It
was Alfred Carson who best recognized this trait of peculiar modesty in
the old man, and who understood most fully how often the more impersonal
"we" of his speech really stood for the "I" who had been the mainspring
of all action in the growth of the great affairs he spoke of. Carson was
the son of a man who had been one of the early heads of a newly created
department, in the days when departments were just being tried, and he
had heard many a time of the way in which Matthew Kendrick had held to
his course of introducing innovations which had startled the men most
closely associated with him, and had made them wonder if he were not
going too far for safety or success.
"Well, well, gentlemen," said Mr. Kendrick, rising abruptly at last,
"you have beguiled me into long speech. It takes me back to old days to
sit and discuss a young business like this one with young men like you.
It has been very interesting, and it delights me to find you so ready to
take counsel, while at the same time you show a healthy belief in your
own judgment. You will come along--you will come along. You will make
mistakes, but you will profit by them.
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