 
 
 Or, better still, ask 
 some of your best 
 friends to mark other 
 schedules to represent 
 
 HONEST 
 
 TRUTHFUL 
 
 CANDID 
 
 PBOMPT 
 
 RELIABLE 
 
 TRUSTWORTHY 
 
 DISHONEST 
 
 UNTRUTHFUL 
 
 DECEITFUL 
 
 DILATORY 
 
 UNRELIABLE 
 
 UNTRUSTWORTHY 
 
 In weighing yourself on this count, ask 
 yourself whether you do things that 
 you would consider evidence of dishon- 
 esty or untrustworthiness if others did 
 them ; and whether, if you were an em- 
 ployer, you would trust a person who 
 did or said these things with your money, 
 property, or business. 
 
 State the facts on which your conclusions 
 are based, especially the facts showing 
 
38 
 
 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 that you are or have been trusted or 
 have proved yourself worthy of trust. 
 
 JUST UNJUST 
 
 SQUARE UNFAIR 
 
 HONORABLE DISHONORABLE 
 
 HIGHMINDED LOWMINDED 
 
 Do you act in ways which when adopted 
 by others you regard as taking unfair 
 advantage, acting meanly or dishonor- 
 ably for the sake of money or against 
 justice and right, under the control of 
 low motives or selfish interests ? 
 
 CONSCIENTIOUS 
 STANDING FOR 
 THE RIGHT 
 REGARDLESS 
 OF CONSE- 
 QUENCES 
 
 UNSCRUPULOUS 
 
 WILLING TO DO 
 
 AND SAY QUESTION- 
 ABLE THINGS FOR 
 MONEY OR POSITION 
 OR OTHER ADVAN- 
 TAGES 
 
 Call to mind the specific facts. 
 
 When have you sacrificed advantage to 
 right ? 
 
 When have you sacrificed right to advan- 
 tage? 
 
 CAREFUL 
 PAINSTAKING 
 THOROUGH 
 EFFICIENT 
 
 CARELESS 
 RECKLESS 
 SLIPSHOD 
 INEFFICIENT 
 
 Do you do what you do the very best you 
 
 possibly can? 
 Tendency to Tendency to 
 
 concentrate spread attention and 
 
 on one or a effort over a wide 
 
 few things. field. 
 
 Many irons in the fire. 
 
 INDUSTRIOUS IDLE 
 
 HARD-WORKING SHIFTLESS 
 
 PERSISTENT CHANGEFUL 
 
 STEADY INTERMITTENT 
 
 their estimates of you, 
 and then compare 
 notes. 
 
 If two or three of you 
 work on separate pa- 
 pers at the same time, 
 and then see where 
 your markings differ 
 and discuss the reasons 
 frankly, you will get a 
 great deal of light on 
 your virtues and de- 
 fects. 
 
 You can simplify the 
 matter somewhat, per- 
 haps, by writing all the 
 good qualities in one 
 long column, and all 
 the undesirable charac- 
 teristics in a parallel 
 column ; then putting a 
 cross under each trait 
 you think is yours, or 
 two or more crosses if 
 you have the trait very 
 strongly developed. 
 
 You should revise 
 your judgments from 
 time to time with the 
 aid of your friends, and 
 note progress. 
 
 Make a list of the 
 shortcomings it seems 
 most important to elim- 
 inate as rapidly as pos- 
 sible, carry the list in 
 your pocket, run over 
 it every day, and note 
 what you have done to 
 get rid of the undesir- 
 able traits and form 
 opposite habits. 
 
 New habits will be 
 easily formed if you 
 give constant attention 
 and daily effort to the 
 task. 
 
 For instance, suppose 
 you are fighting un- 
 truthfulness, or care- 
 lessness, or bashfulness, 
 or lack of thoughtful- 
 ness and smiling court- 
 esy. Appoint some 
 
DISCUSSION OF PERSONAL DATA 
 
 39 
 
 ALEHT 
 
 ATTENTIVE 
 KEENLY ALIVE 
 QUICK 
 ACTIVE 
 ENERGETIC 
 
 EARNEST 
 ENTHUSIASTIC 
 
 DEEPLY INTER- 
 ESTED IN 
 WHAT YOU 
 ARE DOING 
 
 DULL OR ABSENT- 
 MINDED 
 
 INATTENTIVE 
 
 APATHETIC 
 
 SLOW 
 
 PASSIVE 
 
 WORKING AT LOW PRES- 
 SURE 
 
 INDIFFERENT 
 
 WITHOUT ZEAL OR EN- 
 THUSIASM 
 
 NO HEART INTEREST 
 IN WORK. WORKING 
 ONLY TO MAKE A 
 LIVING. 
 
 State the facts on which you base your 
 conclusions, and the reasons you mani- 
 fest traits in the right-hand column if 
 you conclude you have some of these 
 traits. 
 
 SELF-RELIANT 
 CONFIDENT 
 WILLING TO 
 LEAD 
 
 TIMID, RETIRING 
 DISTRUSTFUL OF SELF 
 INCLINED TO FOLLOW 
 
 friend your confessor, 
 and tell him or her 
 every success and every 
 failure, and in your 
 struggles the successes 
 will grow more and 
 more numerous and the 
 failures less frequent, 
 and with earnest per- 
 sistence the failures 
 will vanish and you 
 will have nothing but 
 success to record. 
 
 Then you are ready 
 to devote your atten- 
 tion to a new set of 
 shortcomings, and so 
 on until you have 
 rounded out all the 
 weak points in your 
 character. 
 
 After a little you can 
 impose a penalty on 
 yourself also, if you 
 choose, for every re- 
 lapse. Human nature 
 is plastic, and we can 
 make ourselves good or 
 bad, beautiful or ugly, 
 admirable or disgust- 
 ing, according to our 
 will and effort. 
 
 ORDERLY 
 
 SYSTEMATIC, METHODICAL 
 
 DISORDERLY OR INDIFFERENT 
 NO ATTENTION TO METHOD, 
 
 UNSYSTEMATIC 
 WORKING BY GUESS OR HABIT 
 
 INSTEAD OF A DEFINITE PLAN 
 
 HABITUALLY PLANNING 
 
 AND WORKING BY WELL- 
 CONSIDERED RULES 
 
 Do you plan your work carefully as you would if you were going 
 to build a house ? Do you use system and scientific method in 
 all you do ? 
 
 PROGRESSIVE UNPROGRESSIVE 
 
 FULL OF INITIATIVE AND PUSH NO INITIATIVE — SATISFIED TO 
 
 GO ALONG IN THE OLD WAY 
 
 Are you continually seeking new and better methods, and trying 
 to improve yourself and your work ? 
 
 OPEN-MINDED 
 TOLERANT 
 
 BIGOTED 
 INTOLERANT 
 
40 
 
 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 WILLING TQ LISTEN TO THOSE 
 WHO DIFFER FROM YOU, 
 AND TRY TO SEE THE 
 STRENGTH OF THEIR FACTS 
 AND REASONS 
 
 DOGMATIC, SURE YOU ARE 
 RIGHT. TREATING THE 
 IDEAS OF OTHERS WITH RIDI- 
 CULE, SCORN, OR INDIFFER- 
 ENCE, OR CLOSING THE MIND 
 AGAINST THEM 
 
 How do you feel toward people of different creed, or political or 
 economic faith ? Do you welcome their thought and try to see if 
 they have not caught some truth which has escaped you, or do 
 you feel sure they are wrong, before you hear them, and either 
 leave them alone with their error or talk with them only for 
 the purpose of convincing them of their mistakes, or of show- 
 ing apparent courtesy though really feeling no interest or wel- 
 come for their thought ? 
 
 REASONABLE 
 
 OPEN TO SUGGESTION AND 
 
 CRITICISMS 
 SENSIBLE 
 PRACTICAL 
 SEEING THINGS IN TRUE LIGHT 
 
 WELL-BALANCED, POSSESSED 
 
 OF "common sense" and 
 "horse sense" 
 
 WIDE-AWAKE 
 
 SHREWD 
 
 LONG-HEADED, FORESIGHTED 
 
 UNREASONABLE 
 SELF-OPINIONATED, 
 
 OBDURATE 
 
 FOOLISH 
 
 IMPRACTICAL 
 
 FANCIFUL, DREAMY, UP IN THE 
 AIR 
 
 UNBALANCED, LACKING IN COM- 
 MON SENSE, MAKING FRE- 
 QUENT BLUNDERS, UNABLE 
 TO MAKE THINGS COME OUT 
 AS INTENDED 
 
 GREEN 
 
 EASILY IMPOSED ON 
 
 LACKING IN FORESIGHT AND 
 SHREWDNESS 
 
 Think how often you have been imposed upon, and how often 
 things have developed the way you thought they would, and how 
 often not. On foresight is founded our control of the future. 
 
 KINDLY 
 SYMPATHETIC 
 
 CRUEL, HARSH, INDIFFERENT 
 UNSYMPATHETIC 
 
 Do you love animals, children, nature ? 
 
 What pets have you had ? 
 
 How did you make them do as you wished ? 
 
 What kinds of people do you like ? 
 
 What kinds do you dislike, and how do you treat them ? 
 
DISCUSSION OF PERSONAL DATA 41 
 
 How do you act toward people who abuse you, or say mean things 
 
 about you ? 
 Ask yourself what you have done that might show kindliness and 
 
 sympathy, and why you did these things. 
 
 HEARTY COLD 
 
 CORDIAL INDIFFERENT 
 
 AFFECTIONATE UNAFFECTIONATE 
 
 LOVING TENDENCY TO HATRED, DISLIKE, 
 
 ANTAGONISM 
 DEMONSTRATIVE UNDEMONSTRATIVE 
 
 Do you show your good-will and affection, or are you keeping 
 them bottled up for use in some future epoch, or on another 
 planet, or after the funerals of your relatives or friends ? 
 
 RESPECTFUL DISRESPECTFUL 
 
 COURTEOUS DISCOURTEOUS 
 
 THOUGHTFUL OF OTHERS BOORISH 
 
 Or negative in attitude toward others, neither courteous nor 
 discourteous ? 
 Tact. — Can you manage people well ? State the evidence. 
 Can you make people do as you wish by persuasion, 
 or by leading them to adopt the suggestion as their 
 own idea and act on it ? 
 Do you make people feel comfortable and happy 
 
 when you are with them ? 
 Do they seek your society and seem anxious to 
 have you with them ? 
 
 If not, what do you think is the reason ? 
 Taste. — Do you know a fine picture when you see it ? 
 
 Are you fond of pictures ? Of music ? What kinds ? 
 Can you name some of your favorite pictures and 
 
 pieces of music ? 
 Can you tell an elegantly dressed person from OHe 
 
 who is gaudily dressed? 
 Can you tell whether a lady's hair is becomingly put 
 
 up or not? 
 Do you constantly ask yourself if your words and 
 conduct are in good taste ? 
 Temper. — Do you get angry easily ? 
 
 What sort of things make you angry most quickly ? 
 
42 
 
 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 How many times have you been provoked during the 
 
 last year ? 
 What were the causes ? 
 What did you do ? 
 What fights or quarrels have you had in your life and 
 
 why? 
 General disposition and make-up. 
 
 SELFISH 
 
 SOCIABLE 
 
 TALKATIVE 
 
 WELL-SPOKEN 
 
 SELF-POSSESSED, CONFIDENT 
 
 BOLD 
 COURAGEOUS 
 
 GENEROUS 
 FREE-HANDED 
 BENEVOLENT 
 GOOD-NATURED, CHEERY 
 MIRTHFUL, MERRY, JOYOUS, 
 LIGHT-HEARTED 
 
 CALM, SERENE 
 SELF-POISED 
 
 deliberate, acting on sober 
 judgment after consultation 
 and reflection 
 
 OPTIMISTIC 
 
 BUOYANT 
 
 HOPEFUL 
 
 CONTENTED 
 
 TENDENCY TO LOOK ON THE 
 
 BRIGHT SIDE 
 A SPIRIT OF BROAD HUMANITY 
 QUIET 
 GENTLE 
 REVERENT 
 DEMOCRATIC 
 
 UNSELFISH 
 
 UNSOCIAL 
 
 TACITURN 
 
 GOSSIPY 
 
 SENSITIVE, EASILY EMBAR- 
 RASSED 
 
 VAIN AND EGOTISTIC, SELF- 
 CONCEITED 
 
 BASHFUL 
 
 TIMID, SHRINKING, OR COW- 
 ARDLY 
 
 AVARICIOUS 
 
 MISERLY 
 
 CLOSE-FISTED 
 
 ILL-TEMPERED, SOUR, PEEVISH 
 
 MELANCHOLY, MOROSE, FRET- 
 FUL, FAULT-FINDING, SAR- 
 CASTIC, BITTER 
 
 NERVOUS, EXCITABLE 
 
 EXPLOSIVE 
 
 HASTY, IMPULSIVE 
 
 PESSIMISTIC 
 
 GLOOMY, FOREBODING 
 
 DESPONDENT, DISCOURAGED 
 
 DISSATISFIED, ENVIOUS 
 
 TENDENCY TO LOOK ON THE 
 DARK SIDE 
 
 NARROW, CLANNISH 
 
 NOISY 
 
 STERN 
 
 IRREVERENT 
 
 AUTOCRATIC, SNOBBISH, DES- 
 POTIC 
 
DISCUSSION OF PERSONAL DATA 45 
 
 COOPERATIVE COMBATIVE, AGGRESSIVE 
 
 FINE AND STEADFAST IN UNRELIABLE, CHANGEABLE, 
 
 FRIENDSHIP TREACHEROUS 
 
 FRANK, CANDID, OPEN-HEARTED SECRETIVE, CUNNING, UNDER- 
 HANDED 
 TRUSTFUL, FORGIVING JEALOUS, SUSPICIOUS 
 
 Will, weak, yielding, vacillating; or firm, strong, self-willed, 
 
 stubborn ? 
 Judgment. — Are you hasty and impulsive ? 
 
 Or have you such mastery of yourself, such self- 
 control, that you are able to act contrary to 
 present inclinations for the sake of future bene- 
 fit? 
 This is where foresight, judgment, and will-power unite to form 
 one of the most vital and important elements of a strong charac- 
 ter. To subordinate the present to the future and the lower nature 
 to the higher, to form the habit of giving up a present pleasure for 
 a greater future good, is one of the distinguishing marks of high 
 type manhood and womanhood. 
 Purity in word, deed, thought. 
 
 No answer is asked for here, for one who is impure cannot 
 usually be trusted to tell the truth about it except to his own con- 
 science. But he should never allow himself to forget that as long 
 as he is impure he is living a tainted life, sacrificing his best to his 
 lowest nature, and that there cannot be two standards; if he is 
 acting or thinking in a way he would not wish his sister to think 
 or act, he is not fit to look her or any other good woman in the 
 eye or associate with her. 
 
 Temperance in food, drink, work, and amusement ? 
 Humor. — Are you fond of humor ? 
 
 What humorous books have you read? 
 Can you take a joke on yourself ? 
 Can you make a joke ? 
 
 Do you fix funny incidents and stories in your mem- 
 ory, and tell them to your friends ? 
 Good fellowship. 
 Do you like to be with people ? 
 And do they like to be with you ? 
 Public spirit, patriotism, civic interest. 
 Are you a citizen ? 
 If not, have you taken the proper steps to become one? 
 
44 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 Do you always vote at primaries ? At elections ? 
 
 What means do you take to find out what men to vote for ? 
 
 Do you read more than one paper ? 
 
 Do you read any paper that is opposed to your party or political 
 
 ideas? 
 What public questions are you specially interested in ? 
 What have you done that shows your interest in public affairs ? 
 Temperament. — Phlegmatic, buoyant, bilious, emotional. 
 Balance, or relative proportion of physical, mental, and emotional 
 
 life and activities. 
 Reputation. 
 
 Ideals and theories of life and the world. 
 Friends. 
 How many intimate friends have you ? 
 Describe the closest. 
 
 Are you planning to form further friendships ? 
 With what sort of people ? 
 By what means ? 
 For what ends ? 
 Personality. — Attractive or not, on the whole. 
 Have you observed why you are drawn to the men and women 
 who attract you most ? And examined to what degree you 
 have the same qualities, and to what extent, they are offset 
 or nullified by unattractive or repellent qualities ? 
 
THE METHOD IN OUTLINE 
 
 In brief outline the Method of the Vocation Counselor is as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 I. Personal Data. 
 
 A careful statement, on paper, of the principal facts 
 about the person, bringing out particularly every fact 
 that has a bearing on the vocational problem. 
 
 II. Self-Analysis. 
 
 A self-examination, on paper, done in private, under 
 instructions of the counselor, developing specially 
 every tendency and interest that should affect the 
 choice of a life work. 
 III. The Person's own Choice and Decision. 
 
 In a great majority of cases this will show itself 
 in a marked degree before the work under I and II is 
 finished. It must always be borne in mind that the 
 choice of a vocation should be made by each person 
 for himself rather than by any one else for him. The 
 counselor can only guide, correct, advise, assist the 
 candidate in making his own final choice. 
 IV. Counselor's Analysis. 
 
 On the basis of the information obtained under I 
 and II, so far as possible the counselor should test III 
 by making an analysis under each of the following 
 heads, seeking in every line for significance in the line 
 of the main quest : — 
 
 1. Heredity and circumstance. 
 
 2. Temperament and natural equipment. 
 S. Face and character. 
 
 4. Education and experience. 
 
 5. Dominant interests. 
 
 V. Outlook on the Vocational Field. 
 
 One who would be a vocational counselor should 
 
46 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 familiarize himself in a high degree with industrial 
 knowledge, and he will need some knowledge, as we 
 have indicated in Part III of this book, that is not 
 at present easily obtained. Investigations to be un- 
 dertaken at once are : — 
 
 1. Lists and classifications of industries and voca- 
 
 tions. 
 
 2. The conditions of success in the various voca- 
 
 tions. 
 
 3. General information about industries, up-to- 
 
 date, the kind that is found in current maga- 
 zines and papers rather than in books. 
 
 4. Apprenticeship systems now in practice. 
 
 5. Vocational schools and courses available in your 
 
 city and state. 
 
 6. Employment agencies and opportunities. 
 
 VI. Induction and Advice. 
 
 This calls for clear thinking, logical reasoning, a 
 careful, painstaking weighing of all the evidence, 
 a broad-minded attitude toward the whole problem, 
 tact, sympathy, wisdom. 
 
 VII. General Helpfulness in Fitting into the Chosen ' 
 
 Work. 
 
PART II 
 THE INDUSTRIAL INVESTIGATION 
 
VI 
 
 THE CONDITIONS OF EFFICIENCY AND SUCCESS 
 IN DIFFERENT INDUSTRIES 
 
 Fundamental Requisites and Special Aptitudes, Abilities, 
 Interests, Ambitions, and Traits of Character, in their 
 Relations to Efficient Service and Industrial Success. 
 
 I. Fundamentals, applicable in large measure to all 
 industries : 
 
 Health Thoroughness Promptness Reliability 
 Interest Enthusiasm System Foresight 
 
 Endurance Persistence Common Sense Will Power 
 Energy Honesty Memory Judgment 
 
 Analytic method is an important factor, especially in 
 
 intellectual pursuits, executive functions, and management. 
 
 A reasonable degree of cooperativeness is also essential 
 
 to first-class success in nearly all lines of effort, and love 
 
 of the work necessary to the best and fullest success. 
 
 It is true that in some rare cases, like those of Herbert 
 Spencer and Alexander Pope, men may win success by the 
 force of extraordinary genius in spite of ill health or physi- 
 cal disability. But such cases are very unusual, and for all 
 ordinary cases it is substantially true that health is essen- 
 tial to success, and must be cultivated and safeguarded 
 with the greatest care, as a fundamental requisite for bodily 
 or mental achievement and the attainment of success and 
 happiness. Knowledge of and obedience to the laws of 
 health will pay bigger dividends than any other equal 
 investment of time and effort. 
 
 It is also true that a certain appearance of success may 
 be obtained without a full equipment of honesty. The 
 
50 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 burglar, the maker and vender of quack medicines and 
 adulterated foods, the man engaged in the organized 
 traffic for the manufacture of drunkards, the gambler, the 
 commercial pirate who captures the wealth of others by 
 means of railroad rebates or other unlawful advantages, 
 the political pirate who corrupts our governments for 
 plunder, — such men may secure the sham success, the 
 pretense of prosperity that comes with the mere possession 
 of money; but they cannot attain a real and lasting suc- 
 cess, for that is beyond the reach of dishonesty. The 
 burglar, the grafter, the commercial pirate, and their kind 
 are in partnership with danger. Fear is their constant 
 companion. The consciousness of evil and social disap- 
 proval and possible punishment poisons their lives. They 
 are incapable of the free, full, abounding happiness that 
 comes with a life of efficient service in harmony with social 
 well-being. Even where the business of the pirate is partly 
 or wholly within the law, as in case of the licensed saloon, 
 there is no telling how soon the moral sense of the com- 
 munity may subject it to outlawry as well as ostracism. 
 There is no true success, no success worth having, that 
 rests on the dangerous and unstable basis of fraud and 
 wrong. Even John D. Rockefeller, with all his millions, 
 would have been a far happier man with an honest com- 
 petence and the respect of his fellow men, than he can -be 
 now with the consciousness of the merited condemnation 
 of all right-thinking people and the persistent hounding 
 of the law that may at last bring him to justice for its 
 violation, and compel him to pass his last days in ignominy 
 and disgrace, if not in actual confinement. It is better to 
 build a small house on the solid rock than to erect a palace 
 on the quicksand. 
 
 II. The following particular conditions applicable to 
 special industries or groups of industries are given, not as 
 being comprehensive or necessarily accurate, but as illus- 
 trating the method applicable to any particular case. Some 
 
CONDITIONS OF EFFICIENCY 51 
 
 of these special conditions arise simply from the fact that 
 full success in the line indicated demands, in special 
 amount or emphatic degree, one or more of the funda- 
 mentals. 
 
 (1) Agriculture, Horticulture, Floriculture, etc. 
 
 Knowledge of soil, crops, processes, etc., best obtained by 
 experience, linked with scientific study of the principles 
 of the subject in a good school of agriculture, etc. 
 
 Knowledge of the market and adaptation to it. 
 
 Possession of a good area. 
 
 A good degree of business capacity. 
 
 (2) Stock-raising, Dairying, and other Animal Industries. 
 
 Knowledge of the life and habits of the animals to be dealt 
 
 with. 
 Sympathy with them and love for them. 
 Knowledge of the market and adaptation to it. 
 Capital, or management, or lease. 
 A good degree of business capacity. 
 
 (3) Mining, Quarrying, etc. 
 
 Prospecting : 
 
 Rugged health. 
 
 Knowledge of geology, metallurgy, and chemistry. 
 Operating : 
 
 Scientific knowledge of machinery and processes (or 
 means to hire it). 
 
 Knowledge of the market. 
 
 Business ability. 
 
 (4) Mechanical Trades, Manufacturing and Construction, 
 Transportation, etc. 
 
 (a) Journeymen: 
 
 Skill of hand and eye. Knowledge of the trade. 
 
 Care, accuracy, Ability to draw and to work 
 
 quickness, loyalty, by drawings, 
 
 hearty obedience to 
 orders. 
 
 Making employer's interest your own. 
 
 Working as if the business were yours, or recognizing 
 that in a very important sense it is yours as long as 
 you are putting your life into it and depending on it 
 for livelihood, promotion, and development. 
 
52 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 (6) Foremen, Superintendents, etc.: 
 
 Skill of hand and eye, and all essential qualities of 
 
 journeymen. 
 Making employer's interest your own, etc. 
 Executive power, system. 
 Ability to get along with men and get the best out of 
 
 them. 
 Knowledge of human nature. 
 Sympathy, appreciation. 
 Firm, kindly, tactful discipline, 
 (c) Owners, Managers, Heads of Departments: 
 
 All the qualifications of journeymen and fore- 
 men. 
 Organizing ability in proportion to the size and 
 
 weight of the enterprise. 
 Knowledge of the market and adaptation to it. 
 Foresight, breadth and clearness of view. 
 The money sense. 
 Resources, inventiveness or ability to recognize and 
 
 adopt new ideas of others. 
 Tireless planning and effort for improvement and 
 development, to keep abreast of the times, and up 
 to or ahead of competitors. 
 
 ■ « Inventiveness is very 
 
 Location, capital, advertising, valuablethroughout this 
 
 inventiveness, construe- gjroup, but is not essen- 
 
 tive, human, and artistic tial "* the ability to re- 
 ,... . ., cognize and adopt new 
 
 qualities of mind. y^ k pe rsistei r t . 
 
 (5) Commerce : Wholesale and Retail, Buying and Selling. 
 
 (a) General sales force: 
 
 Knowledge of the goods. 
 Tact and skill in dealing 
 
 with people. 
 Knowledge of human Absolute reliability both 
 
 nature. in relations to employers 
 
 Care of stock and and customers. 
 
 perfect knowledge Attention, care, accuracy, 
 
 of its location. quickness, enthusiasm, loy- 
 
 A spirit of genuine alty. 
 
CONDITIONS OF EFFICIENCY 53 
 
 Extending to custom- 
 ers the courtesy, 
 consideration, and 
 helpfulness you 
 would desire in their 
 place. 
 
 Pleasant manners, cordial smile, etc. 
 
 Pleasant voice, well modulated. 
 
 Good conversational ability. 
 
 Attractive appearance, neatness, etc. 
 
 Good disposition, cooperative, good team-worker, 
 patience, sympathy, good humor. 
 (6) Floor superintendents, foremen and forewomen, etc. 
 
 Knowledge of the goods, and all the accomplish- 
 ments of salespeople in larger degree. 
 
 Executive ability. 
 
 System. 
 
 (c) Merchandise people, Buyers and Assistant Buyers, etc. 
 
 Knowledge of goods to a fine art. 
 
 Knowledge of market. 
 
 Judgment, foresight. 
 
 Energy, push, enterprise, resource, inventiveness. 
 
 Tact in dealing with people. 
 
 (d) Owners, Managers, Heads of Departments : 
 
 Skill of hand and eye. Knowledge of the trade. 
 Care, accuracy, quick- Ability to draw and to work 
 
 ness, loyalty, hearty by drawings. 
 
 obedience to orders. 
 Working as if the business was yours, etc. 
 Executive power, system. 
 Ability to get along with men and to get the best out 
 
 of them. 
 Knowledge of human nature. 
 Sympathy, appreciation. 
 Firm, kindly, tactful discipline. 
 Organizing ability in proportion to the size and 
 
 weight of the enterprise. 
 
 (6) Finance, Banking, Investment, etc. 
 (a) Cashiers, clerks, etc. : 
 
 Absolute reliability. High character. 
 
54 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 Skill in special work. Prompt, accurate, cheer- 
 ful service. 
 
 (b) Owners, managers, etc.: 
 
 Broad knowledge of business affairs. 
 
 Good judgment, caution. 
 
 Foresight. 
 
 Good business connections. 
 
 Reputation for sound judgment, square dealing, 
 
 honesty, reliability, etc. 
 Ability to pick out the right men and get good 
 
 results out of them. 
 Organizing and executive power. 
 
 (7) Agencies, office work, etc. 
 
 (a) General force: 
 
 Reliability, skill in special work. 
 
 Persuasive power, tact in dealing with people. 
 
 (6) Stenographic Force: 
 
 Technical skill, knowledge of English, care, accu- 
 racy, common sense. 
 
 (c) Managers : 
 
 Executive ability, organizing power, energy, push, 
 enterprise, tact, cooperation. 
 
 Knowledge of the business. 
 
 Knowledge of human nature. 
 
 Ability to pick out the right men and get good re- 
 sults from them. 
 
 Throughout the Business Groups with which we have 
 been dealing, executive power, organizing ability, system, 
 energy, push, enterprise, inventiveness, resource, know- 
 ledge of business and markets, knowledge of human na- 
 ture and tact in dealing with it, judgment, foresight, the 
 money sense, are all very important factors in achieving 
 the highest success and efficiency in the highest positions. 
 
 The contrast in the conditions of attaining high success 
 in professional life and in business is very instructive. 
 
 The professional man, as a The business man, as a rule, 
 rule, 
 
CONDITIONS OF EFFICIENCY 
 
 55 
 
 1. Needs a great deal of 
 
 book knowledge. 
 
 2. Special training in his 
 
 business. 
 
 3. And must understand 
 
 people. 
 
 But does not need 
 organizing or executive abil- 
 ity in special measure, 
 nor the money sense or 
 
 financial judgment. 
 Nor in most cases does he 
 need either the coopera- 
 tive spirit or competitive 
 push in so high a degree as 
 the business man. 
 The professional man 
 is an independent individual 
 power. 
 
 (8) The Professions. 
 
 Needs comparatively little book 
 knowledge. 
 
 Must know things, goods, mark- 
 ets, processes, etc. 
 
 And must understand people. 
 
 He also needs 
 
 organizing and executive ability in 
 large measure, 
 
 and the money sense or financial 
 judgment. 
 
 And the cooperative make-up as 
 well as the push essential to ag- 
 gressive competition. 
 
 The business man 
 must build a big machine, includ- 
 ing many human beings. 
 
 (a) Teaching: 
 
 Love of the work, enthusiasm, sympathy with and 
 interest in young people, character that commands 
 respect, knowledge of the subject to be taught; 
 knowledge of human nature; knowledge of 
 method. 
 
 Health, endurance, patience, common sense, judg- 
 ment, tact, good nature. 
 
 Memory, imagination, inventiveness, humor. 
 
 (6) Preaching and the Ministry: 
 
 Consecration to high ideals and standards of action. 
 
 Capacity for sacrificing the lower to the higher im- 
 pulses and motives. 
 
 Admirable character. 
 
 Lovable personality. 
 
 Sympathy, deep, alive, active, expressing itself in 
 deeds as well as words. 
 
 Common sense. 
 
 Power of expression. 
 
56 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 Knowledge of human nature and life, its joys and 
 
 sorrows, hopes and fears. 
 Knowledge of ethical literature, history, government, 
 
 industry, and science. 
 Memory, imagination, and humor. 
 Attractive appearance and address. 
 Pleasant voice, smile, handshake, etc. 
 
 (c) Authorship: 
 
 Vital knowledge of important subject or life expe- 
 rience. 
 
 Power of expression, skill in marshaling ideas in 
 good order and attractive form. 
 
 Style, clearness, force, unity, inventiveness, sym- 
 pathy, humor, earnestness, industry, knowledge 
 of human nature, reputation, position, authority 
 in reference to the subject, etc., location, friend- 
 ship, etc. 
 
 Timeliness or adaptation to the age and interest of 
 the people. 
 
 The news sense. 
 
 (d) Journalism: 
 
 Head line skill and inventiveness. 
 
 Power of expression, style, etc. (See Authorship.) 
 
 Common sense, good judgment, enterprise, push, 
 assertiveness, knowledge of the community, poli- 
 tics, business, public men, history, etc. 
 
 Business Management. 
 
 (e) Medicine, Surgery, Dentistry: 
 
 Skill in diagnosis, which depends on knowledge of 
 the body, symptoms, diseases, etc. 
 
 Powers of observation and analysis. 
 
 Constructive reasoning, or putting all the facts 
 together to make a valid working hypothesis or 
 rational conclusion on the whole case. 
 
 Skill in treatment, delicate adaptation to the indi- 
 vidual case. 
 
 Caution, resource, knowledge of remedies. 
 
 Memory — volumes of facts. Nerve. 
 
 Sympathy. Eyesight. 
 
 Pleasing address. Mechanical ability. 
 
CONDITIONS OF EFFICIENCY 57 
 
 Attractive personality. Inventiveness. 
 
 Fine Character. Health. 
 
 Love of the work. 
 Resources to buy a practice or live while building 
 one. 
 
 (/) Engineering: 
 
 High scientific ability, mathematical, mechanical, 
 
 analytic, constructive. 
 Years of special scientific training. Organizing 
 
 power. Ability to manage men. 
 
 (g) Architecture: 
 
 Constructive mind, inventive and adaptive power. 
 
 Sense of harmony and proportion. 
 
 Imagination and artistic bent. 
 
 Knowledge of principles and history of architecture! 
 
 Technical skill. 
 
 Travel and visual acquaintance with best examples 
 
 of architecture in various cities and countries. 
 Wide culture, to develop power to express the best 
 
 spirit of the time in architectural form. 
 
 (h) The Law: 
 
 Understanding of human character and motives. 
 
 Ability to deal with and influence men. 
 
 Power of expression. 
 
 Power of observation. 
 
 Power of memory. 
 
 Power of reason. 
 
 Power of imagination. 
 
 Common sense, clear thought, and forceful argument 
 
 Integrity, reliability. 
 
 Humor, sympathy, kindliness, courtesy, combative- 
 ness, persistence, indomitable will, resourceful- 
 ness, inventiveness, knowledge of law, knowledge 
 of business and industry, knowledge of history, 
 science, literature, art. 
 
 Location. 
 
 Connections. 
 
 Resources. 
 
 Good appearance and address. 
 
58 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 (i) Statesmanship: 
 
 All the requirements for success in the law. 
 
 A knowledge of statecraft, diplomacy, political his. 
 tory and machinery, public men, public questions, 
 the principal movements of the time, and inter- 
 state and international relations, etc. 
 
 Knowledge of men. 
 
 Memory for names and faces. 
 
 Organizing and executive power. 
 
 Constructive mind. 
 
 Cooperative make-up. 
 
 Organizing and directing ability of the highest type. 
 
 Commanding character and attainments. 
 
 Tact, courtesy, attractive personality. 
 
 (9J Semi-Professional Work: 
 
 (a) Politics, Legislature, Council, Elective Office. 
 Distinguished service or ability. 
 Identification with wealth or representative of a 
 
 popular cause. 
 Influential friends. 
 Oratorical power. 
 Interest in public affairs. 
 
 Effective pushing of some important movement. 
 Readiness to render small services. 
 Good fellowship. 
 Memory of names and faces. 
 Wide acquaintance. 
 Common sense. 
 Humor. 
 
 Attractive personality. 
 Fine appearance and address. 
 
 (6) Lecturing, public platform work. 
 
 Personality. — Distinguished service, fame, person 
 people wish to see and hear on account of what 
 he has done. 
 
 Popular cause or movement. — Vital knowledge of 
 important subject. Attractive method of presen- 
 tation. 
 
 Style. — Simple, clear, forceful, rapid movement, 
 
CONDITIONS OF EFFICIENCY 59 
 
 humor, appeal to the ideas and emotions of the 
 average mind of the audiences. 
 
 Oratory. — Oratorical power, voice modulation, 
 times of speech, vitality, earnestness, use of 
 pause, gesture, facial expression, etc. 
 
 Novelty — advertising. 
 (c) Secretarial work: 
 
 Skill in correspondence. 
 
 Reliability, courtesy. 
 
 Care, accuracy. 
 
 Trustworthiness. 
 
 Knowledge of analytic method and research. 
 Knowledge of business, economics, public questions, 
 etc., is also necessary in many cases, especially 
 in employment by associations, corporations, 
 trade unions, civic organizations, or leading men 
 of affairs. 
 
 Organizing ability is frequently called for. 
 
 Tact, energy, push, and common sense. 
 
 (10) Artistic employments: 
 (a) Illustrating: 
 
 Technical skill. 
 
 Imagination. 
 
 Wide culture to give understanding and wealth 
 of material. 
 
 Common sense and judgment in choice of subject. 
 
 Appreciation of reader's standpoint. 
 (6) Cartoon work: 
 
 Technical skill and training. 
 
 Knowledge of political affairs and current events. 
 
 Imagination. 
 
 Inventiveness. 
 
 Humor. 
 
 (c) Engraving: 
 
 Long and untiring practice. 
 Delicacy of touch, with firmness and certainty. 
 Extraordinary skill of hand and eye. 
 Perfection of nerve tone and control. 
 
 (d) Photography: 
 
 Ability to choose the best pose. 
 
CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 Tact to get the "patient" in good humor, and 
 bring out the best expression. 
 
 Skill to squeeze the bulb at the psychologic mo- 
 ment. 
 
 Artistic sense of form proportion, light and shade. 
 
 Technique. 
 
 Courtesy. 
 
 (e) Painting: 
 
 Artistic temperament, passion for form and color. 
 
 Color sense, form proportion. 
 
 Ability to choose an artistic subject, a subject 
 
 worthy of the skill of an artist. 
 Knowledge of composition. 
 Technical skill with the brush. 
 
 (J) Sculpture: 
 
 Form, idealism, technique. 
 
 Artistic temperament, passion for form and its 
 
 expression. 
 Fine sense of form and proportion. 
 Power to symbolize life, motion, and emotion in 
 
 form. 
 Mastery of technique. I 
 
 (g) Landscape gardening: 
 
 Sense of form and color and proportion. 
 
 Ability to make pictures on a large scale, not on 
 canvas, with real trees and grass, buildings, 
 fountains, lakes, and sky. 
 
 Artistic sense, and a brain full of images of beauti- 
 ful scenes. 
 
 Imagination, technique, experience. 
 
 (h) Music: 
 Vocal : 
 Artistic temperament, natural gifts, musical 
 
 memory. 
 Persistent culture. 
 Modulation and expression. 
 Good appearance. 
 Instrumental : 
 Artistic temperament. 
 Natural gifts — musical memory. 
 
CONDITIONS OF EFFICIENCY 61 
 
 Persistent culture. 
 Modulation of expression. 
 Good appearance. 
 Manual skill. 
 Composition : 
 Artistic temperament. 
 Natural gifts. 
 Musical memory. 
 Inventiveness. 
 Imagination. 
 Ability by natural training to express emotion 
 
 in harmonious combination of sound. 
 Study of best music, methods of composition, 
 etc. 
 (t) Acting: 
 
 The artistic temperament. 
 
 Emotional nature, and a passion for expression 
 
 by voice and movement. . 
 Naturalness, repose, control, ability to express 
 without over-expression, or excitement that tears 
 the passion to tatters. 
 Memory, confidence, tireless industry. 
 Health and strength to stand the tremendous 
 strain of rehearsals and continuous performances. 
 Fine appearance. 
 Opportunity. 
 (j) Elocution : 
 
 Training and technique. 
 
 Good voice, musical, full of life, well trained. 
 
 Judgment in choice of selections interesting to 
 
 audience. 
 Modulation, expression, sympathy, personal power. 
 Attractive appearance and personality. 
 (11) Public service: 
 
 Post Office — Memory, geography, ability to decipher 
 
 handwriting. 
 Police — Courage, strength, knowledge of human nature. 
 Fire Department — Quickness, fearlessness, agility, etc. 
 Army and Navy — Physical tests, obedience, etc. 
 Government Clerks — Accuracy, mathematics, special 
 training. 
 
62 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 Consular Service — Languages, law, love of travel, eta 
 Diplomacy, Ambassadors, etc. — Legal training, lan- 
 guages, etc. 
 
 (12) Social Work: 
 
 Love of the service, enthusiasm, character commanding 
 respect. 
 
 Power of expression. 
 
 Organizing ability. 
 
 Understanding of the people among whom the work is 
 to be done. 
 
 Knowledge of human nature in general. 
 
 Knowledge of society, government, industry. 
 
 Sympathy, tact, humor, cooperation. 
 
 Patience, kindliness, high ideals. 
 
 Good general education. 
 
 Special training in social problems, organizations, re- 
 search, etc. 
 
 Attractive personality. 
 
 EFFICIENCY RECORDS 
 
 Employers of labor are becoming more scientific in their 
 methods of judging the people who work for them. Snap 
 judgments and guesswork are becoming a thing of the past. 
 As indicating this tendency, I have secured permission to 
 present here in part the schedules used in a certain large 
 department store. There are three sets of record forms : 
 one for executives, one for salespeople, and one for all other 
 positions. The record for executives is varied by specific 
 tests for the different classes of executives. Its general 
 terms are as follows : — 
 
 Name 
 I. Personal Data 
 
 Date Entered t Positions Held 
 
 Previous Experience 
 
 Education 
 
 II. General Requirements Merita Date Date Date Date Date Date Date 
 Rating by the Manager 
 Character 100 
 
 Health 100 
 
 Intelligence 100 
 
 Capacity for Learning 100 
 
 Every employee must stand at not less than 75% in each of these points. 
 A health rating of 60%, if temporary, may be allowed. 
 
CONDITIONS OF EFFICIENCY 63 
 
 III. Results 
 
 Rating by Head of Department 
 
 In Work Merits Date Date Date .Date Date Date 
 
 Work Well Organized 24 
 
 Work Done Promptly 24 
 
 Work Done Thoroughly 24 
 
 Proper Control of Expense 24 
 
 In Handling Employees Merits Date Date Date Date Date Date 
 
 Satisfactory Results from Subor- 
 dinates 24 
 
 Satisfactory Relations with Subordi- 
 nates 24 
 
 Subordinates Developing Efficiency 24 
 
 Training an Understudy 24 
 
 In Executive Qualities 
 Initiative 
 Doing it without being told to. 
 Jumping over red tape for results. 
 Going ahead without waiting for 
 the other fellow. 20 
 
 Responsibility 
 Faithfulness, regularity, punctual- 
 ity, accuracy, balanced* safe 
 judgment. 20 
 
 Concentration 
 Getting the thing done. No side 
 tracks. Sticking to it. Capacity 
 for work. Persistence. Will Power. 
 Does he hit the nail on the head 
 until it is driven. 20 
 
 Progressiveness 
 Is he growing? Does he study? 
 Open-minded? Is he devoted to 
 things as they are or to things as 
 they ought to be? 20 
 
 Knowledge 
 Broad acquaintance among people. 
 Human nature. Hia job. Our sys- 
 tem. Other stores. Successful men 
 and methods. Books. 20 
 
 Total _ 
 
 No rating carrying less than 200 merits is passable. Temporary allowance may 
 be made for merits under IV. 
 
 IV. Outlook for Future Results 
 Merita assigned by Superintendent 
 Studies 24 
 Personal Sacrifices for Success 24 
 Temporary Handicaps 48 
 Intelligent Ambition 10 
 Sane Enthusiasm 10 
 Courage 10 
 Energy 10 
 Suggestions 6 
 Helpfulness to others 5 
 
 Total _ 
 The limit of merits allowable to each item is indicated in first column. 
 
 Rating marks indicate as follows : — 
 
64 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 A (best) 100%; B (good) 75%; C (medium) 50%; 
 D (poor) 25%;E0%. 
 
 Percentage ratings may be used to indicate finer dis- 
 tinctions. 
 
 The record for salespeople in addition to I and II above, 
 is as follows : — 
 
 III. Special Qualifications Merita Data Date Date Date Date 
 
 Hating by Superintendent 
 
 Salesmanship Training 100 
 
 Manners 100 
 
 Voice 100 
 
 Physique 100 
 
 Dress 100 
 
 English 100 
 
 Speed 100 
 
 Accuracy 100 
 
 Energy 100 
 
 Taste (Buyer) 100 
 
 Love for the Work 100 
 
 Capacity for Work 100 
 Average 
 Every salesperson must have an average of at least 50% in Special Qualifi- 
 cations. 
 
 IV. Results 
 
 Rating by Floor Manager 
 
 Filling Quotas 20 
 
 Average Rating 20 
 
 Service to Customers 16 
 
 Selling Profitable Merchandise 12 
 
 Merchandise Calls 10 
 
 Travelers 4 
 
 Stock Keeper 8 
 
 Stock Display (Buyer) 4 
 
 Punctual 2 
 
 Regular 2 
 
 Cheerful Compliance with Orders 2 
 
 Total 
 No rating of less than 75% in Results is passable, unless offset by m or v. 
 All over 75% average under in, and all merits under v, may be temporarily 
 added to the total under iv. 
 
 V. Outlook for Future Results 
 Merita assigned by Head Floor Manager 
 
 Studies 5 
 
 Personal Sacrifices for Success 5 
 
 Temporary Handicaps 10 
 
 Questions about Goods 5 
 
 Sales Class Work 5 
 
 Suggestions 3 
 
 Helpfulness to Others 3 
 
 Executive Qualities 10 
 
 100 
 Total 
 The limit of Merits allowable to each item is shown in first column. 
 
 The record for persons in non-executive and non-sell- 
 ing positions is similar in general terms to the foregoing, 
 and is varied for the different positions according to the 
 judgment of the superintendent. 
 
VII 
 
 CLASSIFICATIONS OF INDUSTRIES 
 
 Each vocational counselor should make a thorough and 
 detailed classification of the vocations. As no such list 
 of vocations can be permanent, and as any list will prob- 
 ably be incomplete, I shall not attempt to present one here. 
 On broad lines I would group the different industrial pur- 
 suits as follows : — 
 
 1. Agencies and Office Work. 
 
 2. Agricultural. 
 
 3. Artistic. 
 
 4. Commercial. 
 
 5. Domestic and Personal Service. 
 
 6. Fishing. 
 
 7. Manufacturing. 
 
 8. Mechanical, Building, and Construction. 
 
 9. Professional and Semi-professional. 
 
 10. Transportation. 
 
 11. Miscellaneous Industries. 
 
 One of the first tasks for a vocational counselor is the 
 making of as complete a list under each one of these head- 
 ings as possible. 
 
 One of the most serious limitations under which young 
 people unconsciously live is their lack of an outlook upon 
 the industrial world. It is of first importance that the appli- 
 cant should know as much about the various fields of in- 
 dustrial pursuit as possible, and the first step is that he be 
 given a comprehensive view of the field itself. 
 
VIII 
 
 INDUSTRIES OPEN TO WOMEN 
 
 Following is a list of women's ways of earning money, at 
 home and away from home, indoors and out of doors, 
 skilled and unskilled. It is not exhaustive, and is given 
 here for its suggestive value only. 
 
 Plant Culture 
 Growing flowers — floriculture 
 fruits 
 " plants, vines, etc., to 
 
 sell 
 " trees — horticulture 
 " vegetables — market- 
 gardening 
 mushrooms 
 " seeds, bulbs, etc., for 
 market 
 Tending other peoples' flowers 
 at home or at their homes — 
 flower doctor 
 Collecting flowers, making 
 herbariums, etc. 
 
 Food Products 
 Putting up fruits, jellies, pickles, 
 
 etc. 
 Making butter, cheese, etc. 
 " bread, pies, cakes 
 " candies, popcorn 
 Preparing stuffed prunes 
 " salted almonds 
 seeded raisins 
 
 Animals 
 Raising chickens, eggs, etc. 
 Keeping bees and selling honey 
 
 silk worms 
 
 Dairy work 
 
 Raising cows 
 " horses 
 
 The better they 
 are bred, etc, 
 the more they 
 are trained, the 
 higher the 
 price they will 
 sell for. 
 
 " sheep 
 " dogs 
 cats 
 " rabbits 
 birds 
 Caring for other peoples' ani- 
 mals, — pet cats, dogs, etc. 
 Collecting butterflies to sell 
 Care, training, and exhibition 
 of wild animals. 
 
 Textile Work 
 Plain sewing 
 
 Mending — darning for laun- 
 dries, etc. 
 Making buttonholes 
 
 " clothing for stores and 
 
 factories 
 " aprons, neckwear, 
 
INDUSTRIES OPEN TO WOMEN 
 
 67 
 
 Cooking and selling meats, 
 in slices or sand- 
 wiches, etc. 
 " vegetables, etc., ready 
 for the table 
 Putting up box lunches to sell 
 to passengers on trains, 
 or for clerks and work- 
 ers in stores and facto- 
 ries 
 Getting up light lunches for 
 
 parties 
 Catering for clubs, etc. 
 
 Board and Lodging 
 Keeping boarders 
 Renting rooms 
 
 Miscellaneous Home Manufac- 
 tures 
 Making tops 
 
 " pincushions 
 
 " baskets 
 
 " leather goods 
 
 " chairs 
 
 " picture frames 
 
 " perfumery 
 Artificial flowers 
 Bead ornaments, purses, etc. 
 Boxes 
 Belts, etc. 
 Upholstery 
 
 Domestic Service 
 Cooks 
 Waitresses 
 Chambermaids 
 Laundry girls 
 All-round servants 
 Housekeepers 
 Companions 
 
 wash rags, laundry 
 bags, show bags, etc. 
 Making infant booties, sacques 
 and underwear 
 " tidies and sofa cushions 
 " patchwork quilts 
 " rag carpets, rugs, etc. 
 " rag dolls 
 " cloth animals, Teddy 
 bears, elephants, 
 dogs, etc. 
 " Battenberg doilies and 
 centrepieces 
 Knitted and crocheted slippers, 
 shawls, scarfs, mittens, 
 wristlets, heavy socks, etc. 
 Lace - making, handkerchiefs, 
 
 etc. 
 Embroidery, collars, cuffs, etc. 
 Making tapestries 
 Dressmaking 
 Millinery 
 
 Store Work 
 Salesgirls 
 Bundlegirls 
 Cash girls 
 Bookkeepers, and other office 
 
 girls 
 Serving girls, repairers, etc. 
 Models, guides, etc. 
 Floor superintendents 
 Window dressers 
 Stock girls 
 
 Buyers and assistants 
 Managers 
 Welfare work 
 
 Factory and Shop Work 
 Shoe factories 
 Cotton and woolen mills 
 
68 
 
 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 Hotel and Restaurant 
 Cooks 
 Waitresses 
 Chambermaids 
 Laundry girls 
 Office girls 
 
 "The pleasant boarder" 
 Housekeepers 
 
 General Work 
 Washing and ironing 
 Scrubbing 
 Dusting carpets 
 House cleaning 
 
 Independent Commercial Call- 
 ings, etc. 
 
 Storekeeping 
 
 Running employment office 
 typewriting office 
 
 Dressmaking 
 
 Millinery 
 
 Hairdressing 
 
 Chiropody 
 
 Manicuring 
 
 Massage 
 
 Cleaning gloves, ribbons, etc. 
 
 Keeping clothing or apartments 
 in order for bachelors, or fami- 
 lies who wish such service 
 
 Packing trunks for guests at 
 hotels, etc. 
 
 Emergency maid 
 
 Chaperoning 
 
 "Children's Club" work — 
 playing with little children to 
 relieve their mothers some 
 hours a day 
 
 Matrons of Homes and Institu- 
 tions 
 
 Box factories 
 Canning " 
 Clothing " 
 Laundries 
 Typesetting 
 Printing 
 Proofreading 
 Bookbinding 
 Etc., etc. 
 
 Office Work 
 Stenography and typewriting 
 Bookkeeping 
 Telegraphy 
 Telephone service 
 
 Agencies, etc. 
 Selling books — Canvassing 
 
 " bonds and stocks 
 
 " goods on commission 
 Demonstrating 
 Advertising 
 Life Insurance 
 Real estate 
 Officers of trade unions and 
 
 other organizations having 
 
 paid officials 
 
INDUSTRIES OPEN TO WOMEN 69 
 
 Professional and Semi-Professional 
 Teaching in general 
 Kindergartens 
 Governess 
 Public Schools 
 Academies 
 Colleges 
 Special 
 
 Music i y° cai 
 
 / Instrumental 
 Dancing 
 Calisthenics 
 
 Means of health and beauty j In gy mnasium <*"*» 
 
 (or private classes 
 
 Teaching by correspondence 
 Authorship — Writing books, magazine articles, etc., science, art,, 
 
 poetry, fiction 
 Journalism — Writing stories, etc., for newspapers 
 Writing Advertisements 
 Interpreting 
 Translating 
 Lecturing 
 
 Elocution Ministry 
 
 Drawing Mission Service 
 
 Painting Medicine 
 
 Sloyd Nursing 
 
 Modeling Dentistry 
 
 Sculpture Law 
 
 Domestic Science Library work 
 
 Dressmaking Private Secretaryship 
 
 Plain sewing and fancy Traveler's guide 
 
 Millinery Manager or Director of gym- 
 Cooking teacher nasiuni or other institution 
 
 Salesmanship teacher Reading, singing, acting, etc. 
 Etc., etc. (see next division) 
 
 Artistic Occupations 
 Illustrating Photography 
 
 Drawing patterns for embroid- Retouching negatives 
 ery, etc. Coloring photos 
 
70 
 
 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 Making designs for tiles, wall 
 papers, carpets, etc. 
 
 Painting china 
 
 Landscape work 
 
 Portraiture 
 
 Arranging flowers 
 for entertainments 
 
 Window decorating 
 
 In concert 
 Theatre, or 
 Private 
 Entertainment. 
 
 Singing 
 
 Whistling 
 
 Dancing 
 
 Acting 
 
 Acrobatic exhibitions 
 
 Posing 
 
 Civil Service 
 Post office 
 Customs house 
 Factory inspection 
 Government clerks, etc 
 
 Enlarging photos in crayon, In- 
 dia ink, etc. 
 
 Making articles of carved wood 
 or burned wood, etc. 
 
 Sculpture 
 
 Architecture 
 
 House decorating 
 
 Landscape gardening 
 
 Beauty culture 
 
 Conducting orchestra 
 
 Playing the piano, violin, and 
 other musical instruments 
 
 Exhibitions of magic 
 
 Social Work 
 
 In College settlements 
 
 " Charity organizations, etc. 
 
 Club work 
 
 Class work 
 
 Investigation, education, visita- 
 tion — ministering to the civic 
 and social life and economic 
 development of the less for- 
 tunate, and enlightening, ed- 
 ucating, organizing, and as- 
 sisting the more fortunate in 
 respect to their relations to 
 the first group 
 
 Welfare work (see also store 
 work) 
 
 Organizing cooperative enter- 
 prises and associations for 
 mutual help, and civic and 
 social betterment. 
 
IX 
 
 THE USE OF STATISTICS 
 
 The vocational counselor should be a careful student of 
 industrial history and industrial geography. He should 
 know how not merely to get the statistics, but how to use 
 them. We have prepared and found useful a number of 
 schedules throwing light on our problems in Massachu- 
 setts. 
 
 1. A list of the workers in the different industries per thousand 
 of population (ten years of age, and over), in the chief cities 
 of Massachusetts in 1900. (Information can be obtained 
 from the special report on occupations, Twelfth Census, 
 Table 42, page 428, etc.) 
 
 2. Capital invested in the various industries in Massachusetts, 
 showing the number of establishments, number of workers, 
 capital per employee, salaries paid managers and high offi- 
 cials, etc. (Information from U. S. Census, 1905, Manufac- 
 tures, Part II, Table xix; and 1902, Mines and Quarries, 
 page 234, etc.) 
 
 3. Table on earnings, also taken from the United States Cen- 
 sus Report, shows for each industry the total amount of 
 wages paid, the average number of workers, and the average 
 paid by the day. 
 
 4. Table showing the sex, color, and nativity of persons en- 
 gaged in various occupations in the ten largest cities of 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 5. Table showing the movement of demand from 1860 to 
 1900 in each of 199 vocations. 
 
 6. Table showing the movement of demand for females, giving 
 the number of females engaged in different industries in 
 1870, 1880, and 1900. 
 
 7. Table showing the death rate per thousand workers in 150 
 occupations in Massachusetts. 
 
72 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 A few of the facts brought out in these tables may be 
 of interest. For instance, the increase in the number of 
 persons engaged in agencies and office work has been 
 fifty per cent since 1860, while the population has only a 
 little more than doubled itself, and there are thirty-two 
 times as many women thus occupied as there were in 1870. 
 At present there are twice as many men as women thus 
 engaged. 
 
 In agriculture the figures of 1900 show a decrease of 
 over one thousand persons since 1860. There were, how- 
 ever, ten times as many women in this work in 1900 as 
 in 1870. 
 
 In domestic and personal service there were three times 
 as many people employed in 1900 as in 1870, with only 
 twice as many women. 
 
 The proportion of persons engaged in fishing remains 
 about the same. The 1900 Census gives forty-four wo- 
 men so engaged. 
 
 In manufacture of food products, the proportion of 
 workers increases slightly over the increase in population. 
 The number of women engaged in this industry increased 
 twenty times in thirty years, although men still greatly 
 outnumber women in this field. 
 
 In the leather and shoe group of industries the propor- 
 tionate number of workers has not kept up with the in- 
 crease in population. 
 
 The operatives engaged in the different textile factories 
 were not half as many more in 1900 as in 1870, although 
 the population has almost doubled itself in that time. Even 
 the number of women in this industry did not keep pace 
 proportionately with the population. 
 
 In the professional and semi-professional group there 
 were about five times as many persons in 1900 as in 1860. 
 And here again women have increased their numbers in 
 the largest ratio. 
 
 Turning to the question of earnings, we find that on the 
 
THE USE OF STATISTICS 73 
 
 average in manufactures the highest wages are paid to 
 
 those who are in the trades in which the trade unions 
 
 have been most active. 
 
 Malt and distilled liquor workers average $2.90 a day. 
 Tobacco workers " 2.10 " 
 
 Printers and bookbinders " 2.12 " 
 
 The lowest earnings are to be found in 
 
 Confectionary trades $1.04 a day. 
 
 Broom and brush-makers 1.07 " 
 
 Paper-box makers 1.16 " 
 
 Knitting mill operatives - 1.16 " 
 
 Silk mill operatives 1.18 " 
 
 Cotton goods operatives 1.22 " 
 
 Coming to the question of salaries, we find the highest 
 
 average salaries also in the 
 
 Malt and Distilled liquor business $1933.33 
 
 Paper and paper goods 1777.46 
 
 Chemical workers 1771.39 
 
 Cotton goods 1767.70 
 
 Worsted mills 1770.70 
 
 The United States Census of 1900 does not state the 
 earnings in many of the fields of industrial life. The prac- 
 tice of the various state statistical bureaus varies in this 
 regard. If the vocational counselor cannot find the in- 
 formation that he wants from any of these sources, he can 
 easily get a basis for a safe induction by selecting a group 
 of individuals in any industry and getting his facts from 
 them. 
 
THE MOVEMENT OF THE DEMAND FOR WORKERS - 
 IN THE DIFFERENT INDUSTRIES 
 
 (United States, 1870-1900 1 ) 
 
 In considering the movement of demand, two things are 
 of importance. First, by finding the increase or decrease 
 in number of persons gainfully employed during the past 
 ten, twenty, thirty, or fifty years, to discover the increase 
 or decrease in the demand for workers in the different 
 occupations during that time. Second, by reckoning the 
 increase in proportion to population, to find whether this 
 demand has grown with the population or fallen behind it. 
 
 To illustrate, the following table has been prepared. 
 This shows that though the number of persons employed 
 in agriculture has almost doubled since 1870, the num- 
 ber in proportion to population (the number per thousand) 
 is less now than then ; while all the other classes have 
 grown, not only in actual numbers, but also in proportion 
 to the total population. 
 
 General figures such as these, however, are of less value 
 to one choosing a vocation than figures renting to specific 
 occupations. We find, from the table given, that in 1900 
 about sixteen out of every thousand persons in the United 
 States were engaged in Professional Service, while only 
 about twelve in every thousand were thus engaged in 1870. 
 But of more practical value is the knowledge of the de- 
 tails of the movement of demand, such as the fact that 
 
 1 The figures given in the following pages for the United States apply 
 to "Continental United States only." The figures given for 1870, 1880, 
 1890, and 1900 include all persons ten years of age and over. 
 
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76 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 between 1870 and 1900 the number of dentists increased 
 almost fourfold, the number of "engineers (civil, etc.) and 
 surveyors" and the number of journalists almost sixfold, 
 the number of literary and scientific persons tenfold, while 
 the demand for physicians and surgeons, lawyers and 
 clergymen, though it had doubled during that time, va- 
 ried little in proportion to the growth of population. 
 
 Often a general class of occupations will grow greatly 
 while certain occupations included under it decline, or 
 the reverse may occur. Thus Trade and Transportation 
 has grown more rapidly than any other class, employing 
 in 1900 sixty-two out of every thousand persons, whereas 
 in 1870 it employed but thirty-seven. The number of boat- 
 men and sailors, however, under Trade and Transporta- 
 tion has fallen from 105,072 in 1850 to 78,406 in 1900. 1 
 On the other hand, though Agriculture employed eighteen 
 less per thousand in 1900 than in 1870, the number of 
 stock raisers, herders and drovers (included under it) 
 increased from 15,359 in 1870 to 84,988 in 1900, showing 
 an increase of threefold in proportion to population. 
 
 One of the most interesting features in the growth of 
 industries is the increasing number of women employed. 
 In 1850 no women were entered in the occupation returns 
 of the United States Census. In 1870, 1,836,288 out of 
 12,505,923 persons, and in 1900, 5,319,397 out of the 
 29,073,233 persons gainfully employed, were women. 
 
 Some occupations in which there was an increase in 
 the per cent of women employed and a corresponding de- 
 crease in the per cent of men employed are as follows : — 
 
 The percentage of women teachers to the total number 
 of teachers rose from 67.6 in 1880 to 73.3 in 1900. 
 
 The percentage of women "musicians and teachers of 
 music" rose from 43 in 1880 to 56.4 in 1900. 
 
 1 This fact becomes more significant when we discover that in 1850 
 only free males, fifteen years of age and over, were included in the occu- 
 pation returns, while in 1870, 1880, 1890, and 1900 all persons ten years 
 <>f age and over were included. 
 
DEMAND FOR WORKERS 77 
 
 The percentage of women employed as government 
 officials from 3.1 in 1880 to 9.4 in 1900. 
 
 The percentage of women " artists and teachers of art " 
 from 22.5 to 43.8. 
 
 The percentage of women employed in "literary and 
 scientific pursuits" from 11.9 to 31.8. 
 
 The only occupation in 1900 in the professional class 
 in which there was not an increase in the per cent of 
 women employed, was that of "actors, professional show- 
 men, etc.," in which the increase in the per cent of men 
 employed was from 72.5 in 1880 to 79.1 in 1900. 
 
 " In the cases of architects, clergymen, dentists, lawyers, 
 and physicians and surgeons, the percentages of women 
 in 1900 were small, but showed a marked advance as com- 
 pared with the 1880 percentages." ' 
 
 For further changes in the per cent of men and women 
 employed in the different occupations, see the United States 
 Census for 1900, volume on Occupations, Table xlviii 
 and pages cxxxvii to cxxxix. 
 
 Two tables are appended to this chapter ; one (Table n) 
 giving the twenty occupations which in 1900 employed 
 the greatest number of persons of both sexes, the twenty 
 occupations employing the greatest number of men, and 
 the twenty employing the greatest number of women. The 
 other table (Table in) gives the occupations in which 
 the total number of persons has increased most, and the 
 occupations in which the number of women employed 
 has increased most. 
 
 1 See United States Census, 1900, volume on Occupations, p. cxxxvii. 
 
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 81 
 
82 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 Sources for the Movement of Demand 
 For fuller information on Table I refer as follows : — 
 
 U. S. Census, 1900. Volume on Occupations, Table xxn. 
 Number of Persons Engaged in Gainful Occupations and in 
 Each Main Class by States and Territories, 1880, 1890, and 
 1900. Also volumes on Population, Part I, Table vn. Popu- 
 lation of States and Territories Arranged Geographically, 1870- 
 1900. 
 
 For Tables n and m in this chapter, refer to the Census Tables 
 in and iv in the volume on Occupations. Figures for 1850 are 
 found in Table v in the same volume. 
 
 For summaries of the most marked changes shown in the per 
 cent of men and women employed in the different occupations, 
 see volume on Occupations, pp. cxxxvii to cxxxix. See also Table 
 xlviii. Per cent Distribution of Men, Women, and Children of 
 Persons Engaged in Specified Occupations, 1880, 1900. 
 
 Further references which may prove of interest are the follow- 
 ing from the volume on Occupations : — 
 
 Table xxxiv. Distribution by Specified Occupations of Males 
 and of Females in each Principal Element of the Population 
 Gainfully Employed, 1890-1900. 
 
 Table xltv. Distribution by Sex of Persons Engaged in Speci- 
 fied Occupations in 1900 with per cent Distribution for 1880 and 
 1890. 
 
 Table lxxxviii. Number of Males in Specified Occupations 
 Unemployed during any Portion of the Census Year, compared 
 with the Total Number of Males so Occupied, 1890 and 1900. 
 
 Table lxxxix. Number of Females in Specified Occupations 
 Unemployed during any Portion of the Census Year, compared 
 with the Total Number of Females so Occupied, 1890 and 1900. 
 
XI 
 
 THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF WORKERS IN 
 THE DIFFERENT INDUSTRIES AMONG THE STATES, 
 TERRITORIES, AND CHIEF CITIES OF THE UNITED 
 STATES, 1900 
 
 In finding the geographical distribution throughout the 
 United States of workers in the different industries, two 
 sets of figures will be found useful. First, figures showing 
 the actual numbers employed in the different occupations 
 in the various sections of the country. These will be useful 
 chiefly in such industries as manufacturing, where the de- 
 mand for workers in a particular section is not necessarily 
 in proportion to the population, and where the chances of 
 the prospective worker are perhaps greater in a section 
 in which already large numbers are employed. In such 
 occupations it will be useful to know the chief geographi- 
 cal centres. This can easily be done by finding, from the 
 figures already mentioned, what state, city, or section of 
 the country employs most workers in the given industry. 
 For instance, we find, in the United States Census for 
 1900 1 that the chief centre of the glass industry in 1900 
 was Pennsylvania, where there were 15,765 workmen em- 
 ployed. Indiana, with 10,590 glass workers, came next. 
 Again, in the same way, we find Pennsylvania to be the 
 chief centre of stove, furnace, and grate manufacturing. 
 Another set of figures would be more directly useful in 
 the case of occupations where the demand for workers is 
 more or less in proportion to population, e. g. in the case 
 of doctors, lawyers, servants, house-painters, etc. In the 
 
 1 Volume on Occupations, Table xxxn. 
 
84 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 case of those seeking employment in such occupations, it 
 is obviously well to know what sections are overstocked, 
 and in what places their services are likely to be most in 
 demand. This is one object of the second set of figures, 
 which gives us the number of persons employed in the 
 different occupations per thousand of population in the 
 states, territories, and chief cities of the United States. 
 Unfortunately, as the Census is published only once in 
 every ten years, and these figures therefore cannot be kept 
 up to date, much of their value is lost. They are still of 
 use, however, in showing to what extent a city or state 
 has specialized in any industry, that is, in showing what 
 proportion of the city or state population is employed in 
 the industry given. 
 
 The table on pages 86, 87 has been prepared to summa- 
 rize briefly the geographical distribution of demand, and 
 to illustrate further the purpose of the two sets of figures 
 mentioned. It will be noticed that the South Central and 
 the South Atlantic Division of states employ more persons 
 in agriculture in proportion to their population than any 
 other sections specified (the South Central Division em- 
 ploying 234.4 per thousand, and the South Atlantic 194.6 
 per thousand). The North Central Division employs only 
 133.2 per thousand of its population, yet contains actually 
 a greater number of persons in agricultural pursuits than 
 either the South Central or the South Atlantic Divisions. 
 
 Thus from the two sets of figures we obtain two kinds 
 of facts. From the figures giving the actual numbers em- 
 ployed, we find to what extent an industry is " localized " ; 
 that is, to what sections of the countiy, to what states, 
 territories, or cities it may be more or less confined, and 
 what per cent of the total number is employed in these 
 geographical centres. Again, we discover from the second 
 set of figures to what extent a given section of the country, 
 a state, territory, or city, may have specialized in certain 
 industries, that is, what proportion of the state or city 
 
DISTRIBUTION OF WORKERS 85 
 
 population gainfully employed is engaged in the industries 
 given. 
 
 The figures in Table iv are intended to illustrate these 
 points. Of course, in geographical distribution, just as 
 much as in the movement of demand, figures relating to 
 specific industries are of more practical value. 
 
 The following are a few striking instances of localization 
 in specified industries. In 1900 turpentine farming was 
 confined wholly to these Southern states, — Alabama, 
 Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North and South 
 Carolina, which employed all the turpentine farmers and 
 laborers in the country. Georgia, Florida, and Alabama 
 together employed 85.1 per cent of the total number. 
 Georgia alone employed 43.9 per cent. 
 
 The silk manufacturing industry was localized chiefly 
 in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In 1900, 71.1 per cent 
 of the total number of silk mill operatives in the United 
 States were there employed, while 38.3 per cent of the 
 total number were in New Jersey alone. 
 
 The states employing the greatest number of quarry- 
 men were Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Vermont, In- 
 diana, and Massachusetts; 56.1 per cent of the total num- 
 ber of quarrymen in the country were employed in these 
 states, and 22.4 per cent of the total number in Pennsyl- 
 vania alone. 
 
 The manufacture of boots and shoes, we find, centred 
 chiefly in the following North Atlantic states, — Massachu- 
 setts, New Hampshire, New York, and Maine, which to- 
 gether employed 71.4 per cent of the total number of boot 
 and shoe makers and repairers in the United States. 
 Massachusetts alone employed 50.3 per cent. 
 
 An instance of specialization in industry is found in 
 Brockton, Mass., where almost one half of the total num- 
 ber of persons gainfully employed come under the head- 
 ing of " Boot and shoe makers and repairers." Again in 
 Lawrence, Mass., more than one quarter of the total 
 
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88 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 number of persons gainfully employed are woolen mill 
 operatives. 
 
 Sources 
 
 For specific information on these subjects, consult the United 
 States Census for 1900, the volume on Occupations and the vol- 
 umes on Population, Part I. 
 
 For Table iv in this chapter, the following Census Tables 
 were used : — • 
 
 Volume on Occupations, Table xxu. The Number of Persons 
 Engaged in Gainful Occupations and in Each Main Class by 
 States and Territories, 1880, 1890, and 1900. 
 
 Volume on Population, Part I, Table vn. Population of States 
 and Territories Arranged Geographically, 1790-1900. 
 
 For all facts regarding specific industries, consult the volume 
 on Occupations, Table xxxn. States and Territories — Total 
 Persons ten years of age and over, engaged in each of 303 speci- 
 fied occupations, 1900. 
 
 Table xlii, Principal Cities. Total Males and Females, ten 
 years of age and over employed in each of 140 groups of occupa- 
 tions, for cities having 25,000 inhabitants or more, 1900. 
 
 Further references which may prove of interest are as follows : — 
 
 Volume on Occupations, Table xli. Total Males and Females, 
 ten years of age and over Engaged in Selected Groups of Occu- 
 pations, classified by General Nativity, Color, Conjugal Condi- 
 tion, Months Unemployed, Age periods, and Parentage, by States 
 and Territories, 1900. 
 
 Table xliii the same for cities having 50,000 inhabitants 
 or more. Volumes on Manufacturers, Part I, pp. cxc, ccx, 
 Localization of Industries (determined by value of products). 
 
 Table iv, pp. 66-464. Specified Industries by States and Ter- 
 ritories, giving facts for each Industry, regarding Number of 
 Establishments, Capital, Power, Number of Proprietors and 
 Firm Members, Number and Salaries of Officials and Clerks; 
 Greatest Number of Wage Earners Employed at any one time 
 during the year; Least Number Employed at any one time dur- 
 ing the year. 
 
PART III 
 THE ORGANIZATION AND THE WORK 
 
XII 
 
 THE VOCATION BUREAU 
 
 The Vocation Bureau of Boston was founded in January, 
 1908, by Mrs. Quincy A. Shaw, on plans drawn up by 
 the writer. More than a dozen years ago I stated the 
 essence of the matter in a lecture on " The Ideal City." 
 That lecture was repeated in Boston before the Economic 
 Club a few years ago, and soon after Mr. Meyer Bloom- 
 field and Mr. Philip Davis, on behalf of the Civic Service 
 House, invited me to speak to the graduating class of one 
 of the evening high schools on the choice of a vocation. 
 After the talk a number of the young men asked for personal 
 interviews, and the results proved to be so helpful that 
 Mr. Bloomfield requested me to draw plans for the per- 
 manent organization of the work. These plans were sub- 
 mitted to Mrs. Shaw, who heartily approved the idea, and 
 immediately established the new institution with sufficient 
 resources to enable the work to be begun as a new depart- 
 ment of the Civic Service House in the North End of 
 Boston. 
 
 Although the work is very young and a good deal of 
 time in these few months has been consumed in the pro- 
 cess of organization, a large number of men and women 
 from fifteen to seventy-two years of age have come to us 
 for consultation, and, according to their own statements, 
 all but two have received much light and help, some even 
 declaring that the interview with the counselor was the 
 most important hour of their lives. Among the applicants 
 have been Harvard seniors, students from Dartmouth and 
 other neighboring colleges, a number of college graduates, 
 
!>2 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 young men in commercial and business life, and some 
 older ones, including an ex-bank-president of splendid 
 ability, and a traveling salesman who at one time made 
 sales amounting to two hundred thousand dollars a year. 
 
 The majority of applicants, however, have been boys 
 and girls from the high schools or working boys and girls 
 of high school age. 
 
 A Vocation Department has been established by the 
 Boston Young Men's Christian Association as a branch of 
 the Bureau, and the counselor has kept regular appoint- 
 ments at the Women's Educational and Industrial Union 
 and at the Twentieth Century Club. 
 
 The Bureau does not attempt to decide for any boy what 
 occupation he should choose, but aims to help him investi- 
 gate the subject and come to a conclusion on his own ac- 
 count, that is much more likely to be valid and useful 
 than if no effort were made to apply scientific methods to 
 the problem. Our mottoes are Light, Information, In- 
 spiration, Cooperation. 
 
XIII 
 
 THE SCHOOL FOR VOCATIONAL COUNSELORS 
 
 The Vocation Department of the Boston Young Men's 
 Christian Association has established a school for voca- 
 tional counselors, to train men for carrying on vocational 
 bureau work in connection with Young Men's Christian 
 Associations, schools, colleges, universities, social settle- 
 ments, and business establishments. The employment 
 department of the Y. M. C. A. acts in coordination with 
 the vocation department. 
 
 The demand for vocational counselors able to do the kind 
 of work described in the preceding sections is growing 
 very rapidly. The present staff of workers is wholly in- 
 adequate to the need of this city alone, and the widespread 
 practical interest in the new institution justifies the belief 
 that the movement will soon become a national one. 
 The prospects are that vocational guidance will be made 
 a part of the service of the Y. M. C. A.'s and other edu- 
 cational institutions in all our principal cities, as fast as 
 competent men can be secured. 
 
 To fit men for this new vocation, this pioneer school for 
 the training of counselors has been established. 
 
 The work consists of lectures, research, practice by the 
 laboratory method, reports of results, conferences, dis- 
 cussions and special tests subject to the criticism of the 
 instructor and the members of the class. At least three 
 hours a week are given by each member to this laboratory 
 practice, examining applicants for vocational advice, and 
 formulating the counsel believed to be appropriate for the 
 solution of the specific problem presented by each case. 
 
94 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 Members are called upon from time to time to examine 
 applicants in the presence of the class, and then (after the 
 applicant has retired) they analyze the facts obtained, 
 and state the points of counsel and suggestion they think 
 the case calls for. The presence of the instructor and the 
 class, and their observations, questions, and criticisms, 
 upon the proceedings, give this sort of practice the highest 
 educational value. Practical talks by leading business 
 and professional men and representatives of important in- 
 dustrial interests will also constitute an important feature 
 of the course. 
 
 To enter the vocational course a man must have excel- 
 lent character and ability, good manners and address, 
 at least a high school education or its equivalent, and a 
 satisfactory experience of two years or more in teaching 
 or business or social work, or a satisfactory equivalent 
 for such experience. And he must have attained the age 
 of twenty-five years, unless very mature at an earlier age. 
 
 The time required will be one, two, or three terms, ac- 
 cording to the ability and previous preparation of the stu- 
 dent. A certificate of proficiency will be given at the end 
 of any term in which the practical results achieved by 
 the particular student justify his enrollment as an expert, 
 qualified to test the abilities and capacities of young men, 
 apply good judgment, common sense, and scientific method 
 to the various problems a vocation bureau has to deal with, 
 and give appropriate counsel with the insight, sympathy, 
 grasp, and suggestiveness the service calls for. 
 
 In addition to mature judgment, a character and per- 
 sonality that invite respect and confidence, and a good 
 general education, including some knowledge of history, 
 civics, and economics, a vocational counselor should pos- 
 sess : (1) A practical working knowledge of the fundamen- 
 tal principles and methods of modern psychology. (2) 
 An experience involving sufficient human contact to give 
 him an intimate acquaintance with human nature in a con- 
 
SCHOOL FOR VOCATIONAL COUNSELORS 95 
 
 siderable number of its different types and phases; he 
 must understand the dominant motives, interests, and 
 ambitions that control the lives of men, and be able to 
 recognize the symptoms that indicate the presence or ab- 
 sence of important elements of character. (3) Ability to 
 deal with young people in a sympathetic, earnest, search- 
 ing, candid, helpful, and attractive way. Sympathy, can- 
 dor, and a genuine desire to be of service are the primary 
 elements here ; but tact, intellectual grasp, and a sort of in- 
 ventiveness, or suggestiveness that is near of kin to it, are 
 also essential factors. (4) A knowledge of requirements and 
 cqnditions of success, compensation, prospects, advan- 
 tages, and disadvantages, etc., in the different lines of in- 
 dustry. (5) Information relating to courses of study and 
 means of preparing for various callings and developing 
 efficiency therein. (6) Scientific method — analysis and 
 the principles of investigation by which laws and causes 
 are ascertained, facts are classified, and correct conclu- 
 sions drawn. The counselor must be able to recognize 
 the essential facts and principles involved in each case, 
 group them according to their true relations, and draw 
 the conclusions they justify. 
 
XIV 
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY HELPS 
 
 Most of the material which has hitherto been used by the 
 Bureau has already been given and described in these 
 chapters. Much additional help will occur to any inventive 
 or inquiring person who undertakes this work. 
 
 It is important to have abundant material relating to 
 apprenticeship methods of training. The counselor also 
 should have full information about the vocation schools 
 of his own and other states. He should tabulate all the 
 day and evening courses given in his community that have 
 a vocational bearing, noting the opportunities for self- 
 support while studying, so that young men and women 
 can see at a glance all the educational advantages that 
 bear upon their problems. Local and class employment 
 agencies should be thoroughly studied, and the "help 
 wants" of newspapers should be practiced upon until 
 the counselor is thoroughly familiar with their general 
 nature. 
 
 If the counselor finds the memory of the applicant be- 
 low the standard, he gives the youth a printed analysis 
 of the means of developing the memory and securing the 
 best results from it, with a little talk to emphasize the 
 importance of memory and method as the foundations of 
 mastery, grasp, and efficient performance. 
 
 A leaflet called " Suggestions for a Plan of Life " is also 
 given in many cases, with oral instructions sufficient to 
 make it vital to the recipient. It is intended to direct at- 
 tention to the elements essential to an all-round, symmet- 
 rical development, and the value of making a good plan 
 
SUPPLEMENTARY HELPS 97 
 
 and living up to it instead of drifting through life like a 
 rudderless boat. 
 
 Not less important is the work done in the direction 
 of developing civic interest. The boy is impressed with 
 the fact that he is, or soon will be, one of the directors 
 and rulers of the United States, that his part in civic af- 
 fairs is quite as important as his occupation, vital as that 
 undoubtedly is, that all-round manhood should be the 
 aim, that making a living is only one arc of the circle, and 
 that he must study to be a good citizen as well as a good 
 worker. 
 
 The Bureau's leaflets entitled "Civic Suggestions," 
 "Lincoln's Message to Young Men," and "Analysis of 
 Parliamentary Law," are very useful in this connection. 
 The latter enables the young man to fit himself with very 
 little effort to join in the discussions of a town meeting, 
 young men's congress, or debating society, or preside over 
 a meeting with credit to himself if called to the chair. 
 Very often the youth can be led to read and analyze a series 
 of good books on government and public questions, be- 
 ginning perhaps with Dole and Fiske on Citizenship and 
 Civil Government, or with Bryce's "American Common- 
 wealth," and continuing with the works of Albert Shaw, 
 Zueblin, Howe, and Steffens, the famous speeches of 
 Wendell Phillips, and the messages of Lincoln, Washing- 
 ton, and Roosevelt, the important problem books, such as 
 "The Truth About the Trusts," "Wealth against Com- 
 monwealth," " Labor Copartnership," "The Story of New 
 Zealand," etc., and some of the principal books on his- 
 tory, economics, and sociology. 
 
 To those who are just starting a vocation bureau the 
 four leaflets, "To Young People," "To Workers," "To 
 Employers," and "Instruction to Those Desiring the 
 Service of the Bureau," will be helpfully suggestive. 
 
 Copies of some of these supplementary helps are printed 
 herewith : — 
 
CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 TO EMPLOYERS 
 
 The percentage of inefficiency and change you may experience 
 in your working force, and the cost it entails in employment 
 expense, waste of training, and low-grade service, are largely 
 due to the haphazard way by which young men and women 
 drift into this or that employment, with little or no regard to 
 adaptability, and without adequate preparation or any definite 
 aim or well-considered plan to insure efficiency, devotion, and 
 development. 
 
 This Bureau constitutes the first attempt to take practical steps 
 to remedy these conditions through expert counsel and guid- 
 ance in the selection of a vocation, the preparation for it and the 
 transition from school to work. 
 
 In its efforts to aid workers develop their efficiency and im- 
 prove their condition, and assist those about to select a voca- 
 tion to choose wisely, prepare carefully, and find opportunities 
 of employment in lines of industry to which they are adapted, 
 this Bureau invites your cooperation. 
 
 The principal methods employed in our work are : — 
 
 1. Self-Analysis. The applicant is made to realize clearly 
 his aptitudes, abilities, ambitions, preparation, resources, and 
 limitations, and to see their relation to the requirements and 
 conditions of success in various callings. As it is, few ever sit 
 down with pencil and paper, with expert information and coun- 
 sel, to plan a working career and deal with the life problem 
 scientifically, as they would deal with the problem of building a 
 house, taking the advice of an architect to help them. 
 
 2. Information in respect to the conditions of success in dif- 
 ferent industries, the initial requirements, compensation, immedi- 
 ate and prospective, and the means of preparation and develop- 
 ment, is an important part of our work; as is also specific 
 information as to opportunities in various lines of work, so that 
 young people may be aided in placing themselves rightly, and 
 employers may be aided in securing the type of ability and char- 
 acter they need for specific work. The social and industrial bene- 
 fits of a more careful correlation of opportunity and ability are 
 incalculable. We are just drifting to-day with planless methods 
 of adapting and distributing labor, both skilled and unskilled. 
 
 3. Stimulation is equally important. There are fine ambitions 
 
SUPPLEMENTARY HELPS 99 
 
 in every youth, which if sought out and fed with knowledge and 
 sympathy will grow strong and clear enough to control the life. 
 Show a man how to improve his efficiency and social and econo- 
 mic value, and the benefits that will result, and give him appre- 
 ciation in his efforts, and he generally needs no urging to adopt 
 the means of self-development. 
 
 4. Cooperation. The Bureau will actively cooperate with the 
 applicant in his efforts to secure the training he may need, and 
 to find employment for which he is fitted or shall fit himself. 
 
 5. Systematic Guidance and Help, which ordinarily do not 
 extend beyond the school life, are continued by the Vocation 
 Bureau into the working life, so that there may be no break or 
 gulf between the school and work, but a smooth, clear path from 
 one to the other, with a definite plan for the future, more ade- 
 quate preparation for the work to be doae, and more efficient 
 performance of it. We care for the children with great solicitude 
 till they are out of the grammar or high school and then drop 
 them into this complex world, with practically no industrial 
 information or foresight, to sink or swim, as the case may be. 
 There is really no time of life when more careful counsel and in- 
 struction are needed than in the transition from school to work. 
 
 In short, the aim of the Bureau is intelligent, well-directed, 
 scientific choice of occupation and adaptation to it, so far as cir- 
 cumstances permit, instead of haphazard, planless choice, by 
 chance or whim, or uninformed selection, and needlessly imper- 
 fect adaptation in many cases, resulting in a great number of 
 misfits and a large degree of inefficiency. 
 
 The Bureau specially asks the cooperation of employers in 
 securing as full and definite information as possible regarding the 
 opportunities offered by different industries and the conditions 
 of success therein, and in affording opportunities for the Secretary 
 or other representatives of the Bureau to speak to groups of em- 
 ployees and make appointments with them for individual confer- 
 ence and consultation. 
 
 TO WORKERS 
 
 If you wish expert counsel in the analysis of your possibilities 
 and the conditions of success in your line of effort, and in the 
 selection and adoption of the best means for achieving the full- 
 est success of which you are capable, this Bureau will gladly aid 
 
100 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 you for the good that will come to you and to the public from 
 the development of your economic value and the improvement 
 of your industrial condition. Its services are free. It is part of 
 the social work of the Civic Service House in cooperation with 
 the Young Men's Christian Association, the Economic Club, 
 and the Women's Educational and Industrial Union. 
 
 If you find that you are not adapted to the work in which you 
 are engaged, the Bureau will aid you in determining what 
 occupation may be better suited to your capacities and powers, 
 and in selecting the best available means of preparing for it 
 and building up a successful career. 
 
 TO YOUNG PEOPLE 
 
 STUDENTS AND OTHERS CONSIDERING THE QUESTION OF 
 THEIR LIFE WORK 
 
 The wise selection of the business, profession, trade, or occu- 
 pation, to which you are to devote yourself, and the building of 
 a successful career in your chosen vocation, are matters of great 
 moment to you and to the public. These vital problems should 
 be solved in a careful, scientific way, with due regard to your 
 aptitudes, abilities, ambitions, resources, and limitations, and 
 the relations of these elements to the conditions of success in 
 different industries. Definite knowledge of yourself and of 
 the opportunities, requirements, compensation, immediate and 
 prospective, etc., in various callings, is essential. Systematic in- 
 formation as to the best means of preparation within your reach, 
 and the methods by which others have succeeded, is also most 
 desirable. 
 
 This Bureau was established to help you in all these matters 
 by counsel, guidance, information, and cooperation. Its services 
 are free. 
 
 Many have already been greatly helped in the ways suggested 
 — helped to find their true vocation, — the business or occupa- 
 tion to which their abilities and resources best adapt them, and 
 to find an opening in that vocation and the means of attaining 
 efficiency and success ; and the experience of each of these young 
 men and women helps to light the way for others. 
 
 The guidance given in school days generally ceases when the 
 
SUPPLEMENTARY HELPS 101 
 
 student leaves the grammar school or high school or college to 
 begin work. Yet there is really no time of life when wise counsel 
 and expert assistance are more needful than in the transition from 
 school to the new life of labor. 
 
 No one would think of building a dwelling or a business block 
 without carefully selecting an appropriate and advantageous site 
 and drawing a well-considered plan with the help of an architect 
 or expert builder. And in building a career it is quite as im- 
 portant to make a wise location, lay the foundations properly, 
 and work up by a well-considered, scientific plan. 
 
 It is better to sail with compass and chart than to drift into an 
 occupation haphazard or by chance, proximity, or uninformed 
 selection; and drift on through it without reaching any port 
 worthy of the voyage. 
 
SUGGESTIONS FOR A PLAN OF LIFE 1 
 
 Study the LA WS and CA USES of things and of human action, grasp 
 PRINCIPLES as well as FACTS, and attend most carefully to 
 METHOD, SYSTEM, PROPORTION, and DEVELOPMENT 
 in relation to the various life values noted in the following analysis. 
 
 Health : Fresh air, life is combustion; 
 the furnace blast, deep breath- 
 ing, open windows. Good 
 food, well chewed; in due 
 quantity and variety. Exer- 
 cise; moral duty to perspire 
 each day. Bathing. Rest. 
 Clothing warm and easy. Good 
 society; good nature; clear 
 conscience; earnest purpose. 
 
 Activity : Amount and quality Pro- 
 portion of different varieties ; 
 differences between nations 
 and individuals. 
 
 Development of power, ability, and 
 character, by systematic, per- 
 sistent effort under the laws of 
 habit and reflex action. 
 
 Hind : Memory, reason, imagination. 
 Observe, read, converse, an- 
 alyze, and digest. Search for 
 laws and causes. Learn the 
 methods of discovering truth, 
 and arriving at correct con- 
 clusions. Test your results 
 again and again. Absorb the 
 best books. Study psychology 
 and the laws of human nature 
 so as to understand yourself 
 and others. Organize your 
 knowledge. Marshal your 
 facts and principles in com- 
 panies ana battalions under 
 your command. Reduce what 
 you learn to its lowest terms, 
 master it and use it. Cultivate 
 imaginative power and invent- 
 iveness. Watch the inner 
 light. Keep curiosity alive, 
 and avail yourself of scientific 
 method. 
 
 Character ; Truth, sympathy, justice. 
 Be honest, truthful, reliable, 
 prompt, effective. Keep your 
 engagements. Be just, recep- 
 tive, open-minded, and toler- 
 ant, but do your own thinking. 
 Be reasonably consistent. Be 
 candid, kindly, sympathetic, 
 cooperative, progressive, good 
 natured, cheerful, industrious, 
 methodical, persistent, hope- 
 ful, modest. 
 
 Longevity 
 
 Power 
 
 Growth 
 of body, 
 mind, 
 and soul. 
 
 Education 
 life-long, 
 for power, 
 not for exams. 
 
 Enthusiasm 
 tempered 
 
 with 
 moderation and 
 self-control. 
 
 Simplicity, 
 Certainty, 
 Breadth. 
 
 Symmetry, 
 proportion, 
 adaptation, 
 emphasis. 
 
 Coordination 
 and balance. 
 
 Regard 
 substance and 
 
 cause 
 more than 
 form and 
 circumstance. 
 
 Keep sweet 
 and 
 do right. 
 Morals 
 summed up 
 in the 
 Golden Rule. 
 
 Copyright, 1905, by Frank Parsons. 
 
 be too 
 familiar 
 with ice water, 
 tea, coffee, 
 tobacco, or 
 alcoholics. 
 Avoid excess, 
 dissipation, and 
 disease; and 
 be very careful 
 about drugs 
 end doctors. 
 
 Don't be 
 idle, sluggish, 
 inattentive, 
 non-progressive. 
 
 Avoid 
 
 ill-logic, 
 
 prejudice 
 
 bigotry, 
 
 empty-minded- 
 ness, 
 
 hasty conclu- 
 sions, 
 
 wrong methods 
 of observation 
 and reasoning. 
 
 Don't read 
 trash. 
 
 Don't be 
 stubborn, 
 surly, 
 pugilistic, 
 unruly, 
 careless, 
 unreceptive, 
 unreliable, 
 dishonest. 
 
SUPPLEMENTAKY HELPS 
 
 Avoid in yourself what you 
 do not like in others. Develop 
 desirable elements of character 
 by daily practice, just as you 
 C. Z. ■{ develop your muscles and your 
 mental faculties. Andgetyour 
 friends to help you by calling 
 your attention to defects in 
 your character. 
 
 Occupation. Choose your occupation 
 carefully and master it thor- 
 oughly. Make money, but 
 don't worship it or be a slave 
 to it. Money is for life, not 
 life for money. 
 
 Recreation : Make it a balance to your 
 work. 
 
 Kanners. Repeat C. Z. here, chang- 
 ing ** character " to " man- 
 
 Accomplishments. Conversation as a 
 tine art. The tunes of speech. 
 The beauty that shines through 
 from within. 
 
 Relationships: Friendship, marriage, 
 family life, citizenship, busi- 
 ness and social life. 
 
 Exeroise good judgment, 
 care, common sense, and sys- 
 tem, as well as emotion, in 
 them all. Care is quite as ne- 
 cessary in choosing a wife or a 
 husband as in choosing a horse. 
 And bringing up a child is 
 quite as complex and difficult, 
 and needs quite as much pre- 
 paration, as running a locomo- 
 tive. Citizenship also demands 
 your best thought; understand 
 the movements of your age and 
 the questions of your day, and 
 do your duty as a civic part- 
 ner. 
 
 Ideals; Individual and social, quies- 
 cent and active, subordinate 
 and dominant. 
 
 Ideals have power to mould 
 your life and the laws and 
 institutions of your country. 
 Every great movement in his- 
 tory was an ideal before it be- 
 came a fact. Be careful to 
 form true ideals," and help 
 others to do likewise, — ideals 
 in harmony with justice and 
 humanity, — and apply your 
 ideals as far as you can in 
 business, politics, and social 
 life as well as in your home. 
 
 Happiness, 
 
 — the pleasures 
 
 of sense, 
 
 — " the joy of do- 
 
 ing/' 
 
 — the pleasures of 
 
 possession, 
 
 — the pleasures of 
 
 the intellect, 
 
 — the joys of sym- 
 
 pathy and love, 
 
 — the delights of 
 
 devotion to 
 high purpose. 
 
 Not self-sacrifice, 
 but sacrifice of 
 the lower self to 
 the higher self 
 is the secret. 
 
 Power 
 Service 
 
 Love 
 Beauty 
 Humor 
 Lofty aim. 
 
 History 
 Biography 
 Fiction 
 Poetry 
 Oratory 
 Music and 
 Art 
 "Work 
 Play 
 Children 
 Animals 
 Men and 
 Women 
 Nature 
 
 Science 
 Home, Business 
 School, Gov't 
 Church, Society 
 Theatre, Travel. 
 
 Service 
 in sympathy, 
 love, and devo- 
 tion. 
 
 Not aggressive 
 
 individualism 
 but ennobled 
 cooperative 
 individualism. 
 
 Brotherhood 
 and Mutualism, 
 
 not 
 conquest and 
 mastery. 
 
 103 
 
 Don't be 
 unjust, 
 unkind, 
 thoughtless, 
 stupid, 
 pessimistic, 
 grumbly, 
 cruel, 
 
 unsympathetic, 
 overbearing, 
 discourteous, 
 hasty, 
 intolerant, 
 unreasonable, 
 untrue, 
 silly, 
 
 conceited, 
 intemperate, 
 double-faced, 
 avaricious, 
 snobbish, 
 bombastic, 
 dudish, 
 dissipated, 
 over-critical, 
 unmannerly, 
 mean, 
 
 despondent, 
 dogmatic, 
 despotic, 
 rash, 
 
 ungenerous, 
 selfish, 
 slow, 
 
 disorderly, 
 deceitful, 
 destructive, 
 disobedient, 
 tardy, 
 inefficient, 
 cowardly, 
 vacillating, 
 over-confident, 
 over-aggressive, 
 hypocritical, 
 self-deceived. 
 
J04 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 MEMORY 1 
 
 LAWS AND METHODS OF ITS USE AND CULTIVATION 
 
 Physical Basis. Physiological retentiveness, gray matter of reasonable con- 
 sistency. 
 Quality improved by attention to conditions of healtb and strength and by 
 speoiflo exercise. 
 
 Selection. Can't remember everything. 
 
 I Substance ; vital facts and principles. 
 Condensation; reduoe substance to lowest terms, and label with 
 key words. 
 Form ; arrange according to relations of sequence, cause, subor- 
 dination, etc. ; make an analytic digest, diagram, or picture. 
 Association. The physiological law of memory. 
 
 1. Tie the new thought with some other idea or ideas already firmly fixed 
 
 in the mind, or of deep interest to you. 
 
 2. Classify, link with like facts, or with contrasts; tie your facts in bun- 
 
 dles. 
 Registration. 1. In best centre. 
 
 2. Multiple registration in visual, auditory, speaking, and writing centres. 
 
 3. Time and method. 
 
 Attention. Focus the mind on the things to be memorized; concentrate. 
 Emphasis. Physical tension to deepen impression. 
 Repetition. To wear a deeper channel and form a habit in the gray cells. 
 Reflection. Let the mind DWELL on the matter, roll it over and over, look at 
 
 it on all sides, draw inferences from it, etc. 
 Us*, Expression, Exercise at high temperature or In emotional atmosphere. 
 Tell what you wish to remember to some one in whom you feel a strong 
 interest, or under circumstances stirring your emotions. Use it in your 
 business or play. Build on it a course of study or conduct, or some 
 undertaking. 
 Have companionship in your studies and memorizing, etc. 
 
 SPECIAL HINTS 
 
 1. Don't wash out ideas and diminish retentiveness with a flood of transient 
 
 impressions. 
 
 2. Don't exhaust the bloom ; German language method. 
 
 3. Don't cram. 
 
 4. Take advantage of the law of unconscious cerebration, 
 
 Bed time, meal time, etc, 
 6. Take advantage of the psychologic laws of interest, habit, reflex action — the 
 
 increase of power and pleasure with practice. 
 At a given time each day if possible run over valuable analyses in thought 
 
 till they FLASH through your mind in volumes. 
 
 6. Form or join magazine club or culture club to divide labor of selection and 
 
 analysis and secure the stimulus and, emotional emphasis of companion- 
 ship. 
 
 7. Use key words constantly in sets. 
 
 8. Use memoranda — make paper memory save the mind on non-essentials, ana 
 
 back up the brain record with unchangeable written records of essen- 
 tials. 
 
 * Copyright, 1904, by Frank Parsons. 
 
SUPPLEMENTARY HELPS 105 
 
 CIVIC SUGGESTIONS 
 
 No matter how successful a man may be in business, no matter 
 how much money he may make, nor how honest and efficient he 
 may be industrially, if he is not a good citizen, fully alive to all his 
 civic rights, privileges, duties, and responsibilities, he is no more 
 than half a man at best. A man who exerts himself only to get his 
 bread and butter, and not at all for the social good, has not de- 
 veloped much beyond the oyster stage of civilization, although in 
 outward appearance he may resemble a real human being. 
 
 Your part in civic life is quite as important as your occupation, 
 vital as that undoubtedly is. All round manhood is the true aim. 
 Making a living is only one arc of the circle. You must be a good 
 citizen as well as a good worker. You do not want to be alive only 
 on one side and dead on the other. You are one of the directors 
 and rulers of these United States, or soon will be, and you should 
 know how public business is transacted, understand the great 
 questions that are before the people, and do your share in secur- 
 ing good government and civic improvement, and promoting true 
 solutions of the vital problems of the day. A few specific sug- 
 gestions on these lines may be of use to you. 
 
 1. Visit the Legislature now and then, and the City Council 
 or Town Meeting, to observe the process of manufacturing laws 
 and ordinances. Attend the hearings on important measures be- 
 fore legislative committees. The legislators are your servants, and 
 you should know how they do their work, and whether they are 
 doing it right or not. Get the Municipal Register at City Hall and 
 the Manual of the General Court at the State House. 
 
 2. Go to the Superior Court and see a jury trial in a civil case. 
 Then visit the Supreme Court and hear a case argued before the 
 full bench. The sessions of the Federal Courts in the Post Office 
 Building should also be visited. After you have seen the process 
 of enforcing the law by judicial procedure, you may be interested 
 to go to the Law Library at the State House and read some de- 
 cisions rendered in famous cases by the Massachusetts Supreme 
 Court or the Supreme Court of the United States. 
 
 3. Attend important lectures and discussions of political and 
 economic problems, and if possible join some organization where 
 public questions are discussed, — the Economic Club, City Club, 
 Twentieth Century Club, Civic Service House Forum, Y. M. C. A. 
 
106 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 Congress, or any good debating club, — and take part in the 
 discussions. 
 
 4. Read the summaries of current events and political opinion 
 in some of the best magazines, such as The Review of Reviews, 
 The Arena, The Outlook, The Literary Digest, The Public, The 
 World's Work, etc. Study the collections of cartoons in the first 
 two. And read the civic editorials in at least one good newspaper 
 representing each of the great divisions of political thought and 
 organization. 
 
 5. Send letters to the press expressing your views on public 
 affairs. Write also to the Mayor and Governor and other city or 
 state officials, and to your representatives in City Hall, at the 
 State House and in Washington, so that they may know you are 
 watching them and may have at hand a record of your views for 
 or against important measures, and the reasons for your attitude. 
 The greater the number of citizens who will do such civic work 
 as this in patriotic and enlightened performance of their duties as 
 national, state, and municipal directors, the more complete will 
 be the record of public sentiment available for the guidance of 
 legislators and officials, and the greater their incentive to honest 
 and energetic action for the public good in the light of the watch- 
 ful interest of an enlightened citizenship. 
 
 6. Notify the Board of Health of any stagnant water, rubbish 
 heaps, unsanitary buildings, contagious diseases, impure foods, 
 or other unhealthful conditions you observe. True patriotism 
 begins at home, with care for our own neighborhood. 
 
 7. To form a solid basis for your own independent thinking and 
 usefulness as a citizen, study some of the best books on citizen- 
 ship, government, economics, and the principal public questions 
 of the day. Take also, if you can, a course in political science, 
 economics, and sociology. There are evening classes for those 
 who cannot study in the daytime. 
 
 Select some good books from the following list in consultation 
 with the counselor, and begin a systematic course of analytic 
 reading on government, economics, history, and the leading prob- 
 lems that are before the people for discussion and solution. 
 
 "The American Citizen": Charles F. Dole. 
 "The Young Citizen": Charles F. Dole. 
 "The Spirit of Democracy": Charles F. Dole. 
 "Civic Reader for New Americans" : Meyer Bloomfield, C. F. 
 Dole, and others. 
 
SUPPLEMENTARY HELPS 107 
 
 "Civil Government in the United States": John Fiske. 
 "Advanced Civics": Forman. 
 "The Government": S. S. Clark. 
 "Civil Government": George H. Martin. 
 "American Political Ideals": John Fiske. 
 "The American Commonwealth": James Bryce. 
 "Municipal Government in Great Britain": Albert Shaw. 
 "Municipal Government in Continental Europe": Albert 
 
 Shaw. 
 "The State" : Woodrow Wilson. 
 "Democracy and Social Ethics": Jane Addams. 
 
 Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. 
 Washington's Farewell Address. 
 The Messages of President Roosevelt. 
 
 A powerful presentation of progressive measures, trust and 
 labor legislation, control of corporations, industrial arbitration, 
 income and inheritance taxes, postal savings banks, etc. 
 
 "World Politics": Paul S. Reinsch. 
 "World Organization": Raymond Bridgman. 
 "Organize the World": Edwin D. Mead. 
 "Patriotism and the New Internationalism": Lucia Ames 
 Mead. 
 
 "General History": Myers. 
 "Modern History": Myers. 
 
 United States History : John Fiske's volumes. 
 "Short History of the English People": Greene. 
 "Europe in the Nineteenth Century": Judson. 
 "The Wonderful Century": Wallace. 
 
 An inspiring account of the great inventions and achievements 
 of the nineteenth century. 
 
 "Great Movements of the Nineteenth Century": Parsons. 
 "Story of New Zealand": Parsons. 
 
 How New Zealand established industrial arbitration, old-age 
 pensions, public coal mines, progressive land-value, income and 
 inheritance taxes, postal savings banks, government loan offices, 
 public ownership of the money system, government railroads, 8 
 national employment bureau, public insurance, etc. 
 
108 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 "How England Averted a Revolution": Flower. 
 
 A campaign of education by pamphlet and platform in the corn 
 law agitation, saved a resort to force. 
 
 "The Federalist" : Senator Lodge's Edition. 
 
 Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Sumner, and others in 
 
 American Statesmen Series. 
 'Speeches and Lectures": Wendell Phillips. 
 "Short Life of Abraham Lincoln": Nicolay. 
 "Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin." 
 "Theodore Roosevelt": Jacob Riis. 
 
 "Outlines of Economics": R. T. Ely. 
 "Principles of Economics": E. R. A. Seligman. 
 "Political Economy": Francis A. Walker. 
 "Principles of Economics": Alfred Marshall. 
 "Institutes of Economics": Andrews. 
 "The New Political Economy": Parsons. 
 "Labor Copartnership": Henry D. Lloyd. 
 "Distribution of Wealth": John R. Commons. 
 "Economics of Distribution": John A. Hobson. 
 "Evolution of Modern Capitalism": John A. Hobson. 
 "The Truth About the Trusts": John Moody. 
 "The Trust Problem": J. W. Jenks. 
 "Wealth Against the Commonwealth": Henry D. Lloyd. 
 
 The Story of Standard Oil. 
 
 "History of the Standard Oil Trust": Ida M. Tarbell. 
 
 "Chapters of Erie": Charles Francis Adams. 
 
 "The Railways, the Trusts, and the People": Parsons. 
 
 "The Strategy of Great Railroads": Spearman. 
 
 "The Railway Question": Stickney. 
 
 "The Railroad Question" : Larrabee. 
 
 "National Consolidation of Railways": Lewis. 
 
 "A General Freight and Passenger Post": Cowles. 
 
 "Municipal Monopolies": Bemis, Commons, Parsons, and 
 
 others. 
 "The City for the People": Parsons. 
 
 Public Ownership, Direct Legislation, Direct Nominations, Pro- 
 portional Representation, Preferential Voting, Home Rule for 
 Cities, The Ideal City Charter. 
 
SUPPLEMENTARY HELPS 109 
 
 Public Ownership Report of National Civic Federation Com- 
 mission, especially the summaries in volume i. 
 
 "The Shame of the Cities": Lincoln Steffens. 
 "The City the Hope of Democracy": Frederick C. Howe. 
 "American Municipal Progress": Charles Zueblin. ' 
 "How the Other Half Lives" : Jacob Riis. 
 "The Battle with the Slum": Jacob Riis. 
 "The Improvement of Towns and Cities" : Charles M. Robin- 
 son. 
 "The City Wilderness": Robert A. Woods and others. 
 "Americans in Process": Robert A. Woods and others. 
 
 "Up from Slavery": Booker T. Washington. 
 
 "Progress and Poverty": Henry George. 
 
 "Looking Backward": Edward Bellamy. 
 
 "Merrie England": Robert Blatchford. 
 
 "An Inquiry into Socialism": Thomas Kirkup. 
 
 "Socialism and Social Reform": Richard T. Ely. 
 
 "Bi-Socialism" : Oliver Trowbridge. 
 
 "Social Unrest": John Graham Brooks. 
 
 "New Worlds for Old " : H. G. Wells. 
 
 "The Foundations of Sociology": Edward A. Ross. 
 
 "Social Control": Edward A. Ross. 
 
 "Practical Sociology": Carroll D. Wright. 
 
 "Dynamic Sociology": Lester F. Ward. 
 
 To find articles in leading magazines for any subject you are 
 studying, refer to "Poole's Index" and "The Reader's Guide" in 
 the periodical room at the Public Library. 
 
 For reference purposes you should also acquaint yourself 
 with — 
 
 The World Almanac. 
 
 The Statesman's Year Book. 
 
 The Municipal Year Book (English). 
 
 The Australian Handbook. 
 
 The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social 
 Science. 
 
 Reports of the National Municipal League, the League of 
 American Municipalities, and the National Civic Federation. 
 
 Bliss's "Cyclopedia of Social Reform" (Edition of 1908). 
 
110 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 MulhalFs "Dictionary of Statistics." 
 Poor's " Railroad Manual." 
 Interstate Commerce Commission Reports. 
 Bulletins of the U. S. Department of Commerce and Labor. 
 The Congressional Record. 
 
 Proceedings of the House and Senate and Reports of Com- 
 mittees. 
 
 "Who's Who in America." 
 
 The Century Dictionary. 
 
 The Universal Cyclopedia, and 
 
 The American and English Encyclopedia of Law. 
 
XV 
 
 SAMPLE CASES 
 
 Experience is the great teacher. I shall be glad if my 
 experience in this line of work can become valuable to 
 others. I keep a record of each case. If it is not worth 
 putting down on paper, it is not worth doing at all. Not 
 unt.l I have written out a summary of the case can I feel 
 that I have done it anything like adequate justice. The 
 following selected cases illustrate the wide variety of 
 method and treatment : — 
 
 Case 3 
 
 A CARTOONIST IN THE BUD 
 
 A working boy of eighteen, graduate of a Boston high 
 school, said he wanted to be a cartoonist. He was strong, 
 healthy, energetic, and enthusiastic. He had a fine, expres- 
 sive face, clear, keen eye, and pleasing manners. He stood 
 the memory test excellently well, showed some imagination 
 and inventiveness, and a good deal of skill with his pencil. 
 He had done some good reading on his own account, solid 
 books of history and science. 
 
 The counselor saw no reason why he should not be aided 
 and encouraged in the pursuit of his ambition to become a 
 cartoonist. The suggestions of the counselor, therefore, 
 related chiefly to method. 
 
 Suggestions. 
 
 1. Get large scrapbooks, or make them for yourself out 
 of manilla paper. 
 
 2. Get your friends to give you copies of The Review of 
 
112 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 Reviews and other magazines and newspapers that publish 
 the best cartoons. Cut them out. Classify them according 
 to the principles involved, just as naturalists classify ani- 
 mals and plants. Paste them in your scrapbooks, putting 
 those of each class together. Mark each one with a word 
 or phrase which will be to you the name of that cartoon. 
 Make a list of these words and phrases that you can carry 
 in your pocket. 
 
 Turn over the leaves of your scrapbook every day, and 
 two or three times a day if you can. Study the best car- 
 toons carefully, and after each study shut your eyes or 
 look at the ceiling and see if you can recall the picture. 
 Sketch the cartoons from memory, taking one at a time, 
 drawing it over and over again, comparing your sketch 
 each time with the original, and correcting your work 
 until you can make a good sketch of each of the best car- 
 toons from memory. 
 
 When you are in the cars or anywhere else, with a few 
 moments' leisure, take out your list of words and phrases 
 representing your cartoon specimens and try to flash be- 
 fore your mind rapidly the pictures corresponding to the 
 words and phrases on your list. 
 
 In other words, master your collection of good cartoons ; 
 put them in your brain and at your fingers' ends. They 
 constitute for you the a b c of your profession, and you 
 must make them a part of yourself, master them as 
 thoroughly as you did the multiplication table when you 
 studied arithmetic. 
 
 3. Look at the headlines of the leading papers every day, 
 and every two or three days, or once a week at least, select 
 some subject that interests you strongly, and try to repre- 
 sent your thought of it in cartoon form, using pictures of 
 men and animals, etc., to express your meaning, as the 
 cartoonists do. 
 
 If your thought does not readily flow into picture form, 
 turn the pages of your cartoon books, looking at each pic- 
 
SAMPLE CASES 113 
 
 ture with the thought you wish to express clearly in your 
 mind, and see if you do not get a suggestion from some of 
 the cartoons in your books. 
 
 Draw your cartoon and compare it with those in your 
 books, especially those of the same class, principle, or 
 method of work. Then see if you can improve your draw- 
 ing ; and when you get it so that you are satisfied with it or 
 believe it to be the best you can make it at that time, take 
 it to some artist friend and get him to criticise it. Correct 
 it in the light of his suggestions if you think they are well 
 founded, and then send it to some newspaper or magazine 
 that prints cartoons and see if they will publish it. If not, 
 send it to another, and another, keeping on until you get 
 it published, or are pretty sure you cannot place it. 
 
 Do this every week, or as often as you conveniently can, 
 and after a while, with careful and persistent and well- 
 directed effort, you will be practically sure to succeed. 
 
 The counselor will be glad to see your drawings from 
 time to time and make such further suggestions as may 
 seem best, and also help you get acquainted with some 
 artist competent to criticise your work. 
 
 4. While you are studying and working on the direct 
 lines of your intended vocation, do not neglect the ad- 
 vantages to be secured by continued reading of the best 
 books, especially those on history, economics, and natural 
 science, with Emerson's " Essays " and some good poetry. 
 Such reading will not only help you to develop into a first- 
 class man all round, a good citizen and respected member 
 of society, — which is quite as important as being a good 
 cartoonist, — but it will also help you in your profession 
 by filling your mind with vivid images of many kinds, and 
 giving you the power to appreciate the significance and 
 relationships of public questions and current events. A 
 man cannot be a first-class workman at any trade or pro- 
 fession unless he knows a good deal more than the special 
 matters involved in his business. He must master the 
 
114 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 technic of his profession, and lie must also know a good 
 deal about the world in general, and human nature in par- 
 ticular, in order that he may understand the relations 
 between his special work and the varied interests of his 
 fellow men. 
 
 Case 6 
 
 A WOULD-BE DOCTOR 
 
 A boy of nineteen said he wanted to be a doctor. He 
 was sickly looking, small, thin, hollow-cheeked, with list- 
 less eye and expressionless face. He did not smile once 
 during the interview of more than an hour. He shook hands 
 like a wet stick. His voice was husky and unpleasant, and 
 his conversational power, aside from answering direct 
 questions, seemed practically limited to "ss-uh," an as- 
 pirate " yes, sir," consisting of a prolonged s followed by a 
 non-vocal uh, made by suddenly dropping the lower jaw 
 and exploding the breath without bringing the vocal cords 
 into action. He used this aspirate "yes-sir" constantly, 
 to indicate assent, or that he heard what the counselor said. 
 He had been through the grammar school and the evening 
 high; was not good in any of his studies, nor especially 
 interested in any. His memory was poor. He fell down on 
 all the tests for mental power. He had read practically 
 nothing outside of school except the newspapers. He had 
 no resources and very few friends. He was not tidy in his 
 appearance, nor in any way attractive. He knew nothing 
 about a doctor's life ; not even that he might have to get up 
 any time in the middle of the night, or that he had to re- 
 member books full of symptoms and remedies. 
 
 The boy had no enthusiasms, interests, or ambitions 
 except the one consuming ambition to be something that 
 people would respect, and he thought he could accom- 
 plish that purpose by becoming a physician more easily 
 than in any other way. 
 
SAMPLE CASES 115 
 
 When the study was complete, and the young man's 
 record was before him, the counselor said : — 
 
 " Now we must be very frank with each other. That is 
 the only way such talks can be of any value. You want me 
 to tell you the truth just as I see it, don't you ? That 's 
 why you came to me, is n't it, — not for flattery, but for a 
 frank talk to help you understand yourself and your pos- 
 sibilities ? " 
 
 "Ss-uh." 
 
 " Don't you think a doctor should be well and strong ? 
 Does n't he need vigorous health to stand irregular hours, 
 night calls, exposure to contagious diseases, etc. ? " 
 
 "Ss-uh." 
 
 "And you are not strong." 
 
 "Ss-uh." (This was repeated after almost every sen- 
 tence of the counselor's remarks, but will be omitted here 
 for the sake of condensation.) 
 
 " And you have n't the pleasant manners a doctor ought 
 to have. You have not smiled nor shown any expressive- 
 ness in your face the whole time you have been answering 
 my questions and telling me about your life and record. 
 Your hand was moist and unpleasant when you shook 
 hands. And you put your fingers in my hand without any 
 pressure, or show of interest. I might as well have shaken 
 hands with a stick." 
 
 (The counselor's criticisms were very frank and forceful, 
 but he smiled at the boy as he spoke, and his tones were 
 quite gentle and sympathetic, so that the young man was 
 not offended or repelled, but seemed attracted and pleased, 
 on the whole, by the frank and kindly interest of the 
 counselor in his welfare.) 
 
 "You might cultivate a cordial smile, a friendly hand- 
 shake, and winning manners, and you ought to develop 
 good manners no matter what business you follow, but it 
 will take much time and effort, for manners do not come 
 natural to you. 
 
116 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 "You should cultivate your voice, and use smooth, clear 
 tones, with life in them. Your voice is listless, husky, and 
 unpleasant now. 
 
 "And read good solid books, — history, economics, 
 government, etc., — and talk about them. Develop your 
 conversational power. At present you do not even seem 
 able to say, 'yes, sir,' distinctly. 
 
 " You want to win respect, to be something your fellow 
 men will admire. But it is not necessary to be a doctor in 
 order to be respectable. 
 
 "Any man who lives a useful life, does his work well, 
 takes care of his family, is a good citizen, and lives a clean, 
 true, kindly, helpful life, will be respected and loved, 
 whether he is a farmer, carpenter, lawyer, doctor, black- 
 smith, teamster, clerk, or factory worker. 
 
 " People will respect a carpenter who knows his business 
 and does his work well a good deal more than they will a 
 doctor who does n't know his business. It is a question of 
 fitness, knowledge, skill, and usefulness. A bad doctor is 
 one of the least respectable of men. Think of the blunders 
 he is likely to make, the people he is likely to kill or injure 
 through wrong medicines or lack of skill in diagnosis or 
 treatment." 
 
 The counselor then painted two word pictures sub- 
 stantially as follows : — 
 
 "Suppose two men are trying to build up a medical 
 practice. One is tall, fine looking, strong, and healthy, with 
 a winning smile, a cordial way of shaking hands, pleasant 
 voice, and engaging manners. He is bright, cheery, whole- 
 some. People like to have him visit them. His presence in 
 the sickroom is a tonic worth as much as the medicine he 
 gives. He has a good education, has read a lot of good 
 books, keeps posted in the leading magazines, and under- 
 stands the public questions of the day, so he can talk to 
 all sorts of people about the things that interest them. He 
 has a good memory, so he can carry in his mind the volumes 
 
SAMPLE CASES 117 
 
 of symptoms and medical data a doctor ought to know, 
 and can tell a case of smallpox, scarlet fever, diphtheria, 
 etc., etc., without running back to his office to study the 
 books. He has friends to help him get patients, and money 
 enough to live in good style three or four years while he is 
 building up a practice. 
 
 "The other man is small, thin, hollow cheeked, sickly 
 looking, with poor memory, little education, practically no 
 reading, no resources, undeveloped manners, husky, un- 
 pleasant voice, no conversational ability, — nothing to 
 attract people or inspire their confidence, and with mental 
 handicaps that would make it very difficult for him to 
 master the profession. No memory to hold the books full 
 of symptoms and remedies, — a patient might die while he 
 was going back to the office to study up what was the 
 matter. 
 
 " Which of these two men would have the best chance of 
 success ? " 
 
 "The first one." 
 
 " And which most closely resembles your own case ? " 
 
 "The second." 
 
 " Do you really think, then, that you would have a good 
 chance to make a success of the medical profession ? " 
 
 " I don't know that I would. I never thought of it this 
 way before, I just knew it was a good business, highly re- 
 spected, and that's what I wanted." 
 
 "But there may be other highly respectable lines of 
 work in which you would not be at so great a disadvantage. 
 
 " Suppose a lot of races were to be run. In some of them 
 you would have to run with a heavy iron ball tied round 
 your leg, while others ran free. In other races you could 
 run free as well as the rest of them, and have something 
 like a fair chance. Which sort of race would you enter ? " 
 
 " I 'd rather run free, of course." 
 
 "Well, your hands appear to be just as good as any- 
 body's. You can exercise care and industry. You can re- 
 
118 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 member a few things, and can be successful if you don't 
 attempt too much. If you go out into some sort of work 
 where you won't have to meet so many people as a doctor 
 must, nor remember such a vast mass of facts, — something 
 where the memory and the personal element will not be 
 such important factors, so that your handicap in these 
 respects will not cripple you, — you may run the race on 
 fairly equal terms and have a good chance of success. Some 
 mechanical or manufacturing industry, wholesale trade 
 where you would handle stock, care of poultry, sheep, 
 cows, or other out-door work, would offer you good op- 
 portunities and be better for your health than the com- 
 paratively sedentary and irregular life of a physician. 
 
 " I suggest that you visit stock and dairy farms, carpenter 
 shops, shoe factories, wholesale stores, etc., see a good 
 many industries in the lines I have spoken of, read about 
 them, talk with the workmen and managers, try your hand 
 if you can at various sorts of work, and make up your 
 mind if there is not some business that will interest you 
 and offer you a fairly equal opportunity free from the 
 special handicaps you would have to overcome in pro- 
 fessional life." 
 
 The counselor also made specific suggestions about the 
 cultivation of memory and manners, and a systematic 
 course of reading and study to prepare for citizenship, and 
 to develop economic power and social understanding and 
 usefulness, that would entitle the young man to the esteem 
 of his fellow citizens. 
 
 As the youth rose to go he wiped his hand so it would be 
 dry as he shook hands with some warmth and thanked 
 the counselor for his suggestions, which he said he would 
 try to follow. He smiled for the first time as he said this, 
 and the counselor, noting it, said : — 
 
 " There ! You can smile. You can light up your face if 
 you choose. Now learn to do it often. Practice speaking 
 before the glass, till you get your face so it will move and 
 
SAMPLE CASES 119 
 
 not stay in one position all the evening like a plaster mask. 
 And try to stop saying ' Ss-uh.' When you want to say 
 ' Yes, sir,' say it distinctly in a clear, manly tone, and not 
 under your breath like a steam valve on an engine. A good 
 many times when you say ' Ss-uh ' it is n't necessary to 
 say anything, and the rest of the time you should say 
 ' Yes, sir,' or make some definite comment in a clear voice 
 full of life and interest. Watch other people, and imitate 
 those you admire, and avoid the things that repel or dis- 
 please you in people you do not like." 
 
 "Ss-uh — yes, sir," said the boy, with another faint 
 smile, " I '11 try." And he was gone. 
 
 He told another young man a few days later that " the 
 Professor" said he would go through him with a lantern, 
 and he had certainly done it, and he was glad of it, for he 
 learned more about himself that evening than in all his life 
 before ; and though part of it was like taking medicine at 
 the time, it was all right, and he knew it would help him a 
 great deal. 
 
 Case 12 
 
 FROM BOOTBLACKING TO SIGN PAINTING 
 
 Boy of nineteen; small, thin, weak; grammar-school 
 education; very little reading; memory poor. His father 
 drives an express wagon. Went to work at fourteen. Suc- 
 cessively, office boy at $3 a week, florist's helper at $4.50 
 a week, and driver of delivery wagon for provision store at 
 $5 and $6 a week. Got sick and lost his job. Went to work 
 blacking boots at a stand in a billiard hall. Loves music 
 and drawing. Spends spare time with pencil and cornet. 
 Saved $63 to buy a silver cornet and $38 for lessons, while 
 he was making $4.50 and $5 a week. Gave his mother 
 half and saved the rest for cornet and lessons. Thought 
 of studying to take civil service examinations for clerkship 
 in post office. 
 
 Counselor asked him to bring some of his sketches. He 
 
120 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 did so. They showed considerable ability in outline work 
 and lettering. Best points evidently in drawing and music. 
 
 Suggestions. 
 
 " If all the boys in Boston were to be divided into classes 
 according to their special aptitudes and abilities, in what 
 class would you belong ? Is there anything you can do that 
 most of the boys could not do so well ? " 
 
 " Most of them cannot play the cornet, or draw as well as 
 I can, I think." 
 
 " How would you like to use your ability for drawing and 
 lettering by getting to be a sign painter ? " 
 
 "I would like it very much." 
 
 " Well, practice a little every day or several times a day 
 if possible. Watch the signs on the streets and copy the 
 best ones. Study the advertisements in good magazines. 
 Copy the lettering. Reproduce it from memory over and 
 over again till you have mastered several good alphabets, 
 plain and ornamental, and can use them at will in making 
 signs and designs of your own. Borrow an engraver's 
 book to get all the letters of each style in a complete group. 
 When you have mastered a few kinds of letters so you can 
 do plain and fancy lettering easily and rapidly, try to get a 
 place in one of these sign-making shops and work up. If 
 you do well and save your money as you did for the cornet, 
 you may be able in a few years to start a shop of your own. 
 Don't drop your music ; you may get into a band some day, 
 though it is doubtful if you are strong enough to rely on 
 that as a business." 
 
 Some weeks later the counselor met the young man in the 
 subway. He had followed the suggestions made to him, 
 had developed considerable skill and facility in lettering, 
 got a place in an excellent shop, and was making signs to 
 his heart's content. Had one of them with him on the way 
 to delivery, a very creditable piece of work, and he was 
 brimming over with enthusiasm and happiness, — did not 
 
SAMPLE CASES 121 
 
 seem like the same boy who had come a few weeks before 
 to see how he could get a start. 
 
 Case 13 
 
 A GIFT FOB LANGUAGES 
 
 Young man of twenty ; fine appearance ; strong, athletic 
 figure; handsome, expressive face; clear skin and eye; 
 smiling, neat, manly, well-mannered, attractive in every 
 way. Clean, intelligent, careful, social, free from bad habits 
 except smoking before and after meals. Good-tempered, 
 never had a fight or serious quarrel. Always been a leader 
 among the boys; organized a number of clubs, and done 
 a good deal of public speaking. Born in Russia. Went to 
 Paris the next year. There eleven years, then came to 
 Boston. Went to school in Paris, and two terms in Boston 
 at the Phillips School. Best studies were arithmetic and 
 languages, took several prizes. Poorest records in drawing 
 and grammar. Has picked up a working knowledge of 
 five languages. His father, a small merchant tailor, has a 
 working knowledge of ten languages. The boy has read 
 Victor Hugo's " Les Miserables " both in French and 
 English ; also fond of Shakespeare. Reads the editorials in 
 the Herald and the American, also the general political 
 news, but cares nothing for murder trials, divorce cases, 
 or sporting news. Went to work at fourteen as a store boy 
 at $2 a week. Worked five years in different dry goods and 
 department stores as errand boy, stock boy, and salesman, 
 getting $3.50, $4, $6, and $7 a week. Then got a place as a 
 traveling salesman for a tobacco house, and made $13 or 
 $14 a week. The firm transferred their business to a dis- 
 tant Western city. The boy wanted to stay with his people, 
 so he did not go with the house. Said he had about con- 
 cluded to take a civil service course and try to get into the 
 post office as a clerk or a carrier, though he would rather 
 be a traveling salesman if he could. 
 
122 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 When the record, containing all this and a great deal 
 more, was finished, the counselor said : — 
 
 " What are your distinguishing characteristics, the traits 
 by which a naturalist might classify you ? " 
 
 The boy hesitated. 
 
 " If all the young men in Boston were gathered here, in 
 what respects, if any, would you excel most of them ? In 
 what respects would you be on a level with the rest, and in 
 what respects, if any, would you be inferior ? " 
 
 " I think most of the boys would not know so many lan- 
 guages, nor have done as much organizing or public 
 speaking." 
 
 "Language, leadership, organizing ability, seem to be 
 your distinguishing characteristics, the traits that would 
 put you in a group with a small division of Boston's 
 boys." 
 
 "Yes, I think that is so." 
 
 " Does a man win fame, position, money, success by the 
 exercise of those faculties in respect to which he is specially 
 strong, or by the exercise of faculties in respect to which 
 he has only average ability or is inferior ? " 
 
 " A man wins by his strong points, of course, not by his 
 weak ones." 
 
 "Will your gifts for language, leadership, and organi- 
 zation come in play as a postal clerk, or will the boy without 
 such abilities have about as good a chance in sorting letters 
 or carrying the mail ? " 
 
 "I might do something in the post office, perhaps, but 
 it is plain enough that there are better fields for the sort of 
 thing I can best do." 
 
 The counselor and the youth went over the list of in- 
 dustries together, and decided that teaching languages, 
 translating, interpreting, political or social work among the 
 immigrant populations of a large city, or work in a big 
 mercantile house having correspondence and dealings with 
 people of many nationalities, would offer the best oppor- 
 
SAMPLE CASES 123 
 
 trinities for the full development and advantageous use 
 of the young man's special abilities. 
 
 The first two lines of effort did not attract him, but any 
 of the others he would like, especially civic or social work 
 that would lead to public speaking and organizing, or a 
 mercantile connection that would send him among differ- 
 ent nationalities as a salesman or agent. 
 
 Methods were discussed and plans developed for more 
 thorough preparation and for finding a good opening on 
 the right line. One suggestion was that the youth should 
 take one language after another and perfect his knowledge 
 of it, master it; not merely read a little here and there in 
 periodicals, as he had been doing, but make a systematic 
 study of the grammar, read some of the best books in that 
 language, and learn to write and speak it fluently. The 
 counselor also suggested that smoking should be given up 
 as a useless, expensive, and injurious habit. This sugges- 
 tion did not meet with favor. But the young man expressed 
 his gratitude for the light and inspiration that had come 
 to him during the interview. He saw the path to his best 
 usefulness and success clear before him . And he went away 
 full of enthusiastic determination to take up Italian first, 
 and afterward French, Spanish, etc., and turn his working 
 knowledge into a mastery, in preparation for the opportu- 
 nity that will surely come to put his best powers into prac- 
 tical use. 
 
 Case 14 
 
 A LAWYER IN THE MAKING 
 
 A bright boy of seventeen; German descent; ancestry 
 distinguished and very well-off on both sides, but paternal 
 grandfather lost his money (property confiscated by Rus- 
 sian government) and father has not recovered it. Twice 
 set up in business by his father-in-law, but did not succeed 
 in winning wealth. 
 
 The boy is one of the best, — high type in character and 
 
124 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 ability, fine looking, pleasant manners, good speaker, loves 
 argument, greatly interested in public questions. Grammar 
 school, two years of evening high, and three years of 
 Breadwinners' Institute. Excellent records in all studies 
 but drawing. President of class in grammar school. Read 
 Scott, Dickens, Shakespeare, Cooper, Dumas. Very fond 
 of books, dogs, horses, children, music, theatre, public 
 meetings, discussions, etc. Memory good, analytic power 
 excellent. Clear, forceful thinker, and tenacious debater. 
 Careful, reliable, industrious, persistent, enthusiastic, open- 
 minded, sympathetic, good-tempered, sociable. Free from 
 bad habits, except a slight tendency to let his shoulders sag 
 forward as he stands, and to converse at times without 
 putting due life and emphasis into his voice. Walks ten 
 miles or more at a stretch, but takes no other exercise. 
 Salesman in dry-goods store, but does n't like trade. 
 Wants to be a lawyer, and is willing to work hard to ac- 
 complish his purpose. 
 
 The counselor saw no occasion to discourage this ambi- 
 tion, but made some suggestions as to method. 
 
 1. Get Bigelow on Torts and analyze it. Reduce the 
 substance of the first chapter to a single page of writing 
 and bring it to me for criticism. 
 
 2. In the fall take the evening course at the Y.M. C. A. 
 
 3. Throw your shoulders back. Stand up straight. 
 
 4. Take more varied exercise. Bring the muscles of the 
 body, arms, and neck into vigorous play with the punching 
 bag or rowing or general gymnasium work. Breathe deeply 
 in the open air. It is very important for one who is to work 
 with his head to send strong currents of rich blood along 
 the spine and through the head and into every part of the 
 body. 
 
 5. Watch your voice. Put vitality and music into it even 
 in ordinary conversation. Study the tunes of speech and 
 use them. 
 
 The young man is reporting regularly, bringing in 
 
SAMPLE CASES 125 
 
 analyses of his legal reading, and most of them are very 
 good indeed for a beginner. He enjoys the study greatly, 
 and gets a good grip on the fundamentals. 
 
 Case 18 
 
 THE SECRET OF EFFECTIVE PREACHING 
 
 A fine-looking, healthy young man of twenty; bright, 
 expressive face, engaging smile, pleasant manners, natural, 
 cordial, and attractive; well-shaped head; memory rather 
 poor; language fair; good habits; social, sympathetic, and 
 inclined to look at life from the ethical standpoint. No 
 specially weak points, or strong ones, either, except his 
 pleasing appearance and address and his sympathetic dis- 
 position. Moderate education, grammar school in West 
 Indies, leaving at the age of seventeen. Went to business 
 college in Bellevue, Ontario, six months. No reading to 
 speak of. Worked on farm two months ; rest of time book- 
 keeping, receiving $11 a week. No manual or business 
 skill or experience, nor any decided mental aptitudes, but 
 decided aversion to mechanical, agricultural, or com- 
 mercial lines. Had decided to go to college and prepare for 
 Episcopal ministry. The college was determined upon, 
 and the ultimate location, — his former home in the West 
 Indies. 
 
 Excellent character, consecration to ethical ideals, at- 
 tractive personality, a social and sympathetic tempera- 
 ment, and a spirit of genuine helpfulness are among the 
 chief qualifications for a good pastor, and these were either 
 possessed by the young man, or could be cultivated by him 
 with good probability of success. Vocation fully deter- 
 mined upon, and choice apparently fairly well considered. 
 
 Suggestions, therefore, related mainly to methods of 
 attaining the fullest fitness for the ministry, securing the 
 best results as a pastor, and developing efficiency in the 
 pulpit. Some of the suggestions were as follows : — 
 
126 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 1. Cultivate memory. Was supplied with analysis of 
 method of developing and using memory, with explana- 
 tions and illustrations. 
 
 2. Study lives and work of great ministers, like Phillips 
 Brooks, Henry Ward Beecher, and others, and try to dis- 
 cover the secrets of their success, — the essential respects 
 in which they differed from the ordinary humdrum clergy- 
 man. 
 
 3. High character, broad sympathy, helpfulness, gen- 
 uine service, love of humanity, devotion to high ideals, 
 characterize the true preacher. 
 
 4. Knowledge of human nature, history, government, 
 economics, public questions, is even more essential than 
 knowledge of theology. 
 
 5. Learn to preach not only on Biblical matter, but on 
 the problems that face men in daily life, and draw your 
 illustrations of spiritual truth from concrete pictures of 
 life. The sermons of the best and most effective preachers 
 always deal with life. They apply the principles of Chris- 
 tianity to daily affairs of business, politics, society, home, 
 and individual life. No dry doctrinal sermons, but ser- 
 mons brimful of light, sympathy, inspiration, and intelli- 
 gent helpfulness in relation to the things that fill up the 
 lives of the people; the right and wrong of industry and 
 civic life in city, state, and nation, as well as the ethics of 
 the home and private conduct. 
 
 All these things were preeminently true of Beecher and 
 Brooks and other eminent clergymen of the past. Henry 
 Ward Beecher used to say, " Christianity is not a doctrine 
 but a life." 
 
 After listening to Phillips Brooks two or three times a 
 week for six or eight months, I said to him, "Dr. Brooks, 
 I 've been trying to find out what it is that makes your ser- 
 mons so attractive, and I've concluded that, aside from 
 your captivating earnestness and literary power, the charm 
 lies in the fact that you always make your thought touch 
 
SAMPLE CASES 127 
 
 daily life. You illumine common, every-day affairs with the 
 light of Christian principle. You constantly apply ethical 
 ideas and inspirations to life in all its phases, so that 
 religion invades the week, stays with the people seven days 
 instead of one, and goes with them into market, factory, 
 street, court room and legislative hall ; religion becomes a 
 part of life instead of a thing more or less apart from life, 
 a thing to put on once a week like your Sunday hat. That 
 seems to me the secret, — your sermons deal with concrete 
 daily life from the religious standpoint." 
 
 "Well," said the great divine, "what is preaching for 
 but that?" 
 
 It is clear, then, that a first-class minister must know a 
 great deal more than is taught in theological seminaries. 
 He must be an all-round man. 
 
 His field is the ethical and religious interpretation of life 
 and the world, and ministration to the sympathies, ideals, 
 and aspirations of his people. 
 
 To do his work properly, therefore, he must not only 
 study ethics and religion, but must know life and the 
 world, not only from books, but from personal contact and 
 experience. Man, nature, industry, government, science, 
 literature, and art all have a place in his equipment. 
 
 The world is hungry for ministers of a high type ; men 
 of light and sympathy and power, — men who know life 
 as well as the history of the church, — men who can help 
 the people solve the problems of daily life, as well as 
 preach a funeral sermon or recite the catechism in sonorous 
 tones. 
 
 Case 19 
 
 AN EMBRYO FOHESTEB 
 
 A vigorous young man of twenty-two; clerk in a small 
 store, fairly successful, trusted by his employer with the 
 general handling of the business and all the money that 
 goes to the bank. But does not like commerce. Passion- 
 
128 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 ately fond of nature, — trees, grass, flowers; often walks 
 out ten or fifteen miles to be in the woods, among the trees 
 and out of the din and turmoil and deceit of the city. 
 Grammar school, and five years evening study since. Head 
 of his class in school, and has taken prizes for oratory. 
 Careful, earnest, intelligent, and persistent. 
 
 " How would you like to be a florist, or study forestry and 
 enter the Government service, which is being developed so 
 rapidly now ? " asked the counselor. " You might live with 
 the trees then, and study them and care for them, as a gar- 
 dener does with his roses or a dairyman with his cattle." 
 
 " That would suit me exactly. Do you think I can do it ? 
 I will work very hard to do it, but I have to earn my living 
 and help my family some for a year or two, till my brother 
 and sister are able to support themselves." 
 
 " Are you willing to go West or South, or wherever the 
 forest work may call you ? " 
 
 " Yes, I '11 go anywhere." 
 
 " Well, then, we '11 do our best to fix it up together. And 
 we can begin work right away. Go to the public library 
 and make a list of what they have on forestry. Look over 
 the more recent books, take out the one you think is the 
 best, and I '11 show you how to make an analysis of it and 
 master the essential facts and principles. We'll also get 
 the bulletins and lists of books and forestry schools from 
 the Government Forest Service, collect a little library of 
 the best books for systematic study, and correspond with 
 the various schools and colleges to see if we can find a 
 chance for you to earn some money while taking a course 
 of forestry. Even if you don't find it right away, you will Le 
 practically free in a year or two, and meantime you can be 
 studying treeology in the books and in the forest, and pre- 
 paring yourself to make the most of your college course 
 when the time comes." 
 
 This programme was begun at once, and is being sys- 
 tematically carried out to the budding forester's great 
 
SAMPLE CASES 129 
 
 delight. I have never seen a boy devour a science with 
 more enthusiasm than this lover of trees displays in absorb- 
 ing the principles and practice of forestry. 
 
 Case 22 
 
 A MECHANIC OFF THE TRACK 
 
 A young man of thirty; tall, fine-looking, well-built; 
 clear, keen, fine expression ; pleasant voice and manners ; 
 excellent conversational power; evidently a man of con- 
 siderable culture and ability; bookkeeper for an advertising 
 concern, — fairly successful, making $25 a week; liked the 
 work, but not quite satisfied that he was in the right line 
 since hearing the counselor talk about the value of a union 
 of the best abilities and enthusiasms with the daily work. 
 He had a high-school education and course in a business 
 college, and had done some good reading on his own 
 initiative. 
 
 In answering such questions as : " How do you spend 
 your spare time ? " " What sort of books do you like best ? " 
 " If you were in a big library with plenty of time on your 
 hands, what department would attract you most?" "If 
 you were to visit the great expositions like the World's Fairs 
 at Chicago and St. Louis, where there were magnificent 
 buildings and beautiful grounds; a great collection of 
 manufactured products from all over the world; educa- 
 tional exhibits; military and naval exhibits; Machinery 
 Hall, full of all kinds of machinery; Transportation Build- 
 ing, full of locomotives, cars, carriages, automobiles, etc. ; 
 Forestry, Agricultural and Mining buildings, crowded 
 with splendid exhibits in those lines; people from many 
 different nations ; wild animals ; theatrical exhibits ; curiosi- 
 ties without number; what would you go to see first, what 
 would interest you most?" In answering all such ques- 
 tions, his love for machinery came strongly into view. He 
 spent his spare time with tools, making things or tinkering 
 
130 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 about the house. His favorite reading consisted in books 
 about machinery. At the World's Fair he would go first to 
 Machinery Hall. That would interest him the most of all. 
 He had a passion for machinery. He loved to take it apart 
 and put it together again. He could understand a new 
 machine without instructions. He delighted to solve 
 mechanical problems. 
 
 In addition to his love of machinery and ability to under- 
 stand and handle it, he had strong analytic power, which 
 was clearly shown by a number of fine specimens of his 
 work exhibited to the counselor. His record and work also 
 gave evidence of considerable inventiveness and organizing 
 ability. 
 
 "Is there full scope in bookkeeping for the exercise of 
 your best abilities, — your ability to deal with machinery, 
 your analytic power and organizing ability?" 
 
 " No, there is n't." 
 
 " What lines of industry, then, would give full scope for 
 your best powers ? " 
 
 " Some mechanical work." 
 
 " Is not the question, then, what line of mechanical work 
 offers you the best opportunities and fullest advantages ? " 
 
 The young man thought this was so. We went over 
 various mechanical industries together, and he decided to 
 take a course in the Y. M. C. A. Automobile School and 
 also a course in Electricity with a view to completing his 
 studies in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 
 Effort was also to be made at once to transfer his work in 
 bookkeeping to some manufacturing company, where he 
 would come into contact with machinery, and so help the 
 change to mechanical activities. 
 
 At the end of the interview he shook the counselor's hand 
 most heartily, and said he thought this had been the most 
 important hour of his life, the most illuminating talk he 
 had ever had. The conference, he believed, would change 
 the whole course of his life. 
 
SAMPLE CASES 131 
 
 If this young man had continued to be a bookkeeper for 
 the rest of his life, his best powers and ambitions and 
 enthusiasms would have been divorced from his daily 
 work. He would have spent his working hours with the 
 ledgers and account books and his spare time with ma- 
 chinery. By changing to a mechanical occupation he can 
 unite his highest abilities and enthusiasms with his daily 
 work, and so attain a development, success, and happiness 
 that would otherwise have been impossible. 
 
 The transfer to the employ of a company where he 
 would come into contact with machinery was effected a 
 few weeks after the interview. 
 
 Case 23 
 
 ARCHITECT OR PHYSICAL DIRECTOR 
 
 Young man of twenty-three; medium size, good-looking, 
 clear complexion, athletic, extremely fond of physical 
 exercise, very sociable nature, the human and social ele- 
 ments very strong; idealism and constructiveness much 
 weaker, memory fair, manual ability medium; assistant 
 physical director in a Y. M. C. A., and vibrating between 
 the plan of perfecting himself for a full fledged physical 
 directorship and the completion of his studies in architec- 
 ture, a business he began to study and worked at for some 
 time in an architect's office with fair results. 
 
 The counselor suggested that each should make a com- 
 parison of the two vocations in parallel columns, and then 
 compare notes at a second interview. The following dia- 
 gram gives the results : — 
 
 Physical Director. Architect. 
 
 Active life. More sedentary. 
 
 Healthful work. Less healthful. 
 
 Close contact with men. The human element much 
 
 weaker and less constant. 
 
132 
 
 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 Fine, helpful, sympathetic re- 
 lationships. 
 
 The human element constant 
 and strong. 
 
 Easy access — already have a 
 good start in the profession. 
 
 Fair pay. 
 
 Little or no capital required. 
 
 Work more with things than 
 with men; fair relationships 
 but not so close, constant, or 
 personally helpful. 
 
 More attention to drawings and 
 buildings than to human be- 
 ings as such. 
 
 Idealism and constructiveness 
 very important elements. 
 
 Manual skill and mathematics 
 and executive ability also. 
 
 Large compensation if success- 
 ful. 
 
 No capital necessary if one 
 works as an employee in an 
 architect's office, But — 
 
 Considerable capital is needed 
 to establish one's self in an 
 independent business, for an 
 architect must often make 
 expensive drawings and esti- 
 mates and wait a long time 
 for his pay. 
 
 On the basis of this comparative statement the counselor 
 made the following suggestions : — 
 
 " Do you not think that, on the whole, your abilities and 
 inclinations, especially your strong tendency to and marked 
 ability for an active life full of the human element, adapt 
 you much better to the life of a physical director than to 
 that of an architect? 
 
 "Do you believe that you would be permanently satis- 
 fied with the comparatively sedentary life of an architect, 
 dealing with paper, pencil and ink, brick and mortar, wood 
 and iron, and all the details of designing and constructing 
 buildings, with comparatively little of the human element? 
 
 " Could building houses of wood and stone ever be so 
 attractive to you as building up fine human bodies of flesh 
 and blood? 
 
SAMPLE CASES 133 
 
 "The direction in which our main enthusiasms and 
 abilities lie is the direction in which we are most likely to 
 win marked success. If you had a specially fine opening in 
 architecture and a much poorer one in the other calling 
 that would make a change in the basis for decision which 
 possibly might appeal to you, but at present your oppor- 
 tunities appear to be better in the line of the physical 
 directorship. 
 
 " If you decide on the basis of fullest adaptability, most 
 congenial life, and best opportunity in favor of the physical 
 directorship, I hope you will proceed with all your energy 
 and enthusiasm to perfect yourself for that work. A medi- 
 cal course and a course in the Y. M. C. A. Training School 
 at Springfield, Mass., would be especially valuable. 
 
 " If you decide in favor of architecture as your life work 
 you might first take an evening course in this study, saving 
 your money meanwhile so as to be able to complete your 
 studies at Tech. 
 
 " In any case I hope you will not confine your studies to 
 your vocation. There are other things in life besides earn- 
 ing a living. A man should study to be a good citizen and 
 a well-rounded human being, as well as to be an efficient 
 worker. And, in fact, a man cannot be a first-class worker 
 unless he knows more than his work. A good architect 
 must know more than architecture. An A 1 physical 
 director must know more than athletics and medicine." 
 
 The young man said these suggestions made his case 
 perfectly clear, the tabular contrast of the two professions 
 being especially illuminating to him. He would not be 
 satisfied to devote himself to things rather than to men. 
 
 Case 33 
 
 BUSINESS OR LAW; A HOUSE HALF BUILT 
 
 Assistant buyer in a department store; thinks he would 
 like to be a lawyer; twenty-two years old; small, healthy; 
 low forehead, narrow head not very well balanced, high 
 
134 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 cheek bones, coarse features but bright and expressive, 
 pleasant smile ; rapid utterance, not very clear ; moderate 
 and non-aggressive intellectually, but energetic and enthu- 
 siastic in performance. Has a high-school education. Was 
 first rate in mathematics, but very poor in history, — just 
 managed to pass. Memory not very good. Read some of 
 Dickens, Kipling, and Shakespeare. No study of oratory. 
 Done very little speaking. Not fond of argument. Mild 
 disposition, not combative at all. Now taking evening 
 course in law. Questions on his law work brought answers 
 so confused as to show that he has no clear idea of the 
 matters he has been over, — no grip on the law or the 
 proper methods of studying it. He says he is fond of store 
 work, pretty successful in it, and would like to develop into 
 a full fledged buyer ; but one of his friends was going to be 
 a lawyer and proposed that he should become a lawyer, too. 
 
 When the record was finished the counselor said : — 
 
 " When a man has a house half built, in a good location, 
 foundation laid and walls well up, nearly ready to put on 
 the roof, is it wise to abandon the building, choose a new 
 location, and begin another building from the foundation 
 up, when there is no necessity for the change nor any good 
 reason to believe the new building will be better or perhaps 
 as good as the first one that is nearly finished ? Is that a 
 wise proceeding ? " 
 
 " It don't look so." 
 
 " Well, is n't that about what you are thinking of doing? 
 It would probably take you ten years to get as near to suc- 
 cess in the law as you are now in business. Moreover, you 
 have tried business, and you know you can be reasonably 
 successful there, while it is not clear at all that you would 
 be successful in the law. Your memory is not very good. 
 Your ideas as to the law of torts, which you have studied, 
 are very confused and inadequate. You are twenty-two 
 years old, and have shown no aptitude in the line of public 
 speaking, nor any appetite for the discussion of public 
 
SAMPLE CASES 135 
 
 questions, or argument of any kind. The law is a fighting 
 profession on one side, and opens on political life on the 
 other. You do not seem to be cut out for intellectual con- 
 flict, nor to have any special interest in public affairs, — 
 no symptoms of a legal or civic mind. Study comes hard 
 to you. A lawyer ought to master a library full of books. 
 That would be very difficult for you. Moreover, the law is 
 a crowded profession. It is hard to get a foothold even 
 when you are well adapted to the work. You appear to be 
 far better adapted to commercial life than the law. It 
 would certainly take you many years to get as near to 
 success in the law as you are now in commerce." 
 
 " It seems very clear to me now that you state the facts," 
 said the young man. " It is strange I did n't see it before. 
 It would take a long time in the law to get where I am now 
 in business. I like the store, and might as well stick to it 
 and work up." 
 
 " I think you are right," replied the counselor. " It will 
 not hurt you to finish your evening course in law. It is an 
 excellent culture study. You are a citizen as well as a 
 worker, and you ought to know something about law and 
 government and economics. Read Fiske, Ely, Dole, Bryce, 
 Shaw, and other writers our ■ civic suggestions ' indicate, 
 as you can get the time, and read systematically to under- 
 stand and remember what you read. This analysis of 
 memory method will help you develop your memory and 
 get better results from it" (giving the young man the 
 leaflet on memory, with a few moments' explanation and 
 emphasis of the leading points). 
 
 " Study your stock. Get familiar with values. Practice 
 several times a day, whenever you can get a few minutes, 
 concealing labels and mixing the goods, and then naming 
 quality and price by sight and touch. Carry samples in 
 your pockets, and educate your fingers while traveling in 
 the street cars. Keep on till you can tell the qualities and 
 prices with quickness and certainty, — tell them in the 
 
136 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 dark. Master your trade. Get acquainted with buyers 
 and learn the secrets of the business. We '11 give you letters 
 to one or two of the best. Join one or more business organ- 
 izations where you can come into association with the best 
 men in your line, and cultivate them. Take a good trade 
 journal and get the best books relating to your business, 
 and study them till you know their substance by heart. 
 Practice drawing your stock from memory till you can 
 locate every bit of it with the pencil as fast as your fingers 
 can move. Study style and novelties. Watch the market 
 and try to anticipate it. Watch what other buyers are 
 doing, and go them one better if you can. Above all, re- 
 member that the fundamental secret of success in your 
 business is genuine service to the public." 
 
 Case 57 
 
 MORE STUDY AND EXPERIENCE NEEDED TO REACH 
 DEFINITE CONCLUSION 
 
 A six footer, nineteen years old, weight 159. Born at 
 Wellesley Hills. Fine physique. Health excellent. Lost 
 no time by sickness last three years. Head large, splen- 
 didly shaped; 7$ hat. Good-looking, manners and voice 
 o. k. ; memory good; careful, intelligent, modest, no bad 
 habits. Father a gardener; his father an engineer on a 
 large estate in England. Very inventive and successful. 
 Mother's father also an engineer. 
 
 Education, grammar school. Best studies drawing and 
 history; high mark in drawing. Not good in mathematics. 
 
 Reading : Inventions, mechanical news, and ads in cur- 
 rent magazines ; a few novels, — " The Crisis," " That 
 Lass o' Lowrie's," etc. 
 
 Spare time spent generally in reading, and lately two or 
 three evenings a week in gymnasium. 
 
 At World's Fair would go first to Machinery Hall ; chief 
 interest would be there. 
 
SAMPLE CASES 137 
 
 In list of industries, chiefly interested in "Skilled Me- 
 chanic," "Steam Railroad," "Inventor," "Architect." 
 
 Experience : Worked some at gardening while at school. 
 Left school at sixteen. Went to work as office boy $2.50 a 
 week. Stayed three years, ending as shipping clerk and 
 buyer of office supplies, $9 a week. Left to learn jewelry 
 engraving. Studied seven weeks, and found it would take 
 three or four years, so went and got work as chainman on 
 an irrigation survey, $30 a month and board. Winter came 
 and work stopped. Last fall, 1907, went to Los Angeles, 
 California. Had saved enough to pay fare and some over. 
 No work in Los Angeles. Father sent money for ticket home. 
 
 Now working at bookkeeping in an insurance office, $8 a 
 week. Did not study bookkeeping, just picked it up. 
 
 Comments and Suggestions. 
 
 Strong in drawing ; loves machinery, reads about it, likes 
 to see and handle it. Heredity points the same way. An- 
 cestors — engineers on both sides, and one of them very 
 inventive. 
 
 Mechanical mind and interest. Suggest skilled artisan, 
 machinist, or engineer, in order to unite best ability and 
 enthusiasm with daily work. 
 
 Read Fowler's " Starting in Life," and the books on our 
 select list relating to modern mechanism and the history of 
 invention. Visit various mechanical industries, railroad 
 shops, machine shops, electrical works, shoe factories, 
 foundries, watch factories, engine works, etc. See the men 
 at work. Talk with them. Try your hand at the work if 
 you can. When you have gained a close acquaintance with 
 some of the principal lines of mechanical work by obser- 
 vation, reading, and experience, come back and we will go 
 over the courses that are available in or near Boston for 
 day or evening study and practice, in preparation for the 
 mechanical business that may then seem best for you. 
 
 While studying out your vocation read for citizenship 
 
138 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 and general culture, taking some of the books on the 
 sheet of Civic Suggestions. It would be a good plan for 
 you, perhaps, to begin with Fiske and Dole, following 
 them with Forman, Bryce, and Bridgman. 
 
 The more the young man studied and investigated him- 
 self and his industrial problem, the clearer and stronger be- 
 came the tendency to mechanical work ; and as this state- 
 ment is issued, word comes from him that he has accepted 
 an opportunity to work his way through the Automobile 
 School of the Boston Y. M. C. A., which offers a very 
 thorough and practical course. 
 
 Case 64 
 
 MINING ENGINEER OK TEACHEB AND ACCOUNTANT 
 
 Boy of nineteen; height 5 ft. \ in., weight 137; well- 
 built and handsome; winning smile and pleasant manners, 
 well-shaped head, vigorous health. Has not lost two 
 weeks in sickness in as many years. 
 
 Father a machinist. His father a tin peddler. 
 
 Education : Grammar and one year high ; two years 
 bookkeeping and shorthand; began railroad engineering 
 course, International Correspondence School, but did not 
 finish. All studies came easily ; best records in mathematics, 
 worst in spelling. 
 
 Reading: Cooper, Henty, Eliot, Scott, "Comedy of 
 Errors," "Julius Csesar," etc. Not much reading in the 
 last three years, so busy with work and study. 
 
 Experience : Went to work at fourteen in vacation time. 
 Worked in shoe factory helping father at $10 a week. 
 Father paid more than work was worth. Saved my money, 
 bought my own bicycle, etc. In 1904 went to work steadily 
 for the shoe company at $10 a week. In August, 1904, 
 went to Brazil and Buenos Ayres with father. Worked 
 there nine months teaching natives how to operate shoe 
 machines at $10 and expenses. April, 1905, came back to 
 
SAMPLE CASES 139 
 
 Boston, went to Bryant & Stratton's, spending summer 
 vacations in factory. In 1907 left school and went to work 
 as bookkeeper and stenographer with a manufacturing 
 firm at $10 a week. November, 1907, employed by an 
 
 auditor, Professor , of the School, to go to New 
 
 York to audit the books of the F. D. Co., $15 a week and 
 expenses. Afterward audited books of B. F. Co. of Boston 
 
 for Professor , on the same terms. "Like the work 
 
 very much; best job I ever had. Don't like the routine of 
 steady bookkeeping, but auditing a set of books is fine." 
 
 " Was your work satisfactory to Professor ? " 
 
 "Yes, he was pleased with the work we did." 
 " What did he get from the company for the job ? " 
 " He got $700 from the New York company, and em- 
 ployed two of us boys to check up the books." 
 
 " What did it cost him for your pay and expenses ? " 
 " We worked about four weeks and a half. Our pay came 
 to about $135, and expenses for both of us about $75." 
 
 " How much time did the auditor, Professor , put 
 
 in on the job ? " 
 
 " About ten days, I think." 
 
 "He got, then, something like $500 for ten days' work 
 and his responsibility ; about $50 a day, which is the sort of 
 pay a first-class auditor can make. If you persevere until 
 you qualify yourself to take the contract instead of being 
 employed as a helper, you can multiply the $15 a week 
 you have been getting by ten or twenty." 
 
 January, 1908, went to Academy and started to 
 
 prepare for Tech. Left in one week, found they did not 
 give the right course to fit a man for Tech. Then went 
 to Chauncy Hall School to prepare to enter Tech in the 
 Mining Engineering Course. Doing stenographic work, 
 
 and teaching two evenings in the School, bookkeeping, 
 
 commercial arithmetic, correspondence, and penmanship. 
 Likes teaching very much and is successful with the 
 boys, and highly commended by the head of the school. 
 
140 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 " How long would it take to perfect yourself to pass the 
 state examination and become a certified accountant ? " 
 
 "A year or so, perhaps; do not know exactly." 
 
 "How long would it take for you to go through the 
 Engineering Course in the Institute of Technology ? " 
 
 " Six years." 
 
 " What do you know about mining engineering ? Have 
 you ever visited a mine, or been acquainted with a mining 
 engineer ? " 
 
 "No." 
 
 " It seems that you have two good ways of earning money, 
 one is teaching commercial subjects and the other is book- 
 keeping and accounting. Why should you not aim to be- 
 come a teacher in a business high school or college, and 
 
 take jobs of auditing as your Professor does now? 
 
 Or, you could soon become a certified public accountant, 
 and devote yourself entirely to that sort of work. 
 
 " As a teacher of business subjects you could probably 
 command in a few years from $1500 to $3000 a year, and 
 there is a great demand for such teachers. As a public 
 accountant you might hope to grow to an income of any- 
 where from $5000 to $15,000 a year. You are planning to 
 leave your work, which you know all about and thoroughly 
 like, in which you have proved very efficient and satisfac- 
 tory, and which holds out a promise of excellent remunera- 
 tion with a little persevering effort on your part, — you are 
 planning to leave all this to devote six years of study to 
 preparation for a new line of work, about which you say you 
 know practically nothing. Is it wise to spend all the time 
 and money involved in this plan, without first investigating 
 the business of mining engineering sufficiently to be sure 
 that you would like the work better than auditing or teach- 
 ing, and so have a solid basis for deciding that you had 
 better leave teaching or auditing for the life of an engineer ? 
 The question of ability does not rise in this case, for you 
 undoubtedly have the ability to fit yourself for an engineer 
 
SAMPLE CASES 
 
 141 
 
 ,1 you conclude that that is the wise thing to do ; but you 
 have spent some of your best years in preparation for 
 auditing and business teaching, and your preparation and 
 experience in these lines should not be abandoned without 
 excellent reason. You are practically ready to put the 
 roof on the house you have been building. Don't leave it 
 to begin a new structure from the ground up, unless you 
 are sure that the new building will be enough better than 
 the one you have now in process of construction to pay 
 you for the sacrifice of time and effort that will be necessary 
 to make the change. 
 
 " Make a diagram presenting a comparative study some- 
 what as follows ; and then come back for another talk." 
 
 DIAGRAM 
 
 Certified 
 
 Public 
 
 Accountant 
 
 Teacheb in 
 
 Business 
 College or 
 School of 
 Commerce, 
 with Audi- 
 ting Con- 
 tracts on 
 the Side 
 
 Mining 
 Engineer 
 
 How long will it take to com- 
 plete your preparation ? 
 
 Cost of preparation. 
 
 Opportunities and readiness 
 with which you can get 
 into the work. 
 
 Pay, immediate, prospective. 
 
 Conditions of work: 
 Location. 
 Kind of life. 
 Human element. 
 Healthfulness, etc. 
 
 Other elements : 
 Degree of independence. 
 Social consideration. 
 Satisfaction in the work. 
 Its general nature and re- 
 sults, permanence, qual- 
 ity, importance. 
 
142 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 Case 70 
 
 BARRED BY THE PREJUDICE AGAINST AGE 
 
 A well-built man of fifty-nine, with white hair and mus- 
 tache; troubled somewhat with rheumatism in his wrist, 
 but otherwise quite vigorous and able. Was traveling 
 salesman twenty-five years for a Boston wholesale drug 
 and paint house, till the firm went out of business. Then 
 sold in New England territory for the Buffalo linseed oil 
 people a year and a half. Made excellent sales. Has sold 
 as high as two hundred thousand dollars worth of goods in 
 a year. Oil people found they could get along with one 
 less man in Buffalo, so dismissed their new salesman and 
 transferred to New England the spare man from Buffalo 
 who had been with them a long time. 
 
 Been out of work now one year and five months. Has 
 made many efforts to get employment. Sometimes the 
 managers say they will give him work when they have a 
 place, and then they hire younger men. Often the man- 
 agers say they are limited to men under thirty-five, men 
 who will grow up with the business and be good for many 
 years. 
 
 Aged mother to support and savings almost exhausted. 
 Completely discouraged, and shows it in face, voice, man- 
 ner, and attitude. 
 
 Suggestions. 
 
 Rejuvenate yourself so far as possible. Pay strict atten- 
 tion to your personal appearance. Do not advertise your 
 age, but advertise your strength. Be as young as possible. 
 Put vim into your manner and voice. Put vitality into 
 your tones and life into your face. So long as a man has 
 vigor, age is largely a matter of mental attitude and will 
 power. As Oliver Wendell Holmes used to say, it is better 
 to be seventy years young than seventy years old. 
 
SAMPLE CASES 143 
 
 Brace up. Nc one wants a man who acknowledges him- 
 self as a down-and-out, a man who is defeated and dis- 
 couraged and shows it. You are an experienced salesman. 
 You know how to smile and tell a good story and talk up 
 the goods you have to sell. You have some valuable labor 
 to sell. The next time you try to dispose of it, don't tell a 
 sad story or look like a funeral procession, but smile at 
 the man ; tell him your record for big sales, show him your 
 recommendations, crack a joke with him, and talk as you 
 used to talk when you were selling thousands of dollars 
 worth a week. Talk as if you were making a fifty-thousand- 
 dollar sale, and expected to win out. In other words, show 
 your power in your application, and give the impression of 
 strength and confidence. 
 
 You are a salesman, and a good one. What you need is 
 not a new vocation, but work to do. Make a systematic 
 canvas for work through your old friends, the men to whom 
 you used to sell goods. 
 
 Do your best ; and if it does n't work, come back and 
 we '11 see what more can be done to help you get a chance to 
 use your experience and ability and make a living for 
 yourself and your mother. 
 
 Case 72 
 
 TO BE OR NOT TO BE A STENOGRAPHER 
 
 Young man of twenty-seven; good-looking, pleasant 
 voice and manners, cordial smile, very attractive presence. 
 Health excellent, lost no time by sickness in the last five 
 years; never was sick in bed. Born in Cambridge. Father 
 
 a Methodist minister and ex-president of University. 
 
 Grandfather also a Methodist preacher. Great-grand- 
 father a merchant and local preacher. Mother taught 
 school. Her father and grandfather were Massachusetts 
 farmers. Uncle on mother's side formerly owned a grocery, 
 now traveling for the Bible Society. One sister 
 
144 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 teaching ; another, a graduate of Simmons College, is sec- 
 retary to a professor in a Western college. Older brother 
 
 submaster in the School. Three younger brothers 
 
 in high school. 
 
 Education: Boston grammar and two years in Latin 
 school ; Mt. Hermon School three and one half years ; and 
 graduated 13. S. from Wesleyan University, 1906. Best 
 marks in algebra and arithmetic, sometimes top-notch. 
 But liked modern languages and science best, especially 
 chemistry. Ranked above the average, but no prizes. 
 
 Spends spare time in library, reading fiction, politics, 
 and college sporting news, or in gymnasium. Theatre 
 now and then ; fond of Shakespearean plays and plays like 
 " The Man of the Hour." Does n't care for musical com- 
 edy, or for music, or art. Has done no public speaking to 
 amount to anything. 
 
 Worked in dry-goods store, in charge of stock. Later a 
 service inspector for Telephone Company. Now in Y. M. 
 C. A. office work. Thinking of teaching, or stenography. 
 
 Auditory reactions slow. Impressions quite imperfect. 
 Verbal memory tests gave very poor results; could not 
 repeat correctly easy sentences of twelve or fifteen words, 
 even when read quite slowly and distinctly. 
 
 Suggestions. 
 
 To make an expert stenographer one should have a keen 
 and accurate auditory memory, and capacity for rapid 
 transfer of auditory and visual impressions from the brain 
 through the hand. You are not quick, and your word 
 memory is very poor. You might overcome these handicaps 
 and become a fair stenographer, but your natural aptitudes 
 do not seem to lie in that direction. The family drift ap- 
 pears to be toward teaching and the ministry, which is a 
 combination of teaching and social work. Your record in 
 school and college indicates that you might, perhaps, teach 
 some branch of science or mathematics with credit and 
 
SAMPLE CASES 145 
 
 success. And your pleasing way of meeting people is an 
 element of adaptation to Y. M. C. A. work or social work, 
 teaching, or any business or profession which brings one 
 into eontact with many people. 
 
 You have devoted your life so far too much to books and 
 too little to doing useful work. Acquiring knowledge is all 
 right, but you should learn to use your knowledge also. 
 Devote yourself to that as systematically as you did to 
 acquiring knowledge in your college days. 
 
 If you feel strongly drawn to secretarial work, or have a 
 specially good opportunity in that line, it may be well to go 
 to a skillful and disinterested teacher of stenography and 
 get him to test you long enough and thoroughly enough to 
 make it quite clear whether it is worth while for you to 
 pursue that line or not. My impression on the facts before 
 us is that you would have a much better chance to make 
 a good success in some educational line, or in general 
 Y. M. C. A. work or social work. You might fit yourself 
 probably for any one of many occupations, agricultural, 
 mechanical, commercial, etc.; but your strong points now 
 appear to be your pleasing address and your mathematical 
 bent, and your weakest point appears to be your verbal 
 memory, so that stenography is probably one of the callings 
 for which you are not naturally well adapted. 
 
 Case 84 
 
 CONGENIAL WORK WITH DUE CARE FOR THE HEALTH 
 
 A fine girl of eighteen, beautiful and cultured, 5 ft. 6, and 
 140 lbs. A charming girl, of excellent family. Father a 
 man of the finest type of character and ability. Head well 
 shaped on the whole, but curves not full above the temples. 
 Strong and well except that the nerves are not in perfect 
 tone. Trouble with nerves for several years, brought on by 
 overstudy. Could not concentrate. Had to stay out of high 
 school a year. Has to be careful still; can't concentrate 
 
146 
 
 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 fully. Verbal memory quite imperfect both on visual and 
 auditory tests. 
 
 In third year of high school. Last year got A's in every- 
 thing the whole year through. This year A's and B's 
 mixed. Likes algebra, geometry, physics, history, English 
 composition, and gymnasium work best ; foreign languages 
 least. Read Kipling's " Jungle Stories," Morgan's " Some- 
 how Good," and a lot of stories. Careful, cooperative, 
 reliable, earnest; will-power and perseverance excellent. 
 
 Would like to do something, something besides house- 
 work; likes housework when working with others, but 
 wants to do something in the world. Went through the list 
 of industries open to women, stating which were attractive 
 and which were to be regarded as very undesirable for her. 
 Results as follows : — 
 
 Would not like, 
 
 Care of animals or plant cul- 
 ture. Making food products 
 or textile manufactures, sell- 
 ing goods. Domestic work. 
 Hotel or restaurant. Home 
 manufactures. Commercial 
 callings, agencies, teaching, 
 library work, law, medicine, 
 surgery, artistic group of em- 
 ployments. 
 
 Would like, 
 
 (A) Journalism. 
 
 "Nothing I'd like better, 
 — not writing fiction but 
 facts." 
 (A) Social or Welfare work, — 
 helping to manage or 
 operate a college settle- 
 ment, for example, or a 
 department of it, or 
 other work of social 
 value. 
 Teaching physical culture. 
 (A) Secretarial work. 
 
 Might be willing to do of- 
 fice work or take civil 
 service position ; but 
 would not care specially 
 for it. 
 
 The three occupations marked (A) were the most 
 attractive in our list of over two hundred ways in which 
 women are earning money. 
 
SAMPLE CASES 147 
 
 Suggestions. 
 
 1. Interests may change as experience broadens and 
 deepens. Five years from now you may be as thoroughly 
 interested in homekeeping as you are now in writing and 
 social work. But meantime, while you are developing and 
 getting a fuller and more varied knowledge of life and in- 
 dustry, we can test your abilities and your present interests 
 (which seem to be fairly well founded and in line with the 
 indications of heredity and family environment), to see if 
 the best of both can be united with your daily work at the 
 same time that due respect is paid to your health. 
 
 2. You should be careful not to engage in work that is 
 very confining and sedentary, or involves any serious strain 
 on the nervous system. Health is the first point. Your 
 work should, if possible, be such as to help the nerves and 
 heart and build up strength rather than make large de- 
 mands on nervous power, at least for a few years. Your 
 memory trouble and difficulty in concentration apparently 
 have their source in lack of physical tone, and are probably 
 only temporary, but must be allowed for at present. 
 
 Secretarial work is confining, and may make consider- 
 able demands on memory and concentration. Moreover 
 the worker is at the call of the employer, who may need to 
 make the largest demands at a time when the worker is 
 least fitted to bear the strain. 
 
 3. Your memory handicap also points against secretarial 
 work. A stenographer should have a good verbal memory. 
 This handicap in relation to authorship or journalism 
 would not be so great, though still of some weight. I shall 
 give you an analysis of the methods of cultivating the 
 memory and getting the best results from it, which will 
 help you to overcome your difficulty in this respect. 
 
 4. I do not find in your case the strenuous appetite for 
 reading on the line of the literary talent or ambition, or 
 the spontaneous overflow into MSS. or expression of some 
 
148 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 kind that is usually manifested by those who are specially 
 adapted to authorship. 
 
 This is only a straw, by no means conclusive. Heredity 
 points the other way, and some of the best writers have 
 developed the gift of expression pretty late in life. 
 
 5. Social work in many lines is less confining and puts 
 less strain on memory, concentration, etc. Active social or 
 welfare work under good conditions helps the health, and 
 brings the best powers and enthusiasms into play. You 
 have an excellent opportunity for training in this direction 
 and easy access to such work, through your father's skill, 
 reputation, position, and associations. And you could 
 unite it with writing or journalism, — social work naturally 
 flows to such expression, — unite it with writing easily and 
 effectively, without the risk of the over-confinement and 
 nervous strain incident to a life entirely devoted to author- 
 ship or journalism. 
 
 6. Please bring me some of your compositions. 
 
 7. Make a full blue book study of yourself in answer to 
 the questions on this sheet of " Personal Data," and then 
 come for another consultation. 
 
 8 Read " Careers for Women " and the relevant parts 
 of Fowler's " Starting in Life," and see as much as you can 
 of different industries. 
 
 9. Read, think, talk, cultivate thoughtful people; watch 
 the inner light, note the things that interest you most, tell 
 them to your friends, write about them, take the MS. to 
 some accomplished writer for criticism, compare it care- 
 fully with the best writings in its class ; and when revised, 
 invigorated, and polished to the best of your ability, send 
 it to some magazine or newspaper. If the MS. comes 
 back to you send it to another publication, and keep on till 
 you get it published or are pretty sure you can't get a pub- 
 lisher. Do this with one article a month at first, and as you 
 gain facility make it one short article a week at least. 
 
 10. It would be well to take your subjects, in part at 
 
SAMPLE CASES 149 
 
 least, from your own actual experiences in social work. 
 That will unite your two chief interests in work that can be 
 made consistent with care for your health, and in a way 
 that will be helpful to both interests. The fact that you are 
 going to write about your social work will give it additional 
 interest and vigor ; and the fact that your writing is carved 
 out of personal experience will help to give it strength and 
 vitality. 
 
 The Chelsea relief work offers you fine opportunities just 
 now for vital experiences in helping the sufferers solve 
 their problems. 
 
 11. Study Irving's "Sketch-Book," Kipling's "Plain 
 Tales," Jack London's books, Jacob Riis's " Battle with 
 the Slum" and "How the Other Half Lives," "Mrs. 
 Wiggs," "Timothy's Quest," "Patsy," "Sesame and 
 Lilies," "Crown of Wild Olive," "Rab and His Friends," 
 "A-Hunting of the Deer," "Birds and Bees," "Wild 
 Animals I Have Known," "The Bonnie Brier Bush," 
 Emerson's Essays and Bacon's, Shakespeare's Plays and 
 Sheridan's, " The Light of Asia," " Letters from a Chinese 
 Official," Omar's "Rubaiyat," and Wendell Phillips's 
 Speeches, to help you acquire vividness, condensation, 
 unity, imagery, and humor, and develop a clear, strong, 
 picturesque, and popular style. 
 
 12. Practice writing a little every day. Intervals of 
 length hinder or arrest development. It is frequent effort 
 that produces rapid growth of facility and power. 
 
 If you follow these methods with persistent industry 
 for a year or so, you cannot fail to be greatly benefited, and 
 your possibilities in the directions indicated will probably 
 become so clear as to make it easy for you to form a definite 
 conclusion in the matter. 
 
 Since the interview this young lady has entered the 
 regular college course in preparation for journalism in the 
 University of Wisconsin. 
 
150 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 Case 88 
 
 a farmer's boy in the city 
 
 A tall, strong, good-looking boy of eighteen; pleasant 
 mannered, soft-spoken, intelligent, modest, retiring. 
 Brought up on his father's farm. Health perfect; never 
 sick as far back as can remember. Lost fingers of left hand 
 in trolley accident. Educated in country grammar and 
 high schools. Best records in stenography, commercial 
 geography and arithmetic, algebra and English history; 
 poorest in American history (because of the use of the 
 research method in that study) and in English. No reading 
 of much account. Does n't like farm work except the care 
 of animals. Left farm little over year ago. Worked a month 
 as stenographer in business house at $8 and $10 a week. 
 Since then he has been doing general office and clerical 
 work in a public institution at $8 a week. Spends two 
 evenings a week taking a course in stenography. Says he 
 has made speeds of 100 to 130 words a minute in school 
 dictation. But speed is helped by familiarity with the 
 routine of business correspondence used for school dicta- 
 tion. My test with plain, simple English statement of mat- 
 ter unfamiliar to him gave 65 words a minute. Auditory 
 memory fair when using simple sentences he could easily 
 understand ; but very poor when using sentences from 
 Emerson's Essays, the meaning of which he did not readily 
 grasp. Spends spare time walking about the streets or sit- 
 ting on the steps with other young fellows, just having a 
 social time. Does not belong to any organizations except 
 the Y. M. C. A. Has made no plans beyond a course in 
 stenography and one, perhaps, in bookkeeping. A friend 
 connected with the school where he is taking stenography 
 advised him to consult the Vocation Bureau, so he came to 
 see the counselor. 
 
SAMPLE CASES 151 
 
 Comments and Suggestions. 
 
 " It is surely time you began to work out a definite plan 
 of life. You are just drifting now in a little boat, without 
 compass or chart. You cannot expect to make a good voy- 
 age or reach an important port that way. 
 
 "You want to develop your economic value, and your 
 civic and social value also. You want to increase your 
 earning power and get the money. And you also want to 
 make yourself a good citizen and valuable member of 
 society so that you will deserve the respect of your fellow 
 men. Is n't that so ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Well, you are not moving in that direction very rapidly 
 now, are you ? " 
 
 "No." 
 
 " You are just vegetating ; living like one of the big elms 
 on your father's farm, or one of his horses ; following the 
 ordinary routine of life, without thought for the future, — 
 leaving the thinking and planning to others, who are there- 
 fore making all the money. 
 
 " You do not want to be simply a machine, to transform 
 the energy in a certain amount of food each day into type- 
 writing or clerical work. You know practically nothing 
 about what is going on in the world, nothing of the great 
 movements of the age in which you live, nothing of science 
 or literature. In the same building, and on the same floor 
 with the office in which you work, is a library that con- 
 tains many of the world's best books. If Shakespeare, or 
 Emerson, or Ruskin, or Wendell Phillips should come to 
 speak in Boston you would want to hear the address, 
 would n't you ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " And if you could have such men for your daily com- 
 panions you would think yourself highly privileged ? " 
 
 "Yes, I would." 
 
152 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 "Well, there they are across the hall from you, waiting 
 to speak to you and give you their companionship. They 
 have put the best of themselves into their books, and it is 
 all yours for the asking. 
 
 " A cow may be excused for grazing placidly over a gold 
 mine and never attempting to get at the precious metal that 
 is so near her ; but a man ought not to behave in that way." 
 
 (These remarks, seasoned with sympathy and interest 
 evident in tone and smile and cordial manner, did not dis- 
 please the young man, but quite the contrary.) 
 
 " You will soon be one of the rulers of the United States, 
 and one of the directors of the corporation of Boston and 
 the State of Massachusetts, responsible for your proper 
 share in the government of city, state, and nation. What 
 are you doing to fit yourself for the trust ? Practically no- 
 thing. Yet I 'm sure you want to fit yourself for that great 
 trust to the best of your ability. Is n't it so?" 
 
 "Yes" (heartily). 
 
 " Well, this sheet of Civic Suggestions, and some of the 
 books I have marked for you to read, will help you. 
 
 "You want to develop a full, well-balanced manhood. 
 Making a living is only one arc of the circle. You must be 
 a good citizen as well as a good worker. You don't want 
 to be alive only on one side, and dead on the other. 
 
 " Coming back to your work : It is not clear at all that 
 stenography is the right thing for you. You are not spe- 
 cially quick, nor gifted with auditory retentiveness. You 
 are weak in English and general information. You don't 
 love the work, or you would devote more energy to it 
 than a little time two evenings a week. You look at it 
 simply as a means of earning a living. Your heart is not in 
 it. Stenography is a poor field for a man unless he is going 
 to be a gilt-edged expert, and at best there are fewer prizes 
 than in agriculture, stock raising, manufactures, com- 
 merce, etc. 
 
 " You may make a good office hand or private secretary, 
 
SAMPLE CASES 15S 
 
 or even an expert perhaps, if you will practice constantly 
 enough to get the thing into your blood and make it auto- 
 matic or reflex, and will get a thorough knowledge of the 
 English language and a fair understanding of men and 
 affairs as well as speed and accuracy as a stenographer and 
 typewriter. A first-class stenographer must have more than 
 double your speed, and must have enough general know- 
 ledge to understand the sense of the matter he writes and 
 the work he is called on to do. He must know the English 
 language as well as the keyboard of his typewriter. 
 
 " But the possibilities even at the top are not very large, 
 while the great pressure of feminine competition in all the 
 lower and middle strata of the business makes it unde- 
 sirable for a man of moderate skill, who must earn enough 
 to support a family. A man may make a good income from 
 stenography if he is rapid enough to be a court stenographer 
 (but the work is a severe strain on the nervous system), or 
 if he can build up a school of stenography, or can secure 
 enough business to employ a number of girls and get for 
 himself the manager's pay and employer's profits, or if 
 he can combine his stenographic skill with other abilities 
 sufficient to give him a good position as private secretary 
 to some business man, public official, or literary worker. 
 
 " You like the care of animals, you say. Raising poultry, 
 dogs, sheep, horses, etc., market gardening, fruit raising, 
 flower culture, etc., offer a man like you more chance for 
 income, independence, and social position, than steno- 
 graphy, besides being much more healthful and in line with 
 the bulk of your experience, so that the maximum use of 
 your past life would be available. 
 
 "Agricultural pursuits, when mixed with brains and 
 science, mean prosperity and happiness. It is only when 
 divorced from science that they lose their interest and 
 become drudgery. 
 
 "You have youth and health and a fairly good head 
 Enthusiasm and persistent industry will do the rest. 
 
154 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 "But the fact is, that you have not yet had sufficient 
 experience to develop your interests and aptitudes. You 
 know very little about yourself or about the world." 
 
 "That is true." 
 
 "You do not understand either well enough to form a 
 good basis for conclusion as to the true relation between 
 the two. You must study yourself and study the world, in 
 order to be able to decide what you are best fitted to do, 
 and how you can unite the best of yourself with your daily 
 work. The great thing now in this relation is to focus your 
 mind on the problem. Visit the Agricultural College at 
 Amherst if possible, and by all means read about Luther 
 Burbank's wonderful experiments in creating new varieties 
 of fruits and flowers almost at will." 
 
 Case 90 
 i don't see ant future in my work 
 
 A man of thirty-eight ; unmarried ; tall, well-built, good- 
 looking; quiet, pleasing manners; good memory, clear 
 head, careful, accurate, moderate initiative. Health excel- 
 lent ; does n't remember when he was sick ; has n't missed 
 a day from work on account of sickness for fifteen years, at 
 least. Born and brought up in Boston ; father was a sales- 
 man. Boy went to kindergarten, grammar, and high 
 schools, and took two years special work in chemistry at 
 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Circumstances 
 made it necessary for him to go to work, and he left Tech 
 before completing his course. 
 
 Began as errand boy for an iron house, $3 a week ; stayed 
 with the firm three years, working his way into the book- 
 keeping department at $9 a week. Left to take a place at 
 $10 a week with a bag-making company. Been with the 
 company ever since. Fifteen years of steady service ; now 
 has full charge of the books and a salary of $140 a month. 
 
SAMPLE CASES 155 
 
 " Did the company raise your pay from time to time vol- 
 untarily, or did you have to ask for the increase each time ? " 
 
 " I never asked for a raise. Every advance of pay was on 
 my employers' own motion." 
 
 " Do you like bookkeeping ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "You like the work and you are making $140 a month. 
 What is the trouble?" 
 
 " I don't see any future in my work. I 've got as high as I 
 can where I am, and I don't want to stop at $140 a month. 
 I want something ahead of me to work up to." 
 
 " Do you save your money ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "And invest it?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Then you have one means of steady progress at least. 
 And there are other methods you can readily apply. 
 
 "You have had over fifteen years' experience in book- 
 keeping and have been successful, as is shown by the fact 
 that your employers have voluntarily lifted your pay from 
 $9 to $35 a week. You like the work, your only objection 
 being that you can't see any future to it. 
 
 " Now, as a matter of fact, a thoroughly equipped ac- 
 countant can make from $15 to $50 a day. The Civic 
 Federation Commission, of which I was a member, paid 
 its expert accountants $20 a day and expenses, and I know 
 accountants who make $50 a day auditing sets of books 
 for business houses, cities, etc." 
 
 "I had no idea the pay ran so high." 
 
 "If you felt that you were working toward a possible 
 $20 or $30 a day, you would think there was future enough 
 in your line of business to make you satisfied to continue 
 in it and justify any reasonable amount of effort in self- 
 development, would n't you ? " 
 
 "Yes, I certainly would." 
 
 " Well, the prizes are there, and you can try for them. 
 
156 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 You are not more than a third of the way up the ladder 
 in your profession. You have health and strength and 
 ambition to help you climb higher up. Good certified 
 accountants make $1500 to $3000 a year, even as salaried 
 employees; and when a man acquires experience and 
 acquaintance enough to work up a good business of his 
 own or become a partner in a firm employing a corps of 
 assistants, he may build up an income of $5000 or $6000 
 or even $10,000 in a city like Boston, and $15,000, $20,000, 
 even $50,000 to $100,000 in New York, I am told. In 
 fact, accountants tell me there is practically no limit to 
 the income a first-class man can attain in New York as 
 a member of an accounting house or partnership, if he 
 thoroughly understands business affairs as well as ac- 
 counting and has acquired large experience and acquaint- 
 ance. 
 
 " Even in straight bookkeeping you have by no means 
 reached the limit. You do not have to stay all your life in 
 the place you are in. If you fit yourself for a larger field, 
 you may get a place in a much larger house, where you 
 will have a chance to work up to the head of the book- 
 keeping department, with a body of workers under you and 
 a salary two or three times as large as you have now. 
 
 " There is plenty of future in your line if you will work 
 for it. I suggest that you ascertain the requirements for 
 the State Examinations that must be passed in order to 
 become a certified public accountant. We have no law 
 of this kind yet in Massachusetts. But you can take the 
 examination, and get your certificate in Rhode Island, or 
 in New York. 
 
 "The evening courses in the Y. M. C. A. or Comer's 
 Commercial School, or the day courses at Bryant & 
 Stratton's, offer you the means of perfecting your know- 
 ledge of accounting and business finance. At Comer's 
 you can begin right away and study all summer, if you 
 Choose. 
 
SAMPLE CASES 157 
 
 " It is not necessary to wait till you get your certificate 
 before pushing for a place in a larger house. You can 
 begin a campaign for a wider field at once, in the way 
 already suggested. Get an advertising expert to help you 
 draw up the statement you place with the employment 
 agencies, and watch the want ads for high-class book- 
 keepers on your own account, apply in person for openings 
 that attract you, and have a clear, concise, and well-worded 
 statement of your record and experience that you can leave 
 with the Employment Manager after you have talked with 
 him, or send to him when you ask for an interview. 
 
 " Your progress depends : first, on perfecting your 
 equipment, — developing your economic value by per- 
 sistent, well-directed study for the purpose of mastering 
 your profession; and second, on getting an opportunity 
 to use your knowledge in a larger field, either as a public 
 accountant or in the bookkeeping department of a bigger 
 company. You must get the goods and take them to 
 market. You must have what people want, and you must 
 let them know that you have it; those are the two main 
 elements in such a case." 
 
 The young man entered into the plan with interest and 
 enthusiasm. He saw the way to advancement clear before 
 him, and said he would begin to work at once on the lines 
 suggested by the counselor. 
 
 CASE INCIDENTS 
 
 Incidental suggestions often occupy an important part 
 in the consultation. For instance, a boy who stammered 
 two or three times during the interview was sent to the 
 Stammerers' Institute, for the simple and effective treat- 
 ment which is almost certain to cure him. A young man 
 who seemed to be very bright and thoroughly competent, 
 complained that he could not get on, could not secure 
 advancement or any satisfactory reason why he was not 
 
158 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 advanced. The counselor called his attention to the fact 
 that his voice in conversation was lifeless and unpleasant, 
 — entirely below the standard he attained in other re- 
 spects, and giving a decided impression, not only of lack 
 of vigor and interest, but of want of intelligence. The 
 youth believed he had found the key to his trouble, and 
 reported some time later that the change in his ability 
 to interest people and deal with them successfully was 
 astonishing. 
 
 A young man of marked ability, who was quite clearly 
 in the right line, but was with a house too small to admit 
 of much advancement, and did not know how to get into 
 a larger field, was advised to join a club where he would 
 come in touch with the best business men of the city, and 
 also to avail himself of the services of the best agencies for 
 securing the class of work he was qualified to do. 
 
 In another case the usual inquiries in regard to saving 
 and spending money brought out the fact that the boy 
 wanted very much to get on in the world, but was dis- 
 couraged about himself because he constantly let his money 
 slip from him in dissipation. He was alone in the city, and 
 when evening came he was lonesome, and he would drift 
 into the theatre or some worse place nearly every night, 
 and his money would go. The counselor suggested that he 
 should join a boys' club, take up some evening studies that 
 would bring him every night to the Civic Service House, 
 and make a daily report in writing to the counselor or some 
 one else he might select as a sort of trustee, showing just 
 how much money he had spent in the last twenty-four 
 hours and what he had spent it for. In a little while, if he 
 did this faithfully, new interests and better habits would be 
 formed, and he would become strong enough to live rightly 
 without a guardian. He grasped eagerly at the chance of 
 getting out of the mire, and put the method suggested in 
 practice at once, with excellent results. 
 
 A Scotch- American boy at the second interview seemed 
 
SAMPLE CASES 159 
 
 listless and inert. On inquiry it appeared that he was 
 troubled with constipation, and drugs did not seem to give 
 him any permanent relief. The counselor gave him a 
 memorandum of some simple hygienic remedies through 
 diet, exercise, kneading, bathing, etc., and two weeks 
 later he came back as bright as a new dollar, to say that 
 one of the simplest of the methods suggested had fixed him 
 all right. This may seem a little aside from the functions 
 of a vocation bureau ; but when it is considered that 
 health is the foundation of industrial efficiency, that 
 constipation, with the auto-poisoning that may follow, is a 
 serious handicap, and that very few doctors will apply the 
 simple remedies which are really most effective and bene- 
 ficial, it is clear that such suggestions are not out of order 
 in the work of helping young men to achieve efficiency and 
 success. 
 
 The discussion of special cases could be continued al- 
 most indefinitely; but enough has been said to give some 
 notion of the work that is being done, and its possibilities 
 for the future. The Civic Suggestions, the library work 
 with its analytic reading and research, and the tabulated 
 courses of study often create an interest that brings the 
 young man back to the counselor again and again for 
 brief reports or consultations. 
 
XVI 
 
 CONCLUSIONS 
 
 The work is constantly growing in extent and utility, but 
 it must always be very inadequate as compared to the need, 
 until it becomes a public institution affiliated or incor- 
 porated with the public-school system. This we hope will 
 ultimately come to pass, as public education is extended 
 and perfected and industrial training is developed. 
 
 Society is very short-sighted as yet in its attitude towards 
 the development of its human resources. It trains its 
 horses, as a rule, better than its men. It spends unlimited 
 money to perfeet the inanimate machinery of production, 
 but pays very little attention to the business of perfecting 
 the human machinery, though it is by far the most impor- 
 tant in production. 
 
 Less than one sixteenth of the children in Boston pri- 
 maries go through a high-school course. In Philadelphia 
 less than one thirtieth of the children go through the high 
 school, and in Washington less than one thirteenth. 
 
 Here are the data for these three cities, obtained at the 
 opening of this year. The high-school figures include the 
 pupils in all the schools and courses of high-school grade, 
 commercial and manual training, as well as academic : — 
 
 PUPILS IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 
 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 WASHINGTON 
 
 First year primaries. 
 First year grammar. 
 Last year grammar. 
 Last year nigh schools. 
 
 13,622 
 
 10,007 
 
 4,869 
 
 850 
 
 33,588 
 
 19,386 
 5,710 
 1,089 
 
 9,198 
 5,601 
 
 3,136 
 663 
 
CONCLUSIONS 161 
 
 Nearly two thirds of the children in Boston and Wash- 
 ington and five sixths in Philadelphia drop out of school 
 even before they finish the grammar grades. There are not 
 seats enough in the grammar schools, probably, for more 
 than one tenth of the whole number. Our cities evidently 
 do not expect or intend to educate the bulk of the boys and 
 girls beyond the primaries or lower grammar grades. The 
 mass of children go to work to earn their living as soon as 
 they are old enough to meet the law, and often before that. 
 
 Science declares that specialization in early years in 
 place of all-round culture is disastrous both to the individ- 
 ual and to society. There is a clear relation between in- 
 telligence and variety of action and experience. A know- 
 ledge of each of the great classes of industry by practical 
 contact is the right of every boy. This varied experience 
 should be obtained under a thoroughgoing scientific plan 
 of educational development, and not by the wasteful and 
 imperfect method of drifting from one employment to 
 another in the effort to make a living, — running an ele- 
 vator in one place, marking tags in another, tending a 
 rivet machine in another, etc., etc., — spending years of 
 time and energy in narrow specialization, and getting no 
 adequate, comprehensive understanding of any business 
 or industry. 
 
 The union of a broad general culture with an industrial 
 education, including a practical experience broad enough 
 to form a true foundation for specialization in the proper 
 field, possesses an economic and social value that can 
 hardly be overestimated. Yet practically all our children 
 are subjected to the evil of unbalanced specialization, — 
 specialization that is not founded on, or accompanied by, 
 the broad culture and experience that should form its basis 
 and be continued as coordinate factors in a full develop- 
 ment, — specialization that is not only unbalanced and 
 ill-founded, but also in many cases inherently narrow, 
 inefficient, and hurtful in itself. 
 
162 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 Most of the children who leave school early specialize on 
 narrow industrial lines, and most of those who remain in 
 school specialize on book learning. Book work should be 
 balanced with industrial education ; and working children 
 should spend part time in culture classes and industrial 
 science. Society should make it possible for every boy and 
 girl to secure at least a high-school education and an indus- 
 trial training at the same time. This can be done by the 
 establishment of Public Half -Work High Schools, in which 
 boys and girls can study half of each day, and support 
 themselves by working the other half-day for the public 
 water works, lighting or transportation systems, street 
 department or some other department of the public ser- 
 vice, or for private employers. 
 
 A city or town can easily make arrangements with mer- 
 chants, manufacturers, and other private employers, 
 whereby the high-school pupils may have the opportunity 
 to work half-time in many lines of industry. The Women's 
 Educational and Industrial Union of Boston is already 
 carrying on this sort of arrangement with some of the lead- 
 ing merchants of the city, so that the girls in the Union's 
 classes in salesmanship are able to support themselves and 
 get most valuable practical training by working half-time 
 in the stores. Enlightened employers are glad to make such 
 arrangements, realizing the importance to themselves and 
 to the whole community of such advanced industrial and 
 culture training. Some of our agricultural colleges and 
 state universities, especially in the West, afford opportuni- 
 ties for young men and women to earn their living while 
 getting a college education. The University of Cincinnati 
 is an illustrious example. All that is necessary is to extend 
 the methods and principles already in use to the public- 
 school system as a whole, so that no boy or girl shall be 
 longer debarred from the training of mind and hand, which 
 is the rightful heritage of every child society allows to be 
 born into this complex and difficult world. 
 
CONCLUSIONS 163 
 
 Besides the extension of general education and the addi- 
 tion of vocational training, the methods of general culture 
 should be materially modified, if we are to give our boys 
 and girls an adequate preparation for life and work instead 
 of a preparation for passing an examination to get a 
 degree. We should train for ability and character rather 
 than for examinations. And the principal test should be 
 the successful performance of things that have to be done 
 in daily life, rather than the answering of a series of ques- 
 tions about a book or a lecture course. Systematic and 
 scientific training of body and brain, of memory, reason, 
 imagination, inventiveness, care, thoroughness, truth, 
 promptitude, reliability, sympathy, kindliness, persistent 
 industry, etc., etc., is what we need. Education for power; 
 with actual performance, useful work, as the fundamental 
 test. Power in any direction comes from exercise or activity 
 in that direction, together with sufficient development in 
 other directions to give symmetry and balance to the 
 whole. Even the power of sympathy and the sense of jus- 
 tice can be developed by daily exercise, on the same prin- 
 ciple that we develop the biceps or the bicycle muscles. 
 Knowledge is excellent; but a man with knowledge only, 
 without the power of original thought and the ability to put 
 his ideas into effective execution, is little better than a book 
 — he contains a record of facts but cannot build or execute. 
 He may not even be up to the book standard of life if he 
 has not learned to express and impart his knowledge. That 
 is why college graduates, even those who stood high in their 
 classes, often fail to make good in business. They are good 
 bookworms, sponges, absorbing machines, but they do not 
 know how to do things, and have no taste for doing things. 
 They are really unfitted, by their habits of passive absorp- 
 tion, for the active life of the business world. We must 
 train our students to full powers of action, not only in foot- 
 ball and other athletic sports, but in the various lines of 
 useful work so far as possible, according to their aptitudes 
 
164 CHOOSING A VOCATION 
 
 as brought out by scientific tests and varied experience. 
 And we must give our working boys the powers of thought 
 and verbal expression that come with general culture. And 
 we must do all this in the formative period, before the 
 progressive hardening of the system has taken the bloom 
 from development and modifiability. . 
 
 Youth is the period of plasticity and rapid development, 
 in which the foundation should be laid both for an all- 
 round culture and for special vocational power. The 
 fluidity of youth is shown in the fact that practically 75 
 per cent of the infant's body is water, while only 58.5 per 
 cent of the adult's body is liquid. Though some degree of 
 plasticity may be retained to the end, the more funda- 
 mental characteristics of a man are generally fixed at 
 twenty-five, and the mental at thirty-five or forty. If you 
 were moulding a statue in plaster of Paris, you would not 
 think it wise to neglect the work or let it drag along half- 
 done till the plastic mass had stiffened into rigidity. It is 
 just as unwise to neglect the opportunities afforded by the 
 plasticity of youth. A year of the period from fifteen to 
 twenty-five is worth more than two years after thirty-five, 
 for formative purposes and the development of power. 
 Youth is the age of brain and heart. The body of an adult 
 is three times as long, on the average, as the infant's body, 
 and the adult's arms are four times and his legs five times 
 as long as the infant's, while his head is only twice the 
 height of the infant's. The brain of the child is so large 
 that it only increases in weight four times in the growth to 
 maturity, while the heart increases thirteen times, and the 
 body more than twenty times. The weight of the brain at 
 birth is 12.29 per cent of the total weight, while at twenty- 
 five the weight of the brain is only 2.16 per cent of the 
 whole, — nearly six times as much brain weight for the 
 infant as for the adult in proportion to the total weight. 
 As you leave your youth the rapidity of development 
 diminishes, as well as the proportion of brain, and the 
 
CONCLUSIONS 165 
 
 plasticity or capacity for modification and acquirement of 
 new abilities. The infant at birth is five million times as 
 large as the original germ cell. In the first year the growth 
 is about threefold. Then the rate of development decreases 
 till about the eleventh year, when a period of rapid growth 
 begins, reaching its maximum speed as a rule somewhere 
 between the fourteenth and the nineteenth year, and grad- 
 ually tapering off to the milder movement of comparative 
 maturity after twenty-five. 
 
 In this plastic period of rapid growth, this age of brain 
 and heart, society should guarantee to every child a thor- 
 ough all-round development of body, mind, and character, 
 and a careful planning of and adequate preparation for 
 some occupation, for which, in the light of scientific testing 
 and experiment, the youth seems best adapted, or as well 
 adapted as to any other calling which is reasonably avail- 
 able. If this vital period is allowed to pass without the 
 broad development and special training that belong to it, 
 no amount of education in after years can ever redeem the 
 loss. Not till society wakes up to its responsibilities and its 
 privileges in this relation shall we be able to harvest more 
 than a fraction of our human resources, or develop and 
 utilize the genius and ability that are latent in each new 
 generation. When that time does come, education will 
 become the leading industry, and a vocation bureau in 
 effect will be a. part of the public-school system in every 
 community, — a bureau provided with every facility that 
 science can devise for the testing of the senses and capaci- 
 ties, and the whole physical, intellectual, and emotional 
 make-up of the child, and with experts trained as carefully 
 for the work as men are trained to-day for medicine and 
 the law.