Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1897-07-29

| pIuelcI nous. mas lis A-dgtc. IN IA 3iIifary
life, on ships deck IN commercial fife.
there must Oe order and discipline. Those
people who do not learn how to obey will
never know how 10 command. | will tell
you what young man viii make ruin
! financial and moral l. i the young man
| who thrusts his thumb into his vest and
| says Nobody shall dictate to ne am
my own master. I will not submit to the
| regulations nf this house" Between an
| establishment In which all the employees
| are under thorough discipline and the
| establishment in which the employees
| do about as they choose is the difference
! between success and failure-betw rapid
| accumulation and utter bankruptcy. Do
not come To tho store ten minutes after the
! time Be thcre within two seconds and let
| It be two secon IS before instead of two Sec
| onds after. Do not think anything too in
| significant to do well. Do not say, "It's
| only Just once" From the most mportant
transaction In commerce down to the partic-
ular stylc in which you tie a string around
bundle obey orders Do not get easily
! disgustcd. While others In the store may
| lounge or fret or complain you 90 with
| ready hands and cheerful face and con-
| tented spirit to your work. When the bugle
| sounds, the good soldier asks no questions
| but shoulders his knapsack, fills his canteen
and listens for the command OF "March!''
Do not get the idea that Your interests
and those Of your employer are antaSonis-
| tic. His success Will be your honor. His
embarrassment will be your dismay. Tx-
pose none Of the frailties Of the firm. Tell
| no store secrets. Do not biah. Rebuff those
| persons who come 10 find out from clerks
what ought never TO be known outside the
| store DO not be among those young men
who taka on Il mysterious air when some
| thing Is said against the firm that employs
them, as'much as to say. Il could tell you
something If would but I won't" Do not
4 10 jtYf4 hpy pa n m
themselves UP by pulling somebody else
! down. Be not ashamed to be u subaltern.
| Again, / counsel eli clerks to conquer the
! trials Of their particular position. One
| great trial for clerks is the reconsideration
! Of customers. There are people who are
entirely polite everywhere else, but gruf
and dictatorial and contemntible when they
| come into store to buy anything. There
are thousands OF men ana women VINO go
| from store to store to price things, without
| any idea of purchase. They are not salts
| fed until every roll OF goods il brought
down and they have pointed out all the real
or imaginary defects. They try on all kinds
! ofkid gloves and stretch them out Of shape,
and they put on all styles Of
cloak and walk to the mirror to see
how they look, and then they sail out
I Of the store, saying, II will not stake it to-
day" which means, II don't want 1t at all .
! leaving the clerk amid q wreck Of ribbons
and laces and cloths to smooth out a
| thousand dollars worth OF goods-no Il
cent Of which did that man or woman buy
or expect to buy. Now, call that dis
| honesty on the part OF the customer. II a
boy runs into store and takes roll Of
cloth off the counter and sneaks out into
the street, you all join in the cry pell-mcll
"Stop thief" When see you go into a
store, not expecting to buy anything but
to price things. stealing the time Of the
clerk and stealing the time of his employer,
| l say, too, "Stop theft
II were asked which class OF persons
most needed the grace Of God amid their
annoyances. I would say, DRY goods
| clerks All the Indignation Of Gust toners
! about the high prices comes on the clerk.
| For instance: A great war comes on. The
! manufactures are closed. The people go
of to battle. The price Of goods runs up
/ \ customer comes into a store. Goods have
/ goneup 'How much is that WORTH" "A dol
/ lar. "A dOllarl Outrageous, A dollar" Why
! who IS to blame for the fact that it has got
! to ho dollar? Does the Indignation go
| out To the manufacturers on the banks of
the Merrmac becaus, they have closed up?
/ No. Does the Indignation 60 out toward
/ the employer who Is ut his country seat?
! No. 1t comes on the clerk. He got up the
war. Ie levied the taxes. He puts up the
rents. OF course, the clerk.
Then there are All the trials which come
to clerks from the treatment Of inconsider-
+ ate employers. There aro professed Chris
/ tian men who have no more regard for their
| clerks than they have for the scales on
which the sugars are weighed. 4 clerk is
no moro than much store furniture. No
consideration for their rights or interests.
/ Not one word Of eunoura,rIucnt from sun
rise to sunset nor from January to d ecem-
| bcr. But when anything goes wrong "A
streak Of dust on tho counter or q box with
the cover thunder shower. Of scoIiing
Men imperious, caprlcious, cranky toward
their clerks their whole manner as much
as t. saw "All the interest hnvc in vou Il to
| sec what can get out Of YOU Then there
are all the trials Of Incompetent wages not
| in such times az these, when ii Is man gets
half q salary for his services he ought
to be thankful, but I mean IN prosper
GUS times. Some OF you .renemher when
! the war broke out ana all merchandise
| went up. and merchants were made mil
lionaires in six months hV the simple rise
In the value or goods. Did the clerks get
| advantage Of that rise? Sometimes. not
| always. / saw estates gathered in those
times over which tho curse Of tfoi has hung
ever since The cry OF unpaid men and
women In those stores reached the Lord Of
| Sabaoth. and the Indignation Of God has
| been around those cstahlishno onts ever since,
| flashing in the chandeliers. glowing from
. the crimson upholstery, rumhllng il the
| long roll Of the tenpIn alley. Such men
! NAV build up palaces OF mer ,handse
heaven hica but after awhile disaster
/ will come along AMI will put one hand on
this pillar and another hand on that pillar
and throw itself forward until down will
come the whole stru ture, crushing the
worshiy%r= as grapes are mashed IL the
! winapre~s.
Then there are boys raincl by lack q
| cornpeneatiau. III how many prosperous
stores il has been for tho last twFlty years
that irov~ wer,' -iven Just enough money
II teasa tAsn aow 4 >teal Some were