St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1886-06-12

differences of opinion about his politics.
but no one who ever knew Arthur Tappan,
and knew him we'll, doubted his being an
earnest Christian. In his store in New
York he had a room where every morning
he called his employees together, and he
prayed with them, read the Scriptures to
them, sang with them. and then they en-
tered on the duties of the day. On Mon
day morning the exercises differed, and
he gathered the young men together and
asked them where they had attended
church. what had been their Sabbath ex-
periences and what had been the sermon.
Samuel Budget had the largest BUSH
ness in the west of England. He had in
room of his warehouse place pleasantly
furnished with comfortable seats and
"Fletcher's Family Devotions" and Wes-
leyan hymn books, and he gathered his
employees together every morning, and,
having sung. they knelt down and prayed
side by side-the employer and the en-
ployes.
Do'you wonder at that mans success,
and that though thirty years before be
had been partner in a small retail shop
in a small village, at his death he be-
queathed many millions. God can trust
such man as that with plenty of money.
That is Christian character demon-
strated There are others in this country
and in other lands on smaller scale do
ing their best for their employees. They
have not forgotten their own early strug-
giles. They remember the first yard Of
nankeen they measured, the first quarter
of tea they weighed, the first banister
they turned, the first roof they shingled.
They remember how they were discour-
aged, how hungry they were, and how cold
and how tired they were, and though
they may be sixty or seventy years of age,
know just how boy feels between ten and
twenty, and how a man feels between
twenty and sixty. They have not forgot
ten it. Those wealthy employers were not
originally let down out of Heaven with
pulleys of silk in a wicker basket, satin
lined, famed by cherubic wings. They
started in toughest cradle. on whose
rocker misfortune had put her violent
foot and tipped them into the cold
world. Those men are sympathetic with
boys.
who are under you-Christ ianlv kind-but
you are also to see that your boss work.
man and your head clerks and your agents
and your overseers in the stores are kind
to those under them. Sometimes a man
will get little brisf authority in a store
or in a factory. and while they are very
courteous to you, the capitalist. or to you,
the head man of the firm, they are most
brutal in their treatment of those under
them. God only knows what some of the
lads suffer in the cellars and in the lofts
Of some of our great establishments.
They have no one to appeal to.
The time will come when their
arm will be strong, and they can defend
themselves, but not now. Alas, for some
of The cash boys, and the messenger boys,
and the boys that sweep the store. Alas,
for some of them. Now you capitalist;
you, the head man of the firm, must look,
supervise, see those all around you, inves-
tigate all beneath you.
Then if, in moving around your factory,
or mill, or barn, Or store, you are inexora-
Bile with young men, God will remember
it. Some day the wheel of fortune will
turn and you will be a pauper, and your
daughter will go to the work house, and
your son will die on the scaffold. II, in
moving your young men, you see one with
an ominous pallor Of cheek, or you hear
him coughing behind the counter, say to
him:
"Stay home day or two and rest. or
go out and breathe the breath of the
hills"
If his mother die, do not demand that
on the day after the funeral he be in the
store. Give him at least a week to get
over that which he will never get over.
Employers, urge upon your employees
above all positive religious life. You
can do it. You are in position not to be
laughed at, or seoffed at, or jeered at.
You hold the keys of the establishment,
and by your position you demand
reverence. Now, urge all those employees
into religious life. So far from that
how is it, young men? Instead of being
cheered on the road to Heaven some of you
are caricatured, and it is hard thing for
you to keep your Christian integrity in
that store or factory where there are SO
many hostile to religion.
Oh, there are many being scoffed at for
their religion! and | thank God that there
are as many men as brave as Ziethen. Go
to Heaven yourself, oh employer! Take
all your people with you. Soon you will
be through buying and selling, and
through with manufacturing and build.
ing, and God will ask you: "Where are
all those people over whom you had so
great influence? Are they here? Win
they be here?" Oh, ship owner! into
what harbor will your crew sail? After
being tossed on so many seas. will they
gain the port Of Heaven? Oh, bankerl
will those young men who are running up
and down the long lines of figures, and
handling the checks and drafts, and
the rolls of Government
securities ara thew keening their