The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1881-11-17

NO. some udy you Will 20 10 IHe SlOAt'
shabby, intoxicated, wOrn-Out in their
service. and they will say: "JOhn, you
are disgrace to our house. Now, just
look at yourself. Accountant, how much
do we owe this MANI" "A dollar and
thirty cents" well, now, here-here
it is; a dollar and thirty cents. Go off.
Don't be hanging around the store"
Magnanimity superb! They stole the
hisJer from his eye, and the color from
his cheek and the honor from his soul,
and then they kicked him out!
If such prOfessed Christian mer-
chants do not go straight to hell, | don't
know any use of having such a place.
o, young men, disappOint the eXpecta-
tiOns of that firm; disappOint those Gus
toners, if these things are expected OF
you. You may sell an extra case OF
goods; you may sell an extra roll OF SILK;
but the trouble is, you may have to
throw your soul to boot III the bargain.
Again, counsel all clerks to conquer
the trials of their particular position.
One great trial for clearks is the incOn-
sideTatiOn of customers. There are peO-
pie who are entirely polite everywhere
else, but gTuff and dictatOrlal and con-
temptable when they come into store
to buy anything. There are thousands
of men and women who go from store to
store to price things, without any idea
til every roll of goods Is brought down
and they have pointed out all the real
and imaginary defects. They try on all
kinds of kid gloves and stretch them out
of shape, and they put on all
styles of clOaks and walk to
the mirror to see how 1t
would look, and then they sail out of the
store, saying" will not take 1T to-day
which means: II don't want it at all,
Il NNPrn naly of ri h
bOns and laces and cloths, to smooth out
hundred pounds worth of gOOds-nOt
one farUhing Of which did that man or
woman buY or expect to buy. Now,
call that a dishonesty on The part of the
customer. Now, if boy runs into a
store and takes a roll of cloth off the
counter and sneaks out into the street,
you all join in the cry, pell- -mell, stop
Uhiefp' When | see you go into store,
not expecting to buy any thing, but to
price things, stealing the Time OF the
clerk, and stealing the time OF !, his EN- 9f
plOyer, | say, too, stop thlet| If
were asked what class OF persons most
need the grace of God amid their annoy
ances, would say DRY goods clerks"
Ali the INDICATION of customers about
the high prices comes on the clerk. For
instance, great war comes. The manu-
factories are closed. The people go
off to battle. The price of goods runs
up. A customer comes into store.
wOrth?" "A dollar" "a dollar! Out
rageOus; a dOllarp Why, who is to
blame for the fact that 1t has got to be
dollar? Does the Indignation go out to
the manufacturers on the banks of the
MerTimack because they have closed up?
No. Does the indignation 30 out to the
employer who is at his country seatE
No. 1t comes on the clerk. He got up
the war. He levied the taxes. He put
up the rents. OF course, the clerk.
Then a great trial comes to the clerks in
the fact that they see the parslmOniOus
side of human nature. You talk about
lies behind the counter; there are just
as many lies before the counter. Angus
tine speaks of a man who advertised
that he would, on a certain occasion,
tell the people what was in their hearts.
A great crowd assembled, and he
stepped to the front, and said: 81 will |
tell you what Is In your hearts. |
To buy cheap and sell dear" U, peO- |
pie of Brooklyn, lay not aside your
uTbanity when you come into store. |
Treat the clerks like gentlemen and
ladies-pTOying yourself to be gentle |
man OF lady. Remember that if the |
prices are high and your purse is lean |
that it is no fault of the clerks. And If |
yOn have a son or daughter amid those |
perpleXities of commercial life, and |
such one comes home all worn out, be |
lenient, and know that the martyr at |
the stake no more needs the grace of |
God than our young people amid the |
sevep-times heated exasperatiOns of a |
clerks life. Then there are the trials |
which comes to the clerks from the
treatment of incOnsiderate employers. |
There are prOfessed Christian mom in
this city who have no more regard for
their clerks than they have for the
scales on which the sugars are weighed. |
A clerk is no more than so much store
furniture. No consideration for their
rights or their interests. Not one word
of encouragement from sunrise to sun
set, nor from January to December. But |
when any thing goes wTOng-a streak
of dust on the counter, or "a box |
with the cover Off-thunder show |
ers of scOlding. Men imperious,
capricious, cranky toward their clerks,
their whole manner as much as to say: |
"All the interest | have in you is to see
what can get out of you" Then there |
are all the trials of incompetent wages, !
even in prosperous times. You remem- |
Der when the war broke out, and all |
went up, and merchants |
were made milliOnairS in six mon hs |
by the simple rise in the value of goods. |
Did the clerk get advantage of thai riser
not always. L saw estates |
gathered in those times over which the |
curse of God has hung ever since. The |
cry of unpaid men and women in those |
stores reach the Lord of SabaOth, and |
the indignation of God has been around |
those establishments ever since, rumb- |
ling in the carriage wheels, flashing in
the chandeliers, glowing from the GRIM
son upholstery, laundering in the long |
roll of the ten-pin alley. Such men may
build up palaces of merchandise heaven |
high, but after awhile disaster will
come along, and will put one hand on
this pillar, and one hand on that pillar,
and will throw itself forward until
down will come the whole structure,
crushing the WOrshipers as grapes are
crushed in wine press.
Then there are boys in establishments
who are ruined-prOspeTous establish
by their lack of cOmpen-
satiOn. In how many prosperous stores
il has been for the last twenty years
that boys were given just enough to
learn them to steal. Some were seized
upon by the police. The vast majority
of instances were not known. The head
of the firm asked, where is George
nOw?" "Oh, he isn't here any more"
A lad might better starve to death on a
blasted heath than take one farthing