Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1886-06-11

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YOU and your employee more than IL is a mat
ter between you and Almighty God. The
Bible is very explicit ON this subject and
leaves no man in doubt. Pay wages and pay
them promptly. Malachi: II will be a
swift witness against all sorcerers and against
ell adulterers and against those who Cypress
! the hireling in his wages Leviticus: Thou
shalt not keep the wages of the hireling al
night unto the morning. Colossians: Mas
tiers. give unto your servants that which is
| Just and equal, knowing that We have mas
! ter in Heaven Do not say as it is often
said now: "lf you do not like your place get
another" when you know he cannot get an
| other.
Then l charge you also to be careful about
the physical health and about the financial
welfare the future financial welfare of the
men who are under your charge. You are
! TO moll their ideas, you are to tell them
about savings banks. about investments,
about life insurance. You say they have not
any surplus now; but they will have. What
YOU teach them will affect their who'e lives
upon this subiect 1t is your bust
ness, it is Your solemn obligation to
teach them these things. 1 am glad
there are men who appreciate this. Such as
/ Ma shall in Leeds, such rs Lester in Brad
ford, such as A in Halifax, such as men
in our midst whom | might mention but
will not, lest / offend their modesty-men
who build concert halls for their employees,
organize choral societies, open cricket
grounds provide for them lawn tennis, give
them reading rooms an / libraries and afford
them all kinds of opportunity, 50 that these
employers are not merely paying
wages now due, but through the CON
tentment and good morals of their
employees they are paying from generation TO
generation and forever. Now, you are to
Look after the physical welfare of those in
your employ. There are banking houses aud
there are factories and there are workshops
in this country which simply mean death by
their atmosphere You are supposed to be
moro intelligent on subjects of ventilation
ard sunshine and all the laws of hygiene
This afternoon at half past o'clock will be
huCed man who has done more for the
health of this century than airy ten men IN
Tiny glorious friend, Dio Lewis. l have
known him IN this country and have known
him in other countries, and he has been doing
but just one thing-trying to m Ike the world
stronger and better and happier. His books
giving advice to boys aud advice to girls and
advice to workmon and advice to all class es
IF people, old ard young, have increased the
Ion gevity of this race, of the human race.
His influence WILDE felt for all time Oh, EN-
ployer interest yourself in the physical health
of those who are in your employ; some.
times it may not be appreciated, as in the
ease, mentioned by Charles Reade, where a
great fan was builtto blow the dust from the
metal and the stonn, the dust rising from the
machinery in factory, and these men de-
clined to set the great fan in motion, seeming
to prefer the filings, the poisonous filings,
rather than to have this great fan working
But while here and there there may be some
unappreciative of your tolls in their be-
half, the vast majority of people
in employment in this country will
thank God and thank you for anything you
may do for them. Do not put ON them any
unnecessary burden. l never could under
stand why car drivers should have to stand
when they could just as well sit down and
drive. 1t seems to ma that all intelligent
employers ought to befriend the shortening
OF the hours of toll in this country. Some
time ago there were a thousand grocers'
clerks in this city who worked from five
o'clock in the morning until ten o'clock
at night. Now that IS simply inhuman.
These employees ought to have time
to go to the mercantile library, to
go to the gymnasium, to go to the
Young Mons Christian Association, to
go to choral societies, togo to churches. If
thsy can do their work in eight or ten hours,
why employ them seventeen? 1t seems to
me that the intelligent employers of this
country ought to become sympathetic with
the early closing movement and with the
movement in al parts of this land to COM
press into shorter time the work that is to
le done in this country.
Then | charge you oh employer, that YOU
look after the moral and spiritual welfare of
those whom you employ. Find out where
they spend their evenings. What does that
mean! 1t means everything. You do not
want in your store that young man who went
last night to see Jack Sheppard. You do not
want in your store young man who shall
come with face CHASTITY from midnight rev.
elry. The young man who spends his even
ings in the society Of refined women, or in
musical circles, or in literary employment
and the improvement of his mind-that's the
young man you want in your store. Not
by disgusting inquisitiveness; not by prying
into other peoples affairs, but in legitimate
ways you can find out where that young
man spenls his evenings Aye if he knows
that you are interested in his welfare,
he will gladly and frankly tell you
never shall forget Arthur Tappan. There
have been great many differences of opin-
ion about his politics, but no man that
ever knew Arthur Tapran well doubted his
earnest Christian character. In the morn
ing of every day he gathered all the employees
of his establishment in room, gave out a
hymn, united with them in prayer, and read
the Scriptures. Samuel Budget, the wealth.
lest man in the west of England, had room
furnished for the especial purpose, and he
had in that room "Fletcher's Family Devo-
they would all kneelin prayer, employer and
enploye. How many strikes did he have2
When would they strike him? Before
prayer or after prayer, or while he was down
at prayer? Do you wonder that though that
man thirty years before had been a part
ner in small shop in small
village, he died worth his millions, contrib
uting them to all kinds of charity and
philanthropy But God can trust such q
man as that with money. Sir Titus Soft had
wealth beyond computation, and at Solitaire,
England, he built and endowed church and
chapel-the church for those who preferred
the Episcopal service, and the chapel for
those who preferred the Methodist service
He was about to open one of the factories
and he had great banquet, at which there
were 5000 men, the most of them workmen.
In the after dinner speech Of that banquet,
he said: II cannot look around me
and see this vast asSemblage of friends and
work people without being moved. | feel
greatly honored by the presence Of the noble
man at my side, and am especially delighted
at the presence of my work people. l hope
enjoy the beauties of this neighborhood, a
population of well-paid, contented, happy
operatives. | have given instructions to my
architects that nothing is to be spared to rem
der tho dwellings of the operatives a pattern
to the country, and if my life is spared
by Divine Providence, hope to see content
ment and satisfaction and happiness all
around me-" All! that is Christian character
demonstrated. Many of these employers re-
member their own early struggles. They re-
memt er when the first yard of nankeen was
eaured by their hands, and the first pound
of tea weighed, and the first baluster turned
and the first roof shingled. They know al
sixty or seventy years of age just how boy
feels between ten and fifteen. They know a
sixty or seventy or eighty years of age JUS
how young man feels between twenty anC
thirty All those employers were MOI
originally let down out of heaven on pulleys
of silk in a wicker basket, satin line i, fannsd
by cherubic wings. No, no. They started in
the toughest cradle on the rocker of which