Lillian was a young French Canadian girl who grew up inthefarming community3 of River Canard, Ontario. At the age of 16,herfather thought “Lill has had enough schooling,”and she wasforcedto drop out4 of school to contribute to5 the family income.In1922, with English as her second language and limited educationandskills, the future didnt look bcenter for Lill.

　　Her father, Eugene Bezaire, was a stern6 man who rarely tooknofor an answer and never accepted excuses. He demanded thatLillfind a job. But her limitations center her with littleconfidence andlow self-esteem7, and she didnt know what work shecould do.

　　With small hope of gaining employment, she would still ridethebus daily into the “big cities”of Windsor or Detroit. Butshecouldnt muster8 the courage to respond to a Help Wanted9 ad;shecouldnt even bring herself to knock on a door. Each day shewouldjust ride to the city, walk aimlessly about and at duskreturnhome. Her father would ask, “Any luck today, Lill?” “No ...no lucktoday, Dad,”she would respond meekly10.

　　As the days passed, Lill continued to ride and herfathercontinued to ask about her job-hunting. The questions becamemoredemanding, and Lill knew she would soon have to knock onadoor.

　　On one of her trips, Lill saw a sign at the CarharttOverallCompany in downtown Detroit. “Help Wanted,”the signsaid,“Secretarial11. Apply Within.”She walked up the long flight12ofstairs to the Carhartt Company offices. Cautiously, Lill knockedonher very first door. She was met by the office manager,MargaretCostello. In her broken English, Lill told her she wasinterestedin the secretarial position, falsely stating that she was19.Margaret knew something wasnt center, but decided to give thegirla chance. She guided Lill through the old business office oftheCarhartt Company. With rows and rows of people seated at rowsandrows of typewriters and adding machines, Lill felt as if ahundredpairs of eyes were staring at her. With her chin13 on herchest andher eyes staring down, the reluctant14 farm girl followedMargaretto the back of the somber room.

　　Margaret sat her down at a typewriter and said, “Lill, letsseehow good you really are.”She directed Lill to type a singleletter,and then center. Lill looked at the clock and saw that itwas 11:40a.m. Everyone would be leaving for lunch at noon. Shefigured thatshe could slip away15 in the crowd then. But she knewshe should atleast attempt the letter.

　　On her first try, she got through16 one line.It had fivewords,and she made four mistakes. She pulled the paper out andthrew itaway. The clock now read 11:45. “At noon,”she said toherself,“Ill move out with the crowd, and they will never seemeagain.”

　　On her second attempt, Lill got through a full graph, butstillmade many mistakes. Again she pulled out the paper, threw itoutand started over17. This time she completed the letter, butherwork was still strewn18 with errors. She looked at the clock:11:55— five minutes to freedom.

　　Just then, the door at one end of the office opened andMargaretwalked in. She came directly over to Lill, putting one handon thedesk and the other on the girls shoulder. She read theletter andpaused. Then she said, “Lill, youre doing goodwork!”

　　Lill was stunned19. She looked at the letter, then up atMargaret.With those simple words of encouragement, her desire toescapevanished20 and her confidence began to grow. She thought,“Well, ifshe thinks its good, then it must be good. I think Illstay!”

　　Lill did stay at Carhartt Overall Company...for 51 years,throughtwo world wars and a Depression, through 11 presidents andsixprime ministers — all because someone had the insight to give ashyand uncertain young girl the gift of self-esteem when sheknockedonthedoor.莉莲是个年轻的法裔加拿大女孩，在安大略省加纳德河畔的农业社区中长大。16岁那年，父亲认为“莉儿学得已经够用了”，硬要她辍学挣钱，贴补家用。那是1922年，对于一个英语并非母语，而所受的教育和培训又有限的女孩来说，莉儿的未来并不怎么看好。

　　她的父亲尤金·贝扎尔是个非常严厉的人，几乎不允许孩子说半个“不”字，也从不接受任何辩解。他要莉儿找份工作。然而，因为条件有限，莉儿没有一点自信，她很自卑，不知道自己能干点什么。

　　虽然就业机会渺茫，可莉儿仍然每天搭公车到温泽或底特律那样的“大城市”去。但是她鼓不起勇气去应聘那些广告上的职位，甚至连敲门的信心都没有。每天她就这样乘车来到市里，在大街上漫无目的地闲逛，逛到傍晚再乘车回家。父亲总是问：“今天运气怎么样，莉儿？”“今天运气不……不好，爸，”她嗫嚅着回答。

　　日子一天天过去，莉儿继续着她的公车旅行，父亲则继续关心着她的工作。父亲的问题变得越来越苛严，莉儿知道她必须马上敲开一家公司的门。

　　这天，在底特律市中心的卡哈特服装公司，莉儿看到这样一则招聘告示：“招聘文秘，应聘者请进。”莉儿踏上了通往卡哈特公司办公室的长长楼梯，生平第一次，她小心翼翼地扣响了一扇陌生的门。接待她的是办公室经理玛格丽特·科斯特洛。莉儿用结结巴巴的英语说对那个秘书职位很感兴趣，并谎称自己已经19岁了。玛格丽特知道她说的不全是真话，但还是决定给这个姑娘一次机会。她带莉儿穿过卡哈特公司那间陈旧的办公室，里面有一排排的人，坐在一排排的打字机、计算器前面，莉儿觉得仿佛有一百双眼睛正盯着自己。这个乡下女孩羞得下巴抵到了胸前，两眼盯着地面，不情愿地跟着玛格丽特来到那间昏暗的办公室后排。

　　玛格丽特安排她坐到一台打字机前，对她说：“莉儿，让我们见识一下你的真本事吧。”她给了莉儿一封信让她打出来，随后就走了。莉儿看了看钟，现在是上午11：40，马上就该吃午饭了。她寻思到时就可以混在人群中溜掉，不过她觉得自己起码应该试试那封信。

　　第一次，她打了一行，五个单词，她打错了四个。她把那张纸抽出来扔掉。时钟指向11：45。“到了中午，”她自言自语道，“我就和这些人一起出去，然后他们再也不会见到我了。”

　　第二次，她打了一段，但还是错了很多。她又把那张纸抽出来扔掉，然后重新开始。这次她把信打完了，可还是满篇错误。她看看钟：11：55，再过五分钟就解放了。

　　(实习编辑:顾萍)