The Bricklayer on Top.

Progress, Volume XV, Issue 12, 1 August 1920, Page 861

The Bricklayer on Top.

A story is told by a "Wellington architect the truth of which he vouches for. A professor, thinking that his salary was not adequate for the present times, decided to become a bricklayer. Bricklayers, he read, can earn 3/6 per hour, plenty of work guaranteed. The work seemed so stupidly simple to him that he thought he would like the change. He applied to a local builder for a job in Wellington. The builder asked him what he could do. He said he was a professor, but wanted to learn some branch of building. He said he thought he would like to be a bricklayer. “Go and see the foreman bricklayer,” said he. The professor found the foreman and asked him for a job. “Do you know anything about laying bricks,” said he. “No,” said the professor, “but I can soon learn.” “No you don’t,” said the foreman, “you’re not going to begin at the top of the tree. Go ,and learn to be a bally architect first and gradually work your way up.”