The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1900-06-06

Ihat ts the only way you can become &C
| quainted with their wants.
You will by such process find out that
there is blind parent or sick sister be-
ing supported. You will find some OF youl
young men In rooms without any fire 10
winter and In summer sweltering in Ill
ventilated apartments. You will find much
depends on the wages you pay or with
hold. ..
Moreover, 1t Is your duty as employer, a:
far as possible, to mold the welfare Of the
employee. You ought to advise him about
Investments, about life insurance, about
savings banks. You ought to give him the
benefit Of your experience.
There are hundreds and thousands oil
employers, I an. glad TO say, who are get
tllng In the very best possible way the des
tiny OF their employees. Such men az Mar.
shall OF Leeds, Lister OF Bradford, Akroyd
OF Halifax and mon so near at home IL
might offend their modesty II mentioned
their names-these men have built reading
rooms, Libraries, concert halls, afforded
croquet lawns, cricket grounds, gymns'
siums, choral societies for .employes,
and they have not merely paid the wages
on Saturday night, but through:t the CON
tentment and the thrift and the good
morals Of their employees they are paying
wages from generation to generation for.
ever. -. , ) ~. q
Again, Il counsel all employers to look
we'll after the physical health of their sub
ordinates. Do not put on them any un-
necessary fatigue. Isnever could under.
stand why the drivers on our city cars
must stand af day when they might just
as we'll sit down and drive. X u
many OF the female clerks In our, stores
should be compelled to stand all day and
through those hours when there are but
few or no customers. These people have
aches and annoyances and weariness
enough without putting upon them addl.
tional fatigue. Unless these female clerks
must 60 up and down on the business o.
the store, let them sit down. .... .
Then I would have you carry out this
sanitary idea and put into as few hours as
possible the work OF the day. It seems tc
me all the merchants in all departments
ought, by simultaneous movement, to come
out In behalf Of the early closing theory
These young men ought to have an oppor.
tunity OF going to the mercantile library,
to the reading rooms, to the concert hall,
to the gymnasium, to the church. They
have nerves, they have brains, they have
intellectual aspirations, they b ave i'm.
mortal spirits. II they csn do good
round days work in the eight or ten
hours. you have no right to keep them
harnessed for seventeen.
But above all charge you, o employers,
that you look after the moral and spiritual
welfare of your employees. First, know
where they spend their evenings. Thut
around your money drawer young man
who went last night to see 'Jack Shep'
pard!' A man that comes into the store
In the morning ghastly with midnight rev
elry Is not the man for your store. The
young man who spends his evening In the
society OF refined women or In musical OF
artistic circles or In literary improvement
Is the young man for your store.
Do not say Of these young men. ''1i
they do their work In the business hours,
that Is all have to ask." God has made
understand that many OF these young men
are orphans or worse than orphans, flung
out into society to struggle for them.
selves.
And then I charge you not to put unnec.
young men. Do not keep large sums oil
money lying around ungxarded. Know
how much money there Is the till. Do not
have the account books loosely kept.
There are temptations inevitable to young
men, and enough OF them, without you
putting any unnecessary temptations in
their way. Men In Wall street having thir-
ty years OF reputation for honesty have
dropped into Sing Sing and perdltion,
and you must be careful how you try, 9
lad OF fifteen. And II he do wrong do not
pounce on him like hyena. II he prove
himself unworthy Of your confidence, dc
not call in the police, but take him home.
Tell why you dismissed him to those who
will give him another chance.
Many young man has done wrvng once
who will never do wrong again. Alb, ms
friends, think we can afford to give every
body another chance when God knows We
should all have been In perditioniif He had
not given US 10000 chances. = - .,
Employers, urge upon your employees.
above all, religious life. SO far from
that, how Is it, young mens Instead OF
being cheered on the road to heaven some
OF you are carlcntuced, and 1t Is hard
thing for you to keep your Christian integ-
rlty In that store or factory where there
are so many hostile to religion. Zlethen,
q grave general under Frederick the
Great, was o Christian. Frederick the
Great was skeptlc. One day Ziethen,
the venerable, white haired general, asked
to be excused from military duty that
he might attend the holy sacrament.
He was excused. few days after
Ziethen was dining with the king and
with many notables OF Prussia, when
Frederick the Great in a iocose way
said, "Well, Zlethen, how did that sacra-
ment OF last Friday dlgesti" The venera-
BILE old warrior arose and said: "For your
majesty I have rlsked my life many a time
on the battlefield, and for your majesty
would be willing any time to die; but you
do wrong when you insult the Christian
religion. You will forgive me II I, your
old military servant, cannot bear In silence
any insult to nay Lord und my Saviour"
Frederick the Great leaped to Ills feet, and
he put cut his hand, and he said: Happy
Zlethenl Forgive me, forgive me-"
Oh, there are many being scoffed at for
their religion, and thank God there are
many men rs brave as Zlethen! Go to
heaven yourself, o employerl Take all
your people with you. Soon you will be
through buying and selling, und through
with manufacturing and building, aud
God will ask you: where are all those
people over whom you Ind so great In
fiuence2 Are they herep VIII they be
here?" o shipowners, into what harbor
will your crew sail? Oh, you merchant
grocers, are those young men that
under your care are providing food for
tho bodies and families OF men to go
starved forever? Oh, you manufac-
turers, with so many wheels flying and
so many bands pulling and 80 many new
patterns turned out and so many goods
shipped, are the spinners, are the carmen,
are the draymen, are the salesmen, are the
watchers OF your establishments working
out everything but their own snlvation2
Can 1t be that, having those people under
your care fve, ten, twenty years, you have
made TO everlasting i'm mpression for good on
their immortal soulsp God turn US all back
from such selfshness and teach US to live
for others and not for ourselves. Christ
sets us the example OF sacrifice, and so do
many OF His disciples.
One summer in California gentleman
who had just removed from the Sandwich
Islands told me this incident: You know
that one Of the Sandwich Islands is devoted