The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1897-07-22

| IL De TWO SECONDS before instead OF two sec
onds after. Do not think anything too in.
only Just once" From the most important
transaction in commerce down to the partic.
ular style In which you tie string around
| bundle obey orders. Do not get easily
disgusted. While others In the store may
lounge or fret or complain you 60 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 antagonis-
tic. His success will be your honor. His
embarrassment will be your dismay, Ex-
pose none OF the frailties Of the firm. Tell
no store secrets. Do not blab. Rebuff those
persons who come to find out from clerks
what ought never to be known outside the
store. Do not be among those young men
who take on mysterious air when some-
thing is SAID against the firm that employs
them, as much as to say, 81 could tell you
something II would, but won't" Do not
be among those who imagine they can build
Themselves up by pulling somebody else
down. Be not ashamed to be q subaltern.
Again, l counsel all clerks to conquer the
trials Of their particular position. One
great trial for clerks is the reconsideration
VI tustOnCis. 1uCtc ptODlt WHO uIp
entirely polite everywhere else, but grufY
and dictatorial and contemplate when they
come into store to buy anything. There
are thousands of men and women who go
from store to store to price things, without
any idea Of purchase. They are not salts
fled until every roll OF goods is brought
down and they have pointed out all the real
or imaginary defects. They try on all kinds
OF kid gloves and stretch them out of shape
nj rN, -
cloak and walk to the mirror to see
how they look. and then they sail out
OF the store saying, T will not Stake it to-
day." which means, Il don't want II at all :"
leaving the clerk amid a wreck OF ribbons
and laces and cloths to smooth out q
thousand dollars worth OF goods-not a
cent Of which did that man or woman buy
SneSp. or expect to ,RS RSy; S9y,t cal! .9a! Iis.
boy runs into a store and takes roll Of
cloth of the counter and sneaks out into
the street, you all join in the cry pell-mell,
stop thiefl' When see you 20 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 thief!'
II were asked which class OF persons
most needed the grace of God amid their
annoyances l would say, DRY goods
clerks" All the indignation OF customers
about the high prices comes on the clerk
For instance: A great war comes on. The
manufactures are closed. The people 20
off to battle. The price Of goods runs up.
customer comes into a store. Goods have
goneup. owmuch is that WORTH" "A dol
lar. "A dollar! Outrageous! A Adollar!" Why
who is to blame for the fact that 1t has got
to be n dollar? Does the indignation 20
out to the manufacturers on the banks Of
the Merrimac because they have closed up?
No. Does the Indignation go out toward
the employer, who is mt his country seat?
No. 1t comes on the clerk. He got up the
war. He 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 are professed Chris
tian men who have no more regard for their
clerks than they have for the scales on
which the sugars are weighed. A clerk il
no more than 50 much store furniture, No
consideration for their rights or interests
Not one word of encouragement from sun
rise to sunset, nor from January to Decem-
ber. But when anything goes wrong-a
streak OF dust on the counter or a box with
the cover off-thunder showers Of scolding.
Men imperious, caprcious, cranky toward
their clerks-their whole manner az much
as to say, "All the interest have in you is to
see what l can get out of you" Then there
are all the trials OF incompetent wages, not
In such times rs these, when il q man gets
half a salary for his services he ought
to be thankful, but l mean In prosper
Gus times. Some of you remember when
the war broke out and all merchandise
went up, and merchants were made mil
lionares in six months by the simple rise
in the value Of goods. Did the clerks get
advantage Of that rise2 Sometimes, not
always. l saw estates gathered In those
times over which the curse of God 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 establishments ever since,
flashing in the chandeliers. glowing from
the crimson upholstery, rumbling in the
long roll OF the tenpin alley. Such men
may build up palaces of merchandise
heaven high, but after awhile disaster
will come along and will put one hand on
this pillar and another hand on that pillar
and throw itself forward 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 prosperous
stores it has been for the last twenty years
that boys were given just enough money
10 teucH tncH now TO StehlI 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?" ooh, 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 unnecessarily puts a temptation in n
boys way. There have been great establish
ments in these cities, building marble pa
laces, their owners dying worth millions and
millions and millions, who made a vast
amount OF their estate out OF the blood and
muscle and nerve of half paid clerks. Such
men as--well, ! will not mention any name.
But mean fien 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 II hers.
then go and get better place!' As much
as to say: Eve got you in my grip, and /
mean to hold you. You can't get any other
place"
oh, what q contrast between those men
and Christian merchants who to-day are
sympathetic with their clerks-when they
pay the salary, acting in this way: "This
salary tfat | give you is not all my interest
in you. You are an immortal man; you are
an immortal woman. l am interested In
your present and your everlasting welfare.
l want you to understand that IL am
lttfla hinhar IN in otn I IA.