The time is ripe for other things when a boy begins to reason that way. Having no scruples against speculating, the problem with him became not, “Is it wrong to speculate?” but rather, “What shall I do to raise money for margin purposes?” It took nearly four months for him to arrive at this stage of mind. With many boys the question is asked and satisfactorily solved within three weeks. But Hayward was an exceptionally nice chap. Now, the position of telephone-boy is really important in that it requires not only a quick-witted but a trustworthy person to fill it. In the first place, the boy knows whether his firm is buying or selling certain stocks; he must exercise discrimination in the matter of awarding the orders, should the Board member of the firm happen to be unavailable when the boy receives the order. For example: International Pipe may be selling at 108. A man in Tracy & Middleton’s office, who has bought 500 shares of it at 104, wishes to “corral” his profits. He gives an order to the firm to sell the stock, let us say, “at the market,” that is, at the ruling market price. Tracy & Middleton immediately telephone over their private line to the Stock Exchange to their Board member to “sell 500 shares of International Pipe at the market.” The telephone-boy receives the message and “puts up” Mr. Middleton’s number, which means that on the multicolored, checkered strip on the frieze of the New Street wall, Mr. Middleton’s number, 611, appears by means of an electrical device. The moment Mr. Middleton sees that his number is “up,” he hastens to the telephone-booth to ascertain what is wanted. Now, if Mr. Middleton delays in answering his number the telephone-boy knows he is absent, and gives the order to a “two-dollar” broker, like Mr. Browning or Mr. Watson, who always hover about the booths looking for orders. He does the same if he knows that Mr. Middleton is very busy executing some other order, or if, in his judgment, the order calls for immediate execution. The two-dollar broker sells the 500 shares of International Pipe to Allen & Smith, and “gives up” Tracy & Middleton on the transaction, that is, he notifies the purchaser that he is acting for T. & M., and Allen & Smith must look to the latter firm—the real sellers—for the stock bought. For this service the broker employed by Tracy & Middleton receives the sum of $2 for each 100 shares, while Tracy & Middleton, of course, charge their customers the regular commission of one eighth of one per cent., or $12.50 per each hundred shares.