The Jingo by George Randolph Chester — Read

Three days after the king's return from Onalyon's opening ball, he and Tedoyah, perspiring happily twelve to fourteen hours a day in Jimmy's workshop, were wearing overalls, and becoming used to the clean freedom of limb which they inspired. One of Jimmy's first acts had been to open a tailor shop in one of the many vacant rooms in the palace, collect therein the three best tunic makers in the kingdom, give them elaborate lectures and copious diagrams on the correct architecture of trousers and start them to work. They labored more or less nonchalantly until Jimmy hurt their pride, and then they turned in and worked so savagely that they made a daily improvement, which their energetic boss himself could scarcely comprehend.

"You said you thought your people were lazy," he told the king; "but all they needed was to be interested. A man's pride is his strongest and his weakest point. You tell him that he's either the best in the world, or rotten, and in either case he'll work himself to a skeleton of his own shadow, to prove that he's better than you thought he was. The pride of doing things better has made America the greatest country in the world. Look at these boys here," and he pointed to the fifty- four men whom he already had at work. "They're so eager about results that a sunset looks ugly to them, because it means quitting-time. They're crazy to get things done, not because it's cut out for them to do, but for the mere pride of accomplishment."