The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1902-12-28

the store, she would sometimes bring a
few faded flowers and put them IN an
old broken pitcher and say: leone,
mother; let's play we were out in the
country. How I wish we could see the
old farm. where papa used to take US
before he died! Tired? Oh, yes; little.
The store is so hot and the customers,
especially about Christmas, find so much
fault with US, as though We were not
human. But. then, I think Of you and
the baby and the seedlings Of the floor
walker do not cut so deep There mother,
kiss me good night. You know must be
up early in the morning to be down to
the store one time"
Day after day she got weaker and
weaker. The hours were long. The boxes
were heavy to lift. All, soc vas earning
bread. She was earning 1t with her life
blood After a while two little red spots
appeared In her thin, pale oh eeks. Her
eyes had an unnatural brlllancy. Half
the night she would toss and toss, unable
to sleep. The hacking cough never SEEM
ed to relieve the awful pain in the aching
chest. One day mo. 81 tainted. When
she was being carried to the cloakroom
an old lady customer stopped and look
ed and wiped her eyes and said Poor
little thing! | wonder If my little gran1-
child will ever have to work like that"
Two of her companions took her home.
After that she could not do much. STILL
a happy smile would always welcome the
girls who would stop at night after they
left the store and bring her an orange
or an apple, bought out of their scanty
earnings. That is ALL She's dead now.
Tumble her into her pine box. Shovel Ter
under the ground. She Is nothing but a
poor working girl. What is the matter?
Oh, nothing, except that this continual
depreciation of the price of goods has in
evitably driven some people to the wall,
and she is one of the first to go. What
Is the matter? oh, nothing, except the
fact that thousands of men and women,
some of whom are members of the
church, are driving prices down and down
until at last a gro9n of agony is coming
from the throats of hundreds of thous-
ands of working girls whose moral and
physical life is being crushed out of them.
II an article is worth $40, pay 1t or go
without. 1t is far better to pay young
men or women living salary to support
them before they do wrong than to estab-
fish rescue homes to save them after they
have gone astray.
The Hypocrisy of Depreciation.
Depreciation, when it is unjust, is hy-
pocrisy, and 1t is in large measure re-
sponsible for the depressed conditions OF
spiritual life in the church as well as
In the home and the store. Some people
seem to think that the religion of the
Lord Jesus Christ has nothing to do with
the weekday. They act as if they had
a right to leave their piety at home on
a Monday morning. as they would put
on or off their Sunday clothes. But [
want to tell you that Christ's teachings
are utterly at variance with such hypo-
critical nonsense. If a man is not a
Christian during the weekday, he is not
a Christian on Sunday. If a woman is
not a Christian in her dealings with her
groceryman and butcher, her baker and
servant girl, and on her shopping expe-
ditions, she is not a Christian when she
goes to church. A falsehood is Just as
big and black when uttered over q store
counter as when 1t is told in church. 1t
Is as heinous an offense as was that lie
told under the shadow of the uplifted
hand which the apostle Peter raised when
he was preaching to Ananias and Sap
phira near the Jerusalem temple. And SO,
my brother, If you want to conseerate
your churches to God you must also con-
secrate your stores and factories, your
advertising columns. your commercial
buyers, your clerks salaries and your
draymen's wages When some one asked
George Whitefeld whether certain man
was Christian or no, the great evan
gelist answered: How can tell. never
lived with him. So GOD VIII never de-
clare we are his children unless we re-
solve, like John Wesley, that during the
Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday
and Thursday and Friday and Saturday.
as well as the Sunday we will try ito
do all the good we can to as many people
as we can as long as we can"
Beginning our sermon with a text Sc
lected from the book of Proverbs, we
would end with a spirit inspired, pleading
peroration from the book of Ecclesias-
ties. The two indirectly teach practically
the one great lesson of our duty toward
our fellowmen-"Let us hear the con-
clusion of the whole matter" Fear God
and keep his commandments, for this is
the whole duty of man. For God shall
bring every work into judgment with
every secret thing, whether it be good
or whether it be evil" Are we one and
all ready to obey this inspired injunc-
ton? Are We ready to consecrate to the
Masters service our dealings with human
beings. as well as our direct dealings
with Christ? Are we ready to consecrate
our whole lives to Christ-not tomorrow
or next week or next month, but now
just now? Brother, sister, do you know
any better moment to promise to live
for Jesus than this moment, which Is
now reaCy to fly away?
Copyright, 1902, by Louis Klopsch.)