The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-08
THE RIGHT To A VACATION.
Every Man and Woman Who Works
Is Entitled to "a Rest.
HardWara

The man who fails to take a vacation
does an injustice to himself, his family, his
employees. his country and his God.
This may seem a little strong language,
coming from one whose hair is silvered
with the frosts of many winters in a. hard
ware store, and whose feet, if not in the
grave, are standing upon the edges thereof.
But it is out of this old age, and the ex-
periences which it has gained for him, that
l feel justified in making as strong a state
ment as that contained in the above.
When 1 was q boy those in the mercantile
class did not know what a set vacation
was. Where L served as a clerk we opened
the store at Z o'clock in the morning and
kept it open until 9 o'clock at night, three
hundred and sixty-tive days of the year.
with the exception of Sundays, and the old
man for whom | worked would nave run
her right open all day Sabbath if the COM
munity had approved of such procedure ana
had come to buy. When the town was filed
with strangers and merry makers on the
Fourth of July and other days of jubilee
we boys We're kept back of the counter from
morning until night, and a request for the
closing of the store on such occasions would
have been almost equivalent to handing in
our resignation. l believe we did shut up
on Christmas day, but not on Thanksgiving
If one of the boys wished a day off once
or twice a year for some special OCCASION,
mother, he could sometimes obtain it, pro-
vided he stood high in the graces of the
old man. The person who had been filled
with a sufficient amount of hardwood and
desperate courage to have suggested two
weeks vacation to each of the employees
during the summer months would have
been looked upon as a Spendthrift or one
in whose head more wheels had been gen.
Grated than were necessary for the proper
origination and propulsion of his ideas.
have three clerks in my store, in addi-
tion TO a young lady b~ookkeeper and
Stenographer, and l wish to tell you mer-
chants that I would regard it as a piece of
almighty poor business policy If l did not
give each one of these a full two weeks
vacation each year.
In the first place, l see that they earn it
during the remaining forty-eight weeks. In
the second place, | get more good value out
of them in the course of the year than |
could if their noses were kept at the grind
stone during the whole period. In the third
place. no man has a right, morally, relig-
iously, economically or periodically TO
cheat a feilow-being out of that which Is
his natural due, and / believe that in the
| tended that the hardware clerk should have
a period of bountifpl rest in the country,
among the trees anu flowers. and the thou
sand and one attractions that a man meets
when away from brick and mortar, as He
intended that the flowers, and the trees.
and the birds, and the running brooks and
good fishing, should be scattered promiscu-
ously through this broad land of ours, with
an invitation to man TO go forth and enjoy
them.
| self, and am the better man because Of 1t.
Sometimes my family go with me-, and
sometimes ] go alone, but in either case
come home invigorated and with a better
opinion of things in general, a warmer side
| toward humanity, al more comprehensive
and love toward my immediate associates,
a fuller and broaGsT comprehension and un-
| Outstanding of my duties as an employer,
: a father. a citizen, a Christian and a man.