“You see, I never did bother much about money,” he says. “My wages were enough for food and shelter, and that was all I wanted. Money matters always seemed to sort of take care of themselves, some way. It’s always that way. If a man is working at something he likes, he’s bound to work hard at it, and then the money comes. Worrying about money is about the worst thing a man can do—it takes his mind off his work.”
His philosophy apparently justified itself.
In the months that followed sub-station A had no more breakdowns. Now and then Manager Gilbert inquired how the new man was getting along. “A wizard at machinery—had some trouble with the dynamo last night, and he had it fixed in no time,” he heard. Or, “Say, where’d you get him? He knows more about this plant than the man that built it.”
Ford himself was not in evidence. The manager, quitting work at about the time Ford arrived at the sub-station for the night shift, did not see him again until one day at the end of three months the engine at the main plant stopped. The engineer in charge looked at it and shook his head.
“Can’t do anything with it till to-morrow,” he said. “We’ll have to take it down.” It was late in the afternoon, and the engine was needed to keep Detroit lighted that night. Gilbert, remembering the reports of the new man, sent for Ford. He came and fixed the engine.
It was all in the day’s work, as far as he was concerned. He went back to sub-station A and forgot the incident. He does not remember it now. Gilbert remembered it, but he did not go out of his way to pay any attention to Ford. He simply forgot about the mechanical work of sub-station A. He knew Ford would take care of it. A manager spends his time and thought on the poor workmen; a good man he leaves alone.
When Ford had been with the Edison Company six months, drawing his forty-five dollars regularly and handing it to Mrs. Ford to pay the landlady, he knew the Edison plants from the basements up. He had become enthusiastic over electrical problems. In his idle time, after his twelve hours’ work at the sub-station, he was planning the batteries and spark-plugs for his gasoline engine.
About that time a shift in the force left vacant the place of manager of the mechanical department. Gilbert sent for Ford.
“Think you can handle the job?” he asked him.
“Yes, I can handle it,” Ford said. Gilbert gave him the job. When he drew his pay at the end of the month he found he was getting $150.