Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 271, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 November 1914 — Dr. Marden’s Uplift Talks [ARTICLE]

Dr. Marden’s Uplift Talks

By ORISON SWETT MARDEN.

’ Copyright by McClure newspaper SyndieaM DO NOT DISCHARGE THE BOY., Edwin Booth once scolded one of his supers for the careless way in which he took his part. “Look at me,” said Mr. Booth, “why don’t you do as I do?" “Ah, Mr, Booth,” said the man, "if I- were you I would not be carrying a spear for one dollar a night” , Don’t scold the employee who doesn’t always do things as you would,, do them. Remember, he has not your experience, judgment or present ability. If he had he would not be working for ypu. Don’t" fire” the boy who has disappointed you. Think bow you would like to have some one treat your boy who happened to make a mistake or to do some foolish thing. Do not throw him out Take all interest in him. Try to arouse his ambition. Tell him qt your struggles to get a start in the world and how important it is to do everything to a finish. Show him that every letter he writes, that every, well done thing is a step to something higher. Did you ever think, Mr. Employer, what it may mean to you to discharge a boy or girl, perhaps in a fit of temper or fqr a trifling offense? It may seem a little thing for you to discharge employees, but it may be the turning point in their careers. It is a most unfortunate thing tor young people, who are very susceptible to discouragement, and who are the victims of their moods, to be discharged. They sometimes become so disheartened they think it is no use to try to do thei.r best Some employers say that their time is too valuable to spend breaking in green boys, and they discharge a boy upon the slightest provocation, for a little Instance, a blunder, carelessness. They do not realize that this may ruin him.

Remembey that you can persuades boy, you ean lead him, into almost anything, but It is very difficult to drive him, if there Is anything In him. , Perhaps the boy you want to discharge has net had the love and care, the tender Influences in his home, which your boy has. had. In fact, he may have no real home at all, as you have it. His home may even have a vicious Influence upon him. Are you sure there is nothing in him which you can bring out? Employers should resort to every possible expedient before discharging help. Sometimes just a little encouragement, a little praise, when an unruly employee does - well, will result in wonderful Improvement. Only recently the manager of a large department store told me that he had been so tired with the stupidity, the carelessness and apparent indifference of a girl clerk that he made up his mind he must discharge hdh. He had talked with her and advised her, but found that it did little or no good. He called her into the office one morning to tell her that he would have to let her go. While talking to her, however, he asked her why it was thipt she could not do better, and she told him that she didn’t like the work she was doing; that If he would put her in the silk department he would find she would do better. He made the experiment, and she became a different girl. She took a great interest In silks; in fact, had an almost perfect knowledge of silk textures and colors. The girl is now in charge of the silk department at a large salary, and her employer says she has become Indispensable to the concern. Instead of firing an employee who has tried you perhaps past endurance, change him about, try him in different Positions. He may develop genius. He may now be a round peg in a square hole, and after he has found his place he may prove very valuable to you; but if you discharge him it may discourage him from trying. Many men seem to think that they can treat their help In any way; that they can scold them, hdund them, nag them, find fault with them, and use all sorts of slave-driving methods in their treatment of therii, and yet get their best service. While there Is now and then a conscientious person who tries to do his best under p.ll circumstances, ‘there are a thousand who will give back wjiat they receive, & ' Action and reaction are pretty nearly equal in this world- As a rule, people pay us back In our own coin. They will pay back kindness with kindness, hate with hate and ingratitude with contempt - T - TODAY 18 YOUR DAY AND MINE. The majority of people get a very small percentage of the possible happiness out of life because they are waiting for that paradise of tomorrow When they believe their worries and their anxieties and the tilings that embarrass and harass them and fret them will be eliminated and only the good things, the things that make people happy, will remain/ „ . Do you ever realize, you who. are dreaming about tomorrbw and its wonderful possibilities, that ft will be just like today, that the glamour

which your imagination puts, in It wff!' be gone when you reach it, that the mirage which you witness today come* from the distance, but that when you arrive it will be gone, and you will find only a' common, ordinary day—practically a duplicate of this common, ordinary day, through which you are now passing? The trouble with many of us i» that we are waiting for the ideal condition before we enjoy ourselves. Somehow we cannot seem to manage to extract satisfaction and enjoyment out of the day that la so full of cares, anxieties and the humdrum routineof.life. We are dreaming of that Utopia somewhere in the future that will have all the good things, the comfort, the conveniences and luxuries without the annoying things, the thousand pin pricks and the little annoyances, the fretting and the worrying and the anxiety of today. We are dreaming of the condition when our family will all be well, when weshall be strong and healthy, vigorous, and when we shall be rid of the things, that harass.

But there is no. such Paradise awaiting us. We are really now In the Paradise which we. pictured in our dreams a few years ago. We all are in it. This is the future w.e looked forward, to when we were in schpol or c'ollege, when we first left’ home to start out in the world for ourselves, and is it materially different from yesterday? Is it not the same humdrum sort of life, with the same anxieties, the same worries, the same cares that we had then, and probably many more? Life is made up of days, each one must be a success or the whole is marred. The' habit, therefore, of Resolving when we. start out each morning that the day shall find us a little farther ahead, a little farther on* is' a" wonderful help. Life as a whole will be a success if each day is a success. “Today is your day and mine, the only day we have, the day in which we play our part,” says David Starr Jordan. "What our part may signify in the great whole we may not understand; but We are here to play it, and now is bur time. This we know; it Is a part of action, not of whining. It is a part of love, not cynicism. It is for us to express love in terms of human helpfulness.” Today it the day that holds the key to your future. What you do today you will likely do tomorrow; what you , are today you will be tomorrow, with simply one day’s growth or one day’s retrogression. Today is the bulletin-board of what you do tomorrow. By what philosophy can you idle away your time today, waste your energy, squander your force, and do your work like a drudge, and expect a magnificent harvest of success, prosperity and happiness from such a sowing? Today is the seed you are sowing for tomorrow’s harvest, and If you sow seeds of carefulness, accuracy, energy, zeal and enthusiasm, if you sow optimistic good cheer, helpful seeds, you will reap the same kind of a harvest tomorrow.