The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1891-04-02
THE LONDONDERRY SITTER,


places with those who stand today
amid the excitements of commercial
life and SEQ If they find 1t so very easy.
While the farmer goes to sleep with
the assurance that his corn and barley
will be growing all the night, moment
by moment adding to his revenue, the
merchant tries to go tc sleep, conscious
that that moment his cargo may be
broken on the rocks, or damaged by
the wave that sweeps clear across the
hurricane deck, or that reckless specu-
lators may that very hour be plotting
some monetary revolution, or the burg
lars be prying open his safe, or his
debtors fleeing the town, or his
landlord raising the rent, or the fires
Sindling on the block that contains
all his estates. Easy! Is it2 God help
The merchants! 1t is hard to have
the palms of the hands blistered with
outdoor work, but more dreadful
process when, through mercantile ankle
ties, the brain is consumed!
THE LIES OF The ThADBhS.
In the next place we notice mercan-
tile lies-those before the counter and
behind the counter. will not attempt
to specify the different forms of com
mercial falsehood. There are mer-
chants who excuse themselves for devil
alton from truthfulness because of what
they call commercial custom. In other
words, the multiplication and univer-
salty of sin turns it into virtue,
There have been large fortunes gath
cred where there was not one drop of
unrequited toll in the wine; not one
spark of bad temper flashing from the
bronze bracket; not one drop of needle
woman's heart blood in the crimson
plush; while there are other great es-
Establishments in which there is not one
door knob, not one brick, not one
trinket, not one thread of lace, but has
upon it the mark of dishonor. What
wonder if some day a hand OF toll that
had been wrung, and worn out, and
blistered until the skin came off, should
be placed against the elegant wall
paper, leaving its mark of blood-four
fingers and thumb; or that some day,
walking the halls, there should be a
voice accosting the occupant, saying,
| six cents for making shirt" and,
| flying the room another voice should
say, Twelve cents for an army blank
et;" and the man should try to sleep at
night, but ever and anon be aroused,
until getting up on one elbow he should
shrek out, Who's thereW
One Sabbath night, in the vestibule
of my church after service, a woman
fell in commissions. The doctor said
she needed medicine not SO much as
something to eat. As she began to re-
vive in her delirium she said gasping-
ly: Eight cents! eight cents! eight
cents! | wish l could get it done; l
am so tired wish l could get some
sleep, but | must get it donel Eight
cents! eight cents" We found after
ward that she was making garments
for eight cents apiece, and that she
could make but three of them in day |
Three times eight are twenty-fourl
Hear it, men and women who have
comfortable homes!
Some of the worst villains of the city
are the employers of these women.
They beat them down to the last penny
and try to cheat them out of that. The
woman must deposit a dollar or two
before she gets the garments to work
on. When the work is done it is sharp
ly inspected, the most insignificant flaws
picked out and the wages refused, and
sometimes the dollar deposit is not
given back. The Women's Protective
union reports case where one of these
poor souls, finding a place where she
could get more wages, resolved to change
employers, and went to get her pay for
work done. The employer says: Il
hear you are going to leave me. T"
YES she said, "and am come to get
what you owe me- He made no an
swer. She said, care you not going to
pay me?" YES" he said, 81 will pay
you, and he kicked her down the stairs
There are thousands of fortunes made
in commercial spheres that are through
out righteous. God will let his favor
rest upon every scroll, every pictured
wall, every traceried window; and the
Joy that flashes from the lights, and
showers from the music, and dances in
the children's quick feet pattering
through the hall, will utter the con
graduation of men and the approval of
God
LIES ARE UNNECESSARY.
A merchant can, to the last item, be
thoroughly honest. There is never
any need of falsehood. Yet how many
WILL day by day, hour by hour, utter
what they know to be wrong. You
say that you are selling at less than
cost. If SO, then it is right to say it
But did that cost you less than what
you ask Cor it? If not, then you have
falsified You say that that article
cost yoa twenty-five dollars, Did it2
Ii SO, then all right. II 1t did not, then
you have falsified
Suppose you are a purchaser. You
are beating down" the goods You
say that that article for which five dol
lars is charged is not worth more than
four Is it worth no more than four
dollarsl Then all right. If it be worth
more, and for the sake of getting it for
less than its value you willfully depre-
ciate you have falsified You may call
it sharp trade. The recording angel
writes it down on the ponderous tones
of eternity, "Mr. So-and.so, merchant
in Water street or in Eighth street or
in State street, or Mrs So-and-so
keeping house on Beacon street or on
Madison avenue or Rittenhouse square
or Brooklyn heights or Brooklyn Hill,
told one falsehood You may con-
slider it insignificant, because relating
to an insignificant purchase. You would
despise the man who would falsify in
regard to some great matter in which