The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1900-05-25
tor,ed IN rourbe,t cradle. on whose

'fArfed IN rOugnesC cradle, on WDCse
ecker misfortune put her violent foot
md tipped them into the cold world.
Those old mem are sympathetic with
boys.
But you are not only to be kind to
those who are under you-Christianly
kind-but you are also to see that your
boss workman and your head clerks
and your agents and your overseers in
stores are kind to those under them.
Sometimes a man will get a little brief
authority in a store or in a factory,
and, while they are very courteous to
you, the capitalist, or to you, the head
man of the firm, they are most brutal
in their treatment of those under them.
God only knows what some of the lads
suffer in the cellars and in the lofts
of some of our great esta blishments.
They have no one to appeal to. The
time will come when their arm will be
strong and they can defend themselves.
but not now. Alas for some of the cash
boys and the messenger boys and the
boys that sweep the store! Alas for
some of them! Now, you capitalist, you
the head man of the firm, must look,
supervise, see those all around you, in
vestigate all beneath you.
And then charge you not to put I'M
necessary temptation in the way of
your young men. Do not keep large
sums of money lying around unguard-
ed. Know how much money there is in
the till. Do not have the account books
loosely kept. There are temptations
inevitable to young men, and enough
of them, without your putting any IN
necessary temptations in their way.
Men in Wall street, having 30 years of
reputation for honesty, have dropped
into Sing Sing and perdition, and you
must be careful how you try lad of
| Is. And If he do wrong do not pounce
on him like a hyena. If he proves him
self unworthy of your confidence, do
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 wrong
once who will never do wrong again.
All, my friends, think we can afford
to give everybody another chance when
God knows we should all have been in
perdition if He had not given US 10000
chances
Then, II in moving around your fac
tory or mill or barn or store, you are
memorable with young men God will
remember it. Some day the wheel of
fortune will turn, and you will be pau
per, and your daughter will go to the
workhouse, and your son will die on the
scaffold. If in moving among your
young men you see one with an omi-
nous pallor of cheek or you hear him
coughing behind the counter, say to
him: Stay home day or two and
rest or go out and breathe the, breath
of the hills" If his mother die, do not
demand that on the day after the fu-
neral he be in the store. Give him at
least week to get over that which he
will never get'over.
Employers, urge upon your employees,
above ALL a religious life. So far from
that, how is it, young men? Instead of
being cheered on the road to Heaven
some of you are caricatured, and it is a
hard thing for you to keep your Chris
tan integrity in that store or factory
where there are so many hostile to re-
hgion. Ziethen, grave general under
Frederick the Great, was a Christian.
Frederick the Great was skeptic One
day Ziethen, the venerable. white-haired
general, asked to be excused from mill
tary duty that he might attend the
holy sacrament. He was excused. A
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, Eiethen, how
did the sacrament of last Friday di-
gest?" The venerable old warrior
arose and said: For your majesty 1
have risked my life many time on the
battlefield, and for your majesty
would be willing at any time to die;
but you do wrong when you insult the
Christian religion. You will forgive
me if l, your old military servant, can
not bear in silence any insult to my
Lord and my Saviour" Frederick the
Great leaped to his feet, and he put out
his hand, and he said: Happy lie
then! Forgive me, forgive mel"
Oh, there are many being scoffed at
for their religion, and l thank God there
are many men as brave as Ziethen!
One summer in California a gentle
man who had just removed from the |
Sandwich Islands told me this Incl
dent: You know that one of the Sand
Wich Islands is devoted to lepers. Peo-
pie getting sick of the leprosy on the
other islands are sent to the isle of |
lepers. They never come off. They are
in different stages of disease, but all
who die on that island die of leprosy.
On one of the islands there was ply
Tician who always wore his hand gloVed,
and it was often discussed why he al
ways had glove on that hand under al
circumstances. One day be came to the
and he withdrew his glove,
md he said to the officers of the law:
You see on that hand spot of the
'eprosy and that I am doomed to die.
I might hide this for little while and
.eep away from the isle of lepers; but
J am physician, and can go on that
-sland and administer to the sufferings
Of those who are farther gone in the
disease and t ghould like To pO now