OLD-TIME METHODS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXII, Issue 2672, 29 December 1928, Page 2

OLD-TIME METHODS.

BUSINESS OPENED WITH, PRAYER. Former business customs are recalled in the bicentenary number of "Fry's Works Magazine," which records the 20Oth anniversary of the founding of the great chocolate firm. Mr E. R. Short, a retired official of the firm, states ithat when he joined the staff in 1866 the prefix "Mr." (and the same applies to Miss) was seldom written or spoken. "John Smith" or "Mary Jones," or "Smith", Jones and Company," was considered sufficient on invoices, statements and envelopes, until one day a customer returned an envelope with the curt remark, "I usually have a handle to my name." Thia gave the directors cause for serious consideration, and they came to (the conclusion that perhaps the time had arrived for old-time simplicity to yield to modern habit, although for some while longer correspondence would commence "Respected Friend," and end "Thine" or "Yours respectfully." At a few minutes to 9 o'clock every morning a bell used to ring, and all the workpeople and clerks mounted to a large top room, where for some 15 or 20 minutes, Mr Joseph Storrs Fry would read a portion of the Old Testament and another from the New, and then, perhaps, a simple prayer would be offered and a hymn sung.