For a year Bob worked hard at all sorts of jobs. He saw the woods work, the river work, the mill work. From the stump1 to the barges2 he followed the timbers. Being naturally of a good intelligence, he learned very fast how things were done, so that at the end of the time mentioned he had acquired a fair working knowledge of how affairs were accomplished3 in this business he had adopted. That does not mean he had become a capable lumberman. One of the strangest fallacies long prevalent in the public mind is that lumbering5 is always a sure road to wealth. The margin6 of profit seems very large. As a matter of fact, the industry is so swiftly conducted, on so large a scale, along such varied7 lines; the expenditures8 must be made so lavishly9, and yet so carefully; the consequences of a niggardly10 policy are so quickly apparent in decreased efficiency, and yet the possible leaks are so many, quickly draining the most abundant resources, that few not brought up through a long apprenticeship11 avoid a loss. A great deal of money has been and is made in timber. A great deal has been lost, simply because, while the possibilities are alluring12, the complexity13 of the numerous problems is unseen.
At first Bob saw only the results. You went into the woods with a crew of men, felled trees, cut them into lengths, dragged them to the roads already prepared, piled them on sleighs, hauled them to the river, and stacked them there. In the spring you floated the logs to the mill where they were sawed into boards, laden14 into sailing vessels15 or steam barges, and taken to market. There was the whole process in a nutshell. Of course, there would be details and obstructions16 to cope with. But between the eighty thousand dollars or so worth of trees standing17 in the forest and the quarter-million dollars or so they represented at the market seemed space enough to allow for many reverses.
As time went on, however, the young man came more justly to realize the minuteness of the bits comprising this complicated mosaic18. From keeping men to the point of returning, in work, the worth of their wages; from so correlating and arranging that work that all might be busy and not some waiting for others; up through the anxieties of weather and the sullen19 or active opposition20 of natural forces, to the higher levels of competition and contracts, his awakened21 attention taught him that legitimate22 profits could attend only on vigilant23 and minute attention, on comprehensive knowledge of detail, on experience, and on natural gift. The feeding of men abundantly at a small price involved questions of buying, transportation and forethought, not to speak of concrete knowledge of how much such things should ideally be worth. Tools by the thousand were needed at certain places and at certain times. They must be cared for and accounted for. Horses, and their feed, equipment and care, made another not inconsiderable item both of expense and attention. And so with a thousand and one details which it would be superfluous24 to enumerate25 here. Each cost money, and some one's time. Relaxed attention might make each cost a few pennies more. What do a few pennies amount to? Two things: a lowering of the standard of efficiency, and, in the long run, many dollars. If incompetence26, or inexperience should be added to relaxed attention, so that the various activities do not mortise exactly one with another, and the legitimate results to be expected from the pennies do not arrive, then the sum total is very apt to be failure. Where organized and settled industries, however complicated in detail, are in a manner played by score, these frontier activities are vast improvisations following only the general unchangeable laws of commerce.
Therefore, Bob was very much surprised and not a little dismayed at what Mr. Welton had to say to him one evening early in the spring.
It was in the "van" of Camp Thirty-nine. Over in the corner under the lamp the sealer and bookkeeper was epitomizing the results of his day. Welton and Bob sat close to the round stove in the middle, smoking their pipes. The three or four bunks27 belonging to Bob, the scaler, and the camp boss were dim in another corner; the shelves of goods for trade with the men occupied a third. A rude door and a pair of tiny windows communicated with the world outside. Flickers28 of light from the cracks in the stove played over the massive logs of the little building, over the rough floor and the weapons and snowshoes on the wall. Both Bob and Welton were dressed in flannel29 and kersey, with the heavy German socks and lumberman's rubbers on their feet. Their bright-checked Mackinaw jackets lay where they had been flung on the beds. Costume and surroundings both were a thousand miles from civilization; yet civilization was knocking at the door. Welton gave expression to this thought.
"Two seasons more'll finish us, Bob," said he. "I've logged the Michigan woods for thirty-five years, but now I'm about done here."
"Yes, I guess they're all about done," agreed Bob.
"The big men have gone West; lots of the old lumber4 jacks30 are out there now. It's our turn. I suppose you know we've got timber in California?"
"Yes," said Bob, with a wry31 grin, as he thought of the columns of "descriptions" he had copied; "I know that."
"There's about half a billion feet of it. We'll begin to manufacture when we get through here. I'm going out next month, as soon as the snow is out of the mountains, to see about the plant and the general lay-out. I'm going to leave you in charge here."
Bob almost dropped his pipe as his jaws32 fell apart.
"Me!" he cried.
"Yes, you."
"But I can't; I don't know enough! I'd make a mess of the whole business," Bob expostulated.
"You've been around here for a year," said Welton, "and things are running all right. I want somebody to see that things move along, and you're the one. Are you going to refuse?"
"No; I suppose I can't refuse," said Bob miserably33, and fell silent.
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stump
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| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
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barges
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| 驳船( barge的名词复数 ) | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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lumber
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| n.木材，木料；v.以破旧东西堆满；伐木；笨重移动 | |
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lumbering
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| n.采伐林木 | |
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margin
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| n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘 | |
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varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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expenditures
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| n.花费( expenditure的名词复数 )；使用；（尤指金钱的）支出额；（精力、时间、材料等的）耗费 | |
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lavishly
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| adv.慷慨地，大方地 | |
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niggardly
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| adj.吝啬的，很少的 | |
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apprenticeship
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| n.学徒身份；学徒期 | |
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alluring
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| adj.吸引人的，迷人的 | |
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complexity
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| n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物 | |
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laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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obstructions
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| n.障碍物( obstruction的名词复数 )；阻碍物；阻碍；阻挠 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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mosaic
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| n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的 | |
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sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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vigilant
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| adj.警觉的，警戒的，警惕的 | |
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superfluous
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| adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的 | |
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enumerate
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| v.列举，计算，枚举，数 | |
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incompetence
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| n.不胜任，不称职 | |
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bunks
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| n.（车、船等倚壁而设的）铺位( bunk的名词复数 )；空话，废话v.（车、船等倚壁而设的）铺位( bunk的第三人称单数 )；空话，废话 | |
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flickers
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| 电影制片业； （通常指灯光）闪烁，摇曳( flicker的名词复数 ) | |
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flannel
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| n.法兰绒；法兰绒衣服 | |
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jacks
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| n.抓子游戏；千斤顶( jack的名词复数 )；（电）插孔；[电子学]插座；放弃 | |
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wry
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| adj.讽刺的；扭曲的 | |
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jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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miserably
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| adv.痛苦地；悲惨地；糟糕地；极度地 | |
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