Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 August 1869 — A Word for Employes. [ARTICLE]

A Word for Employes.

It is surprising how apt certain employers are to make a dull boy of the Jack who serves them by giving him all work and no play. They sometimes may rest their horses for economy’s sake, but tlicir clerks and apprentices must toil on to the tiresome end without a holiday—unless nature take the case in hand, and, laying Jack flat on his back, bid him make sport of fever as best he may. since naught else can win him a ticket-of-leave from factory or shop. Every employe, In whatever business he may be engaged, should be granted some respite from work during the hot season —not as Scrooge would grant it, with a grunt and a scowl, and suspension of pay; but cheerfully, heartily, with a glowing “ Go, and enjoy yourself,” that sends him off half rested at the outset. Not only in the large cities, "but in country towns, in villages, even at the store on the cross-roads, where rural sounds come sweetly in at the open door, the clerk needs change and rest during the summer, and he should have it. It is no excuse for an employer that he says: “/work all the year through, and ask those who serve me only to do the same.” Because he has chosen an incessant way of earning his bread, it is no reason why he should entail the dry bones of his mistake upon others; no reason why he should say to Jack: “ / never stop wanting fruit, so do you never stop shaking the tree for me." No. A hearty, thoughtful employer secures hearty, thoughtful service. Only a conscientious master may expect to have a conscientious man. Every time a discreet task-giver wins a grateful “ Thank you, sir I” from his clerk or Workman, he places a lever under that man’s powers ready to raise them to higher and better service.

Contrast the two employers, George W. Childs, of Philadelphia, and the London manufacturer, Adams: The one, at an expense of thousands of dollars, giving his army of “ hands” a grand sinless frolic on the Fourth, bringing them under the happy influence of pure air, fine scenery, music, generous entertainment, and social intercourse. The other, if accounts are to be relied on, selfishly and cruelly turning out a workman to starvation and despair, after years of faithful service, at the first intimation that the poor fellow’s consumptive condition would soon unfit him for labor 1 Which of the two men' sleep the more restfully—-he who breathes an atmosphere of blessings from those whom he has cheered and benefited, or he in whose ears must ever ring the curse of the poor crazed murderer and suicide, Duggan : “ May the horror of this night be visited upon the man who forced it.” These are extreme instances. Few employers, however enlightened and warmhearted, find themselves able to carry out magnificent schemes of kindness after the manner of Mr. Childs; andjnot all selfish, hardened men —thank God! —can act the cruel part of Mr. Adams. Yet there are gradations of Christian courtesy and of grinding tyranny—ladders by which every employer may go up or down, climbing heavenward or descending toward the depths. The latter sort are crowded with those who dedicate their mastership solely to Mammon. It is on the ascending rounds we find the men who are most eager to plan vacations, or at least, occasional holidays, for all in their employ.— Hearth and Home.