Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1905-09-07


sutsr a great dry goods emporium,
wbsse millions Of dollars worth Of
goods are sold every year. the door
walker who srsets you ct the door, the
ciefk who sells you the pods over the
counter. the delivery boy who hands
the parcels In at the door. are all one
talented folks. II that clerk is disre-
spectful. II the young man in the shoe
department does not wait upon you
patiently and kindly. you leave that
store In disgust. In q large dry goods
store a. an ordinary customer you
never meet the manager or the great
European buyer q the owner Of ne
store. You deal WITH the common one
talent clerk. Nearly all the goods IN Q
large retail store are sold by one talent
clerks. and the way those clerks treat
their employers customers decides
how much those customers will buy.
10 not this illustrator "a ovsrwhelm-
ing proof to you Of che mighty IN
Huence and power Of the one talent
peopis1
The one talent clerk may say: n am
only IN 3nsignihcant stom 10 my en-
ployefAs business. I an only q drop
Of water n a great ocean. two and
one-hslf miles deep ana 1900 miles
vide. am only Q leaf amid q whole
forest OF autumnai foliage. I am only
little 6ickerine cendieiisht In q ho-
riSon ablase with the flaming chart
ots Of tho noontide sun. do not
amount to anything" Oh. yes. my
brother. you do. A. clerk in the
store. rs a typewriter or salesman q
a saloswoman you arc not on insight
icant atom, though you may b occu-
plying q small place. You are not q
drop Of water amid an ocean Of heav-
ing pillows. You are not a ieaf or q
candielight dimmed by the glory Of
the noontide sun. but you are the cogs
Of a wheel which are absolutely essen
tiai to make the wheel move. II the
little cogs are gone, then the wheel
stops. II the wheel stops. then all the
vast machinery Of the factory ia halt
cd. IN the great railroad engine the
boiler. generating the steam which
draws the long limo Of freight care. 10
absolutely essential, but are not the
piston rods and the driving wheels and
the truck ana the coal tender and the
furnace and all the other parts Of the
locomotive just 40 esssntaal7
Vet 20 he Despisea.
What would you think Of the long
branches Of q great tree looking down
10 disgust at the roots Just exposed
when .he sod Is turned over by the
farmers spsdei What would you think
II those branches would say: "Oh. you
filthy. dirty roots. Why are you In
yonder darkness7 Can you not array
yourselves in my coat Of many colors 2
I will have none Of you" Well, today
the owner Of the great dry goods store
can no more be independent of hts
clerks than the tree branch can be In
dependent Of the tree root. What
would you think Of the wood Of the
tall mast despising the wood Of the
ships keel? Can the hand say to the
wrist, Il have no need Of theei' Can
the foot say to the eye. Il have no
need Of thee?' Can the heart say to
the lung, II have no need Of thee?"
Neither can the glass ONCE say to the
counter, Il have no need Of thee" The
one talent clerk 10 Just az essential for
the marvellous Developments Of the
mercantile ward "a IL the ten talent
merchant or the ten talent capitalist
The Hebrew talent Ia no Insignificant
capital which God places in the hand
Of the ordinary. everyday. common.
place clerk who sells % our goods over
the store counter.
But II we speak well of the one talent
clerk shall we not also speak well OF
the worldwide influence Of the one tai
ented mechanic and the one talented
!aborer and the one talented engineer
and the one talented carpenter and the
ono talented mason and all the one tai
ented men who WELD saw and strike
hammer and drop plumbline and push
planet Ia not the workman whose def
fingers make the piano Just as essen
tlal for the worlds melodies as tho
musicians whose sensitive touch make
the great bellows Of harmony rem
themselves and dash themselves iutc
white foam upon the coral reefs Of
white ivory keys? Shall we not honor
today the Stradivarius who manufac
lures the violins. as we'll as the Paga
minis ana the Ole Bulls who can make
the strings weep and wall or laugh AM
sing when they wave over them the
touch Of their magic bows? Are moi
Gutenberg's disciples who give to III
the printed page just as essential fol
tho dissemination Of Bnss,]edge as thu
brain Of Galilei or the sacred pen Of
Thomas Kempis or the rugged clio
quence Of Thomas Carlyle or the match
less literary creations Of william
Shakespeare or the Preside songs o.
Henry Longfellow or Eugene Fieldf
The chisel OF the one talented stone
cutter writes whole pages in the chap
ters Of the worlds progress as well al
the pen of the statesman. the architec
and the social sage. Henry Ware
Beecher some years ago in sermon
wildly described On expert stonecpt
ter coming into this country IS an I'm
migrant. He knows no one and NJ
one knows him. but when he applie
for work at one Of the big stoneydrd
ip Brooklyn the foreman gives him
stone to cut. Here IL q Querl or fern
there Is q branch Of what u to be
flower. He works on and on patient
~. Aft~ awhile. when the worl
on that block Ia done, the f0remal