Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1903-01-05

papa used to take us before he diedi
Tired? Oh. yes; a 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, L think of you and the baby,
and the seedlings of the floorwalker
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 on time"
Day after day she got weaker and |
weaker. The hours were long. The |
boxes were heavy to lift. All, she was |
earning bread. She was earning it |
with her life's blood After awhile two :
little red spots appeared in her thin, !
pale cheeks. Her eyes had an unnat- |
ural brilliancy. Half the night she |
would toss and toss, unable to sleep. |
The hacking cough never seemed to re-
lieve the awful pain in the aching
chest. One day mo. 37'' tainted. When
she was being carried to the cloakroom,
an old lady customer stopped and look
little thing! l wonder if my little
grandchild will ever have to work like
that" Two of her companions took her
home. After that she could not do
much. Still, happy smile would al
ways welcome the girls who would
stop at night after they left the store
and bring her an orange or an apple,
That is all. She's dead now. Tumble
her into her pine box. Shovel her under
the ground She is nothing but a poor
working girl. What is the matter? Oh,
nothing, except that this continual de-
probation 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 wOm-
en-, some of whom are members of the
church, are driving prices down and
down until at last groan of agony is
coming from the Threats of hundreds of
thousands of working girls whose NOR
al and physical life is being crushed
out of them. If an article is worth
SO, pay it or go without. 1t is far bet
ter to pay young men or women liv-
ing salary to support them before they
do wrong than to establish rescue
homes to save them after they have
gone astray.
The Hypocrisy of Depreciation.
Depreciation, when it is unjust, is by
pocrisy, and it is in a large measure
responsible for the depressed condi-
tons of spiritual life in the church as
well as in the home and the store.
Some people seem to think that the re-
ligiOn 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 Sun
day clothes. But l want to tell you
that Christ's teachings are utterly at
variance with such hypocritical nom
sense. If a man is not a Christian dur
| ing the weekday, he is not Christian
on Sunday. If a woman is not a Chris
| tan in her dealings with her grocery
man and butcher, her baker and serv
| ant girl and on her shopping expedi-
| tons, she is not a Christian when she
| goes to church. A falsehood is just as
1 anu DldCh Wueu ultotcu over d
| store counter as when it 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 Sapphire near the Jeru-
salem temple. And so, my brother, if
| you want to consecrate your churches
/ 70 cd 1cf oil TO
stores and factories, your advertising
columns, your commercial buyers, your
clerks salaries and your draymen's
| wages. When some one asked George
Whitefield whether a certain man was
a Christian or no, the great evangelist
answered: "How can L tell? I never
lived with him." So God will 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 Satur-
day as we'll 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
selected from the book of Proverbs,
We would end with a spirit inspired
pleading peroration from the book of
Ecclesiastes. The two indirectly teach
practically the same great lesson of our
duty toward our fellow men-"Let us
hear the conclusion of the whole mat
ter" Fear God and keep his command
ments, 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 injunction? Are we ready
to consecrate to the Masters service
our dealings with human beings, al
well as our direct dealings with Christ
Are we ready to consecrate our whole
lives to Christ-not tomorrow or mex
week or next month, but now-jus
now? Brother, sister, do you know an!
better moment TO promise TO live fO