People's Pilot, Volume 6, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 February 1897 — Life In a London Shop. [ARTICLE]

Life In a London Shop.

“Assistants who consult their own interests will rofraln from talking about flhoir salaries. ” Such is a notice posted ip in the dining and recreation rooms of a large drapery establishment in London. The evidence is unimpeachable, for it is that of Miss Collet, one of the assistant commissioners of the labor commission. Two things might be deduced from the possibility of such a notice existing. One is what a vast market of unemployed assistants there must be to draw from, and how hard it must be to get a situation, if men submit to he silent on the subject of their grievances, which even tne fellahfn of Egypt are not debarred from airing, the song which they sing in theVeixeSrs of their taskmasters is anent their cruel-treat-ment and scanty wage. Another thing that notice testifies to is that the life of shop assistants must be duller than one thought. Think of their standing from morning till night, with their tranquil air of politeness unruffled by the fidgets and fuss of thoughtless customers, not daring to stretch or yawn as a relief to the nameless weariness of the stuffy shop, and the long day, and the gas, and the crowds of new and unsympathetic faces, the taking out and putting back of endless things, not permitted to speak to one another without ride of a fine (it is 2s. 6d. in some shops), and then to think they are not allowed that solace’ of every Englishman in 411 his troubles—viz, to grumble! Life in a mine mnst be easy, life in a factory bliss, life in a kitchen liberty, compared to life in a London shop or showroom.— Churchman.