The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-06-01

| er's Family Devotions' and WESLEYAN
hymnbooks. n he gathered his en-
having sung. they knelt down and
prayed side by side-the employer and
the employees. Do you wonder at that
mans success and that, though thirty
| years before he had been a partner in
a small retail shop in a small village.
at his death he b~equeathed many mil
lions? God can trust such a man as
that with plenty Of money.
PLEASANT SURROUNDINGS.
Sir Titus Salt had wealth which was
beyond computation, and at Saltaire.
England, heahad a church and a chapel
built and supported by himself-the
church for those who preferred the
Episcopal service, and the chapel for
those who preferred the Method
service. At the opening Of one of his
factories he gave a great dinner. and
there were $500 people present. and
in his after dinner speech he said to
these people gathered: II annot look
around me and see this vast assem-
blage Of friends and work people with
out being moved. 1 feel greatly honor
ed by the presence Of the nobleman
at my side, and / am especially de-
lighted at the presence Of my people.
1 hope to draw around me a popula-
ton that will enjoy h beauties of this
neighborhood-a population of we'll
paid, contented, happy operatives. 1
have given Instructions to my arChi-
tects that nothing is to be spared to
| render the dwellings of the operatives
a pattern to the country, and if my
life is spared by divine Providence I
hope to see contentment, satisfaction
and happiness around me-"
That is Christian character demon
strated. There are others in this coun-
try and in other lands on a smaller
scale doing their best for their en-
ployes. They have not forgotten their
own early struggles. They remember
how they were discouraged, how hun
CRY they were and how cold and how
tired they were, and though they
may be so or 20 years of age, they
know just how a boy feels between 10
and 20 and how a young man feels be-
tween 20 and 80. They have not forgot
ten it. Those wealthy employers were
not originally let down out of heaven
with pulleyS of silk in a wicker basket
satin lined, famed by cherubic wings,
They started in toughest cradle, on
whose rocker misfortune put her vio-
lent foot and tipped them into the cold
world. Those old men 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,
ands 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 u great establishments.
They have no n 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, o capitalist,
you, the head man of the firm, must
look, supervise, see those all around
you, investigate all beneath you.
TEMPTATIONS OF YOUNG MEN.
And then 1 charge you not to put
unnecessary 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 tempta-
lions 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 perdi-
tion, n you u be careful how you
try a lad of Is. And if he do wlGng do
not pounce on him like a hyena. If he
prove himself unworthy of our con-
fidence, do not call in the police, but
take him home. Tell why you dismiss
ed him to those who will give him an
other chance. Many a young man has
done wrong once who will never do
wrong again. All, my friends, I think
we can afford to give everybody an
other chance when God knows we
should all have been in perdition if he
had not given us 10, 900 chances.
Then, if in moving around your fac
tory or mill or barn or store, o are
inexorable with young men God will
remember it. Some day the wheel OF
fortune will turn, and you will be a
pauper, and your daughter will go to
the wOrkhOuSe, n your son will die
on the scaffold. If in moving among
your young men you see one with an
ominous pallor of cheek or you hear
him coughing behind the counter, say
to him. "Stay home a day or W and
rest or go out and breathe the breath
of the hills If his mother die, do
funeral he be in the store. Give him at
least a week to get over that which
he will w get over.
RELIGIOUS LIFE.
Employers, urge o your employ
ees, above all, a religious life. So far
from that, o is it, young men? In
stead of being cheered on the road to
heaven some of o are ~caricatured,
and it is a hard thing for you to keep
your Christian integrity in that store
or factory where there are S 10 many
hostile to religion. Zefthen, a grave
general under Frederick the Great,
was a Christian. Frederick the Great
was a skeptic. One day Zeithen, the
venerable, white haired general, asked
to be excused from military duty that
he might attend the holy sacrament.
He "a excused. A few days after
Ziethen was dining with the king and
with many notables of Prussia when
Frederick the Great in a jocose way
said, We'll, Ziethen, how did the sac
rament of last Friday digest?" The
venerable old warrior arose and said:
For our majesty I have risked my
life many a time on the battlefield, and
for you majesty I would be willing al
any time to die; but you do wrong
when you INSULT the Christian religion.