Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1897-07-24

larl'' Why, who is to blame for tho fact
that it has got to be dollar? Does the
indignation go out to the manufacturers
OH tho banks of tho Merrimac because
they have closed up? No. Does the in
dignation go out toward the employer,
who is out ut his country seat! No. 1t
comes Oh the clerk He got up the war.
He levied the taxes. He puts up the
rem IL. Of course, the clerk.
Then great trial comes to clerks Ill
the fact that they see the parsimonious
side of human nature. You talk about
lies behind the counter-there are just
as many lies before the counter. Au-
gustine speaks of u man who adver-
tised that he would, on certain occa-
sion, tell the people what was in their
hearts. A crowd assembled, and he
stepped to the front and said: u will
tell you what is in your hearts. To buy
cheap and sell DEAR" Oh, lay not aside
your urbanity when you go into storel
Treat the clerks like gentlemen and To-
dies, proving yourself to be gentle
man or u lady. Remember that If the
prices are high and your purse Is lean
that is no fault of the olorks. And II
you have SOL 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 certainly needs
the grace of God than our young peo-
pie amid the seven times heated exas-
perations of clerks life.
InconsIderate Employers.
Then there are all the trials which
come to clerks from the treatment OF
inconsideratc employers. There are pro-
fessed Christian men who have no moro
regard for their clerks than they have
for the scales on which tho sugars are
weighed A clerk is 10 more than so
much store furniture. No consideration
for their rights OF interests. Not one
word of encouragement from sunrise to
sunset, nor from January to December.
But when anything goes wrong-a
streak of dust Oh the counter or box
with the cover ofr-thunder showers OF
scolding. Men imperious, capricious,
cranky toward their clerks-their whole
manner us much as to say, All the In
terest have IN you is to see what can
get out of you. Then there are all the
trials of incompetent wages, not III
such times as these, when if a man gets
half a salary for his services he ought
to be thankful, but 1 mean i'll prosper
Gus times. Some of you remember when
the war broke out and all merchandise
went up, and merchants were made
millionaires in six months by the SIM
plo rise in the value Of goods. Did the
clerks get advantage Of that rise! Some
times, not always I saw estates gath
cred in those times over which the
curse of God has hung ever since. Tho
cry CT unpaid men and women III those
stores reached the Lord of Sabaoth, and
the Indignation of God has been around
those establishments ever since, fash
ing in tie chandeliers, glowing from
the crimson upholstery, rumbling in
the long roll of the tenpin alley. Such
men may build up palaces of merchan-
disc heaven high, but after awhile a
disaster will come along and will put
one hand on this pillar and another
hand OH that pillar and throw itself for
ward until down will come the whole
structure crushing the worshipers as
grapes are mashed in the winepress
Then there are boys ruined by lack
of compensation. In how many prosper
Gus stores it has been for the last az
years that boys were given just enough
money to teach them how 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 blasted heath than
take one farthing from his employer.
Woe be to that employer who unneces-
sarily puts temptation in boy 8 way.
There have been great establishments IN
these cities, building marble palaces,
their owners dying worth millions and
millions and millions, who made vast
amount of their estate out Of the blood
and muscle and nerve of half paid
clerks. Such mon as-well, | will not
mention any NAME But l mean men
who have gathered up vast estates at
the expense of the people who were
ground under their heel. "Oh, +" say
such merchants, "if you don't like it
here, then go and get better place!'
AS much as to say: GIVE got you IN
my grip. and I mean to hold you. You
can't get any other place. "
True Sympathy.
Oh, what a contrast hetween those
men and Christian merchants who to-
day are sympathetic with their clerks
when they pay the salary, acting in this
way: This salary that give you is
not all my interest IL you. You are an
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