THE DUTIES 
 
 EMPLOYEES AND EMPLOYED, 
 
 
 PRINCIPALS 
 
 CLERKS OR APPRENTICES. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 J. S. REDFIELD, CLINTON HALL, 
 
 1849 . 
 
THE 
 
 DUTIES OF EMPLOYERS AND THE EMPLOYED. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Importance of Mutual Confidence in the relation of Employers and their 
 Clerks or Apprentices—Defective Views of the Duties pertaining to 
 this Relation. 
 
 The well-being of every community depends essen¬ 
 tially on a spirit of mutual confidence, and of friendship, 
 sincerely cherished hy the different classes of persons 
 who compose it. In saying this, we have only stated a 
 general law which shines by its own light. And when 
 we consider that the men who now occupy the various 
 posts of business within the realm of commerce or me¬ 
 chanic art, and those youth whom they are training up 
 to take their places, or to make new ones for themselves, 
 constitute the very life and strength of the commonwealth, 
 we can not hut see how desirable, and how necessary it 
 is, that the relation between them should be one of amity 
 and kindness ; that while, on the one hand, the clerk and 
 the apprentice should he benefited by the wisdom and 
 skill of the employer, that, on the other hand, he should 
 find in them those qualities of aptness, diligence, and 
 fidelity, which will render their services valuable to him. 
 It is only a widespread relationship of this sort that can 
 lay a solid basis for social order and permanent prosper¬ 
 ity. If, on the part of the employer, there he indulged 
 a prevailing spirit of rapacity, selfishness, or indifference. 
 
4 DUTIES OP EMPLOYERS AND THE EMPLOYED. 
 
 and on the part of his young men an utter disregard of 
 his interests, or a vengeful sentiment of retaliation, the 
 scenes of business become a school for the education of 
 the worst and meanest passions; a miserable place of 
 preparation for the duties of the present life, and still 
 less adapted to prepare one for the allotments of “ the 
 life to come.” Nevertheless, whosoever will take manly 
 views of both the present and the future, resolving at 
 the outset to render this relation friendly, parental, con¬ 
 fidential, giving scope to generous feelings and to Chris¬ 
 tian aims, will find, in the peculiar duties which pertain 
 to it, deep springs of mental satisfaction and delight. 
 
 But the question arises, what are these duties 1 what 
 is their extent 1 There are many who have never con¬ 
 sidered them at all; many who deny their obligation. 
 “ I know of no peculiar duties that I owe to a clerk or 
 apprentice,” once said an employer who was all en¬ 
 grossed with the pursuits of business; “ they come to 
 me in order to earn a livelihood, and as long as they be¬ 
 have well, I treat them civilly, as I would all others with 
 whom I have anything to do.” But could he thus easily 
 discard all the moral obligations arising from his par¬ 
 ticular connexion with them ? Would his Maker and 
 Judge ratify such a disclaimer as that 1 Does not every 
 new relationship into which we enter give rise to some 
 new, specific duty, and bring upon us a corresponding 
 responsibility 1 In one of the most instructive parables 
 that was ever uttered, our Savior tells us of two men, 
 professedly religious, who, travelling from Jerusalem to 
 Jericho, saw by the wayside a poor sufferer, who had 
 been attacked and robbed ; as there he lay in his blood, 
 his wounds appealed “ with their dumb mouths” to the 
 heart of humanity: but they looked coolly on the scene, 
 disclaimed all responsibility, and passed on their journey. 
 They had harmed no one, and could gravely say that 
 
DUTIES OF EMPLOYERS AND TIIE EMPLOYED. 5 
 
 they did not feel bound to repair the injuries which oth¬ 
 ers had committed. But did Heaven hold them guilt¬ 
 less 1 The very fact that they were brought nigh a 
 fellow-man whose necessities made him dependent on 
 them for special aids which they had the power to con¬ 
 fer, rendered him in a legal sense their neighbor, because 
 it brought him within the scope of that command of 
 God which bids us “ love our neighbor as ourselves,” or, 
 in other words, to make his happiness our own. The 
 picture which our Lord has drawn to illustrate the spirit 
 of that precept, presents a touching case of bodily suf¬ 
 fering ; yet, are there not moral needs, wants of the 
 mind and heart, as urgent as any that are felt by flesh 
 and sense 1 Are there not wounds of the spirit to be 
 healed 1 Are there not those around you whose de¬ 
 pendent and exposed condition pleads for them that you 
 would pour in upon their souls “ the oil and wine” of 
 kindness, counsel, and a healthful moral influence 1 If 
 it be a binding duty on us to “do good unto all men as 
 we have opportunity,” have not those youth, who are in 
 daily association with their seniors for the purpose of 
 learning to manage the business of life, high claims on 
 their employers for the exercise of sympathy, care, and 
 friendly vigilance, simply because there is no class of 
 human beings, beyond the precincts of one’s own family, 
 who furnish so many opportunities of conferring needed 
 benefits ? 
 
 Inquiries like these, when fairly set in the light of 
 Christian principles, admit only of an affirmative answer. 
 Let us proceed, then, to consider the moral duties which 
 belong to the relation of the employer and the employed, 
 and, first, the duties which devolve on the employer. 
 
 1* 
 
III. Duty of Employers to famish "to the Young under their care those 
 Moral Aids which may strengthen them to cope with surrounding Temp¬ 
 tations.—Influence of trivial Events on their Destiny.—Their need of 
 (1) a Sabbath—Teachings of Nature. Revelation, and Experience, on 
 this Subject—(2) Personal Influence exerted by means of Friendly In- 
 
 flgious Culture. ^ * 
 
 I. Primarily, it becomes all those who have youth 
 under their care for purposes of business, to allow them 
 every practicable advantage which they may need, in 
 order to acquire an adequate Knowledge of their calling. 
 As a public teacher of youth, when his scholars are 
 about to pass an examination in the school-room or the 
 counting-room, feels a deep concern that they should be 
 well qualified in the branches which have engaged their 
 attention, so every man of business should cherish the 
 desire that those young men who go forth from his estab¬ 
 lishment should have a competent knowledge of their 
 profession. Indeed, the word “apprentice” originally 
 meant a scholar, being derived from the French verb 
 apprendre —to learn; and although the word university 
 is now confined to an institution of science and litera¬ 
 ture, in old times it was the name given to an incorpo¬ 
 rated body of business-men; so that they used to speak of 
 “the university of smiths,” “the university of clothiers,” 
 and would also apply the word to other combinations. 
 
DUTIES 
 
 EMPLOYERS. 
 
 And certainly, he who considers the welfare of his coun¬ 
 try, will see it to be as important that the young men 
 who graduate from farms, shops, and counting-rooms, 
 should he qualified for tlieir pursuits, as that those who 
 graduate at a college should know as much as their di¬ 
 plomas certify. If all the institutions of learning in the 
 land should turn out poor scholars, no one, in particular, 
 might take any blame to himself; yet, what an amount 
 of calamity and dishonor would this course hiing upon 
 the nation ! How difficult would it become to find men 
 qualified for the bench and the bar, the medical chair, 
 the sick-room, or the pulpit! Nor less would our na¬ 
 tional character suffer, if “the universities of trades” 
 should send forth young men deficient in elementary 
 knowledge. So important was this matter deemed in 
 France, so long ago as the last century, that there proper 
 officers were appointed to examine a young man ere he 
 Was allowed to set up in business as an educated ap¬ 
 prentice ; and if he were engaged in any department of 
 the arts, he was required to bring before them a fail- 
 specimen of his work. If he succeeded, he was called 
 an aspirant, or a candidate for mastership. This ar¬ 
 rangement had a powerful influence in elevating profes¬ 
 sional character in all branches of business, and thus, in 
 promoting the national interests. Although, in this coun¬ 
 try, the government could not carry such a plan as this 
 into effect, yet the great end which it aimed at is as im¬ 
 portant here as elsewhere; the attainment of it, how¬ 
 ever, must be left to that public opinion which gives law 
 
 to custom. Evidently, therefore, a patriotic spirit_a 
 
 regard to the common welfare, as well as a sense of duty 
 to God, and of justice to the inexperienced youth- 
 should urge every head of an establishment to See to it 
 that all who are under his care attain that knowledge of 
 them duties which will qualify them to “teach other? 
 
DUTIES 
 
 also,” to sustain well their position as members of soci¬ 
 ety, and to honor that calling to which they devote their 
 
 Obvious facts give moral force to these considerations. 
 Too often have we seen that the young man who enters 
 upon the arena of business without an efficient prepara¬ 
 tion, has been, on that account, pressed with responsibil¬ 
 ities which he could not bear—surrounded with difficul¬ 
 ties with which he had not power to cope ; and then, 
 when disaster had long tracked his steps, and utter fail¬ 
 ure had disheartened him, he has sought relief from 
 trouble in the winecup—has formed habits of dissipa¬ 
 tion whose chains he could not break, and has sunk 
 down, helpless and hopeless, “a dead weight” upon the 
 community. 
 
 II. But besides imparting to young men that kind of 
 education which consists in knowledge and skill, it be¬ 
 comes those who are masters in business, by both pre¬ 
 cept and example, to train up all who are under their 
 care to honorable habits of business. 
 
 I use the term “ honorable” in a sense that befits the 
 lips of a Christian, as opposed to everything dishonest, 
 mean, and deceitful. It is said that “ there is honor 
 among thievesand he who admits no higher standard 
 of honor than the prevailing social law, may sometimes 
 place the stamp of honor on infamy itself. But in a 
 truly civilized and Christian community, no one can ha¬ 
 bitually violate the law of equity, can direct his depend¬ 
 ants to tell lies for a profit, or pursue a course of dealing 
 which requires him to creep like a serpent, instead of 
 moving erect like a man, without destroying his self- 
 respect, making an enemy of his own conscience, nor 
 without feeling some disgust for a pursuit whose gains 
 must be gotten by so enormous a sacrifice. Dishonesty 
 
OUTIF.S OF EMPLOYERS. 9 
 
 is dishonor; and far better would it be that commerce 
 should languish, or be managed on the narrow scale of 
 the patriarchal ages, than that the moral sense, the honor, 
 the integrity of the nation, should be laid as a whole 
 burnt-offering on its shrine. 
 
 But this is not necessary. Commerce is a want of 
 society, and may be conducted on honorable principles. 
 Were it otherwise, were it true, as some have thought, 
 that “every trade must have its tricks,” and that the 
 moral law of veracity, though excellent in theory, can 
 not be applied in practice, what would this prove, but 
 that all commercial business is contrary to nature, and a 
 conspiracy against the government of God 1 Let him 
 who speaks in this way establish his proposition, and 
 what has he done, but shown that all the arrangements 
 of mercantile life are at war with public virtue, with the 
 ingenuous character of youth, with our national welfare, 
 as well as the laws of Heaven, and that it is the duty of 
 every friend of religion and humanity, of the mother who 
 breathes her gentle teachings in the nursery to the boy 
 whose moral health she values more than life, and of the 
 minister in the sanctuary who commends to the divine 
 keeping the interests of his country, to pray that the 
 Almighty would blast the whole system by the thunders 
 of his power, rather than to ask that he would foster our 
 commerce by his providential care 1 What has he done, 
 but given reason to expect the working out of such a 
 ruin under the government of a Being who “ hateth ini¬ 
 quity,” who “ taketh up the isles as a very little thing,” 
 to whom “ the nations are hut as the small dust of the 
 balance,” and who will not much regard the number of 
 our ships which whiten every sea, or the strength of our 
 lofty storehouses which beautify our cities, or the grandeur 
 of our merchants’ palaces, adorned with unjust gains, but 
 will lay them all under the ban of his wrath when “the 
 
10 
 
 DOTIES 
 
 EMPLOYERS, 
 
 day of visitation” cometb, in the exercise of the same 
 high sovereignty as was expressed in the doom pro¬ 
 nounced against Jerusalem — “Take away, her battle¬ 
 ments, for they are not the Lord’s.” 
 
 We affirm again our belief that falsehood is not neces¬ 
 sary in the business of life; and, being friends of com¬ 
 merce, would assert its moral dignity as the great agent 
 in the civilization of the world and the progress of soci¬ 
 ety. One great reason why a departure from integrity 
 has seemed, in' the view of many, to be so necessary and 
 so politic, and why the avowal of it has become so much 
 more popular in our time than it was formerly, is, that 
 there has been more deeply cherished a ruling passion 
 for the quick acquisition of fortune, and for a certain 
 extravagant style of life. It is tine, human nature has 
 not changed; but the boundless realm of speculation, 
 which was opened in this country some few years ago, 
 has nourished this passion to strange excess. And when 
 passion rales, the mind is blind; for no more than the 
 bat can it see things truly by daylight. While under its 
 spell, moral considerations are not treated as realities, 
 and the soul becomes reckless of the means by which 
 the end is gained. There is a dimness of moral percep¬ 
 tion ; the sensibility to evil is blunted. Even now, we 
 are not affected by deviations from honorable dealing as 
 our fathers would have been; crimes which would have 
 shocked them profoundly, scarcely raffle the surface of 
 our self-complacency. If a man only get a fortune, no 
 matter how—too often his success is his defence; its 
 glitter hides the odiousness of the means. He who steals 
 a dollar is charged with larceny, and is called a criminal; 
 he who, by an ingenious process, abstracts thousands from 
 an insurance company or a mercantile firm, is called by 
 the softer name of “ a defaulter,” and commands respect 
 in some sort, according to the boldness of his operation. 
 
DUTIES OF EMPLOYERS, 11 
 
 The love of party triumph invented the saying, “All’s 
 fair in politics and if the phrase, “All’s fair in trade,” 
 is not uttered as a popular maxim, a large class of facts 
 might be cited to show that by many it has been practi¬ 
 cally adopted. Deception in small things is connived at, 
 until, at last, utter recklessness becomes the disease of a 
 community. To what ultimate results these things have 
 tended, and would have reached had they been left un- 
 arrested by the hand of Providence, we can easily guess, 
 when we remember that several leading statesmen have 
 boldly advocated the policy of repudiating debts which 
 it is not convenient to pay, have seen themselves sus¬ 
 tained by large parties in the states where they live, and 
 have thus turned the eyes of foreign nations away from 
 the misfortunes of our land, to behold with astonishment 
 the vast extent to which there has obtained a dereliction 
 from principle. 
 
 One of the imperative duties, therefore, which men of 
 business owe to the youth around them, is, to cherish in 
 their breasts a manly sentiment in favor of honorable 
 dealing. Let them he “ rooted and grounded” in the 
 truth, that it is no disgrace to become the victims of 
 poverty, to be conquered by misfortunes which could 
 not be foreseen, but that for them, though encouraged 
 by the example of others, to strike out bold schemes of 
 business, and to calculate on bringing matters to a crisis, 
 so as to pay “thirty-three cents on a dollar,” is to act on 
 a principle which not only involves sin and shame, but, 
 in Its issues, brings the judgments of God on the indi¬ 
 vidual, and temporal ruin on the community. Let their 
 integrity be held sacred. Let fair dealing be made a 
 point of honor, and let them be taught that, if men un¬ 
 derstand their profession as merchants, they can manage 
 the business of exchange between the producer and the 
 consumer, with advantage to all, without the help of 
 fraud and chicanery. 
 
12 DOTIES OP EMPLOYERS. 
 
 HI. It is the duty of the employer to furnish to the 
 youth under his care those moral aids which will enable 
 them to cope with the peculiar temptations that beset 
 them. Every young man, especially in a great city, is 
 called to a stem moral conflict with the leagued hosts 
 of evil—a battle which is in constant progress, and in 
 which, now and then, there comes a critical moment 
 whereon his destiny is suspended. A slight incident will 
 sometimes become the turning-point of a history. In 
 The London Illustrated Magazine is a stoiy entitled 
 “ Life behind the Counter,” which was intended to 
 show, hy a vivid picture, how entirely the complexion of 
 a young man’s character was determined by a conversa¬ 
 tion which led him to forego a concert and a supper 
 with a company who were inclined to dissipation, in or¬ 
 der to enjoy a walk and the society of an excellent friend. 
 This representation is true to nature; for often, with 
 some such trivial event, comes that great question of 
 life and death, which, in some way or other, comes to 
 eveiy man—that question which a Greek mythologist 
 would express hy the startling phrase, “ Will you join 
 the dragons or the gods ?” Not a day passes without 
 verifying this statement; for where is the young man 
 who is not obliged to consider invitations, which, if ac¬ 
 cepted, will give a new turn to his thoughts, a new char¬ 
 acter to his company, and affect the whole atmosphere 
 of moral influence which he will afterward inhale 1 
 
 Now, in order that he may safely meet these exigen¬ 
 cies, he needs, as the first and greatest aid which an 
 employer can do somewhat to bestow, a well-spent 
 sabbath. “ The sabbath was made for man” by Him 
 who made man, who understood his constitution and his 
 wants. It is a heritage for all — a birthright which God 
 has given to every one. He has shown his regard to 
 our ■physu al wants in the varied gifts of nature so freely 
 
DUTIES OF EMPLOYERS. 
 
 13 
 
 lavished on us; and the addition of the sabbath to all 
 these, attests his paternal care for the culture of that 
 immortal spirit which is destined to rise from the ruins 
 of the body to a full development of its powers, in a 
 course of eternal progression. He has engraven the 
 sabbath-law, not only on the stone tables of the deca¬ 
 logue, but on the very frame-work of the human race; 
 for, just as, by observing the alternation of day and night, 
 we see that the principle of rest , as well as of action , is 
 a part of the system of the universe, so, by noticing the 
 different effects of the observance or violation of the sab¬ 
 bath on the health, strength, and life, of active men (and 
 indeed of all working animals), we see that the seventh- 
 day rest, as well as the night rest, is a part of this same 
 system. Man, home along by the vigor of his mind, 
 does not show the physical effect of this constant diurnal 
 exertion so soon as the laboring brute, but breaks down 
 at last more suddenly: as is observed particularly by 
 Dr. Combe, in his book on health, where he names 
 several public men, who, acting under the influence of 
 “ ambition, or natural eagerness of mind, have been 
 suddenly arrested in their career by the inordinate ac- 
 ■ tion of the brain, induced by incessant toil.” Yet, al¬ 
 though the voice of nature unites with the voice of rev¬ 
 elation, in the utterance of the command, Remember 
 the sabbath-day, to hallow it,” the chief benefit of the 
 sabbath is not physical, but moral and religious. It is 
 designed as a counterpoise to those mighty influences of 
 every-day life which tend to make, the soul the slave of 
 sense and passion—those influences of which, in their 
 relation to youth, the poet Burns has sung so plaint- 
 
 " Alternate follies take the sway, 
 
 Licentious passions bum: 
 
 This, tenfold force gives Nature’s law, 
 
14 
 
 DUTIES 
 
 
 In order to counteract tliis tendency of the soul to be¬ 
 come the victim of low sensuality, to instruct and quicken 
 the conscience, to cultivate a taste for sober truth, to 
 emancipate and exalt the spiritual nature, a sabbath is 
 needed by mankind ; and the institution accomplishes 
 these ends by its involving the acknowledgment of our 
 relation to the divine Lawgiver, by strengthening a sense 
 of accountability to him, calling off the mind from the 
 visible to the invisible, from the temporal to the eternal, 
 and by turning the attention to those momentous reve¬ 
 lations which he has addressed to us in his holy words. 
 It is a means of improvement which can not be neglected 
 with impunity. As every violated law of nature will 
 avenge itself, so will sabbath-breaking be followed by 
 special penalties; and thousands of instances prove that 
 the very first step in that course of youthful determi¬ 
 nation which ends in the wreck of character and happi¬ 
 ness, has been the desecration of the sabbath. 
 
 Undoubtedly, a calm survey of things in our great 
 cities will convince any one that there is very little dan¬ 
 cer of exaggerating the importance of the sabbath in its 
 relation to young men; for many of those who have 
 deeply fallen, in retracing their history have fixed on 
 certain eras of its course, have been led to confess that 
 some riding or sailing party, some refectory, or bar-roorn, 
 or idle company associated with sabbath-dissipation, 
 marks the sharp turning-point of life’s downward path, 
 and that the retrospect forces them to say with poor 
 Gibbs, who suffered death for crime, “but for the viola¬ 
 tion of the sabbath I might have been a good and happy 
 
 And in view of such a class of facts, may we not fairly 
 appeal to employers with the question, whether it is not 
 probable that some of the young men within the sphere 
 of their influence, will reap from their sabbath-violations 
 
such wretched harvests as these persons bewailed too 
 
 late 1 Any one who has had occasion to pass a sabbath 
 in the vicinity of a large city like New York or Boston, 
 has probably been struck with scenes which must give 
 to this inquiry a painful significance. At Hoboken, or 
 at Chelsea, for instance, during some seasons of the year, 
 what throngs of youth may be seen riding to places of 
 low resort to spend the day in drinking, gaming, and 
 revelry ; and then again, returning to the city under the 
 maddening excitement of their sports and cups, pouring 
 forth profanity in their unseemly conversations and their 
 songs, while their looks, tones, and manners, show that 
 they glory in their recklessness ! Some of them, doubt¬ 
 less, are the sons of rich men, without employment; but 
 most of them are clerks or apprentices, who can ill afford 
 the mere waste of money thus incurred, and who are en- 
 drcling themselves with the most potent temptations to 
 leap over the bounds of honesty, and to take by stealth 
 the means of their demoralizing pleasures. And withal, 
 there is great reason to fear that many of them have 
 passed through the initiating process, and have become 
 lardened in the worst of habits without having felt the 
 rower of one earnest effort on the part of their cnqtloyers 
 :o learn what was actually going on in the shaping of 
 heir destinies, or to win them over to a right moral and 
 ■eligious observance of the sabbath. And surely, seeing 
 hat in all these cases the perverted blessing becomes a 
 :urse, that the medicine misused is turned into a poison, 
 iow carefully should an employer guard against trespas- 
 ing on a young man’s sabbath, or tempting any one tin¬ 
 ier his influence to part with it for love or for money. 
 
 2. Another moral aid, which an employer may confer 
 m a young man, is the expression of a personal interest 
 n his welfare , by means of such friendly suggestions as 
 
16 DUTIES OP EMPLOYERS. 
 
 aims in the pursuits of life. We could easily mention 
 instances where a single word of caution has been at¬ 
 tended with a long train of happy consequences. For, 
 sometimes the power of temptation is unsuspected, and 
 the first yielding to it comes of inadvertence. The de¬ 
 mon hides his cloven foot while smiles wreath his fea¬ 
 tures, and his lips distil honeyed words. Thus it was in 
 the case of an ingenuous and confiding young salesman, 
 who, at the age of twenty-one, was fatally injured by the 
 company he happened to meet at a restaurant. At first 
 he had resorted thither merely to save his time, and the 
 necessity ofalong walk in obtaining his meals. No doubt, 
 his eye had been attracted by the choice birds displayed ! 
 at the door, and by the tasteful arrangement of the show- j 
 window. He had noticed there several times a young ' 
 man somewhat older than himself, who, one day address- ! 
 ed him by inviting him to enjoy a very fine cigar, front a 1 
 box imported by a friend. The invitation was accepted. 
 Next followed a proposal to step into an adjoining bil¬ 
 liard-room where several were engaged in playing for 
 money. “ Let’s watch the progress of the game,” said 
 his new acquaintance. Having assented to this, inafew < 
 moments he became deeply interested. Ere long, he l 
 was asked to try himself, for a small sum. Notwith- ; 
 standing his want of practice, his hand, his eye, and aim, j 
 and steadiness of nerve, were praised. To his own as- ’ 
 tonishment he succeeded ; for there are places where 
 novices are always allowed to succeed in their first j 
 efforts. Then came the soft insinuation, “ It is easy for 
 you to win!” This was a new idea. Its effect was 
 electrical. A new charm invested the terrible amuse¬ 
 ment, and his whole mental energy became absorbed in 
 its pursuit. He soon sought deeper and deeper play; 
 dollar after dollar was won, the routine of his business 
 became tedious and distasteful, and in due time his ex- 
 
DUTIES 
 
 EMPLOYERS. 
 
 17 
 
 perienced and skilful tempter, in one fatal hour, swept 
 from him all he possessed, and left him ruined as to his 
 purse, his peace of mind, and a reputation more precious 
 than gold. What a wreck of character and happiness 
 was this ; and yet it might have been prevented by the 
 timely hint that would have led him to spend in a better 
 place, that noon-day hour when his unguarded feet first 
 trod the path of the Destroyer. 
 
 3d. Another mode, in which an employer may afford 
 moral aid to a young man, is to furnish him incentives to 
 occupy Ms hours of leisure ■usefully, so that by means of 
 hooks and associations for the pursuit of knowledge, he 
 may find scope for his love of excitement. For here, we 
 have named a mighty element of temptation—this love of 
 excitement which glows in every human bosom, which, in 
 its intenser actings, has set one adrift from home to roam 
 the ocean lured by the romance of a sailor’s life, has im¬ 
 pelled another to court hardships in travelling over con¬ 
 tinents and mingling with foreign nations, has led a third 
 to abandon the retreat of quiet affluence in order to em¬ 
 bark his capital in commercial enterprise, which was in 
 an ancient age the soul of war, of chivalry and crusades, 
 and is now the spring of that activity which is turning 
 the western forest into a garden, peopling the golden 
 soil of California with northern youth, and disturbing the 
 haunts of the savage with the whiz of the steam-car or 
 the hum of the factory. Now he who is at the head of 
 an establishment in business, finds scope and play for 
 this love of excitement in managing his affairs, in grap¬ 
 pling with difficulties, and in his forecast for the future. 
 In this, however, the clerk or the apprentice does not 
 participate. He goes through the routine of his duties, 
 perhaps becomes jaded with them for want of a genial 
 interest, and then where shall he find the mental excite¬ 
 ment which he craves! It is this desire which layB his 
 
18 DUTIES OF EMPLOYEES. 
 
 soul open to the worst of snares. One fact stated in a 
 public document speaks volumes on this subject, li 
 was in evidence before the Grand Jury in Boston, soma 
 time ago, that one of the city police officers on a Satur¬ 
 day night in November, during a walk of less than a 
 mile in extent, passed more than one hundred persons, 
 mostly young men, in a state of partial or entire intoxi¬ 
 cation ! Had these all fallen on a Mexican battle-field, 
 the whole country would have mounted their loss. Had 
 their corpses been brought home for burial, the city | 
 would have been clad in funeral drapery, and the sad I 
 array would have awakened in every breast those deep ( 
 emotions which no words, or plaintive music, or outward ; 
 signs of grief, could adequately express. Yet here were 
 the evidences of a more tremendous ruin, exciting in the 
 hearts of mothers and sisters a keener sorrow which no 
 voice of public sympathy could sooth, and calling forth 
 tears the more bitter because they were shed only in 
 silent solitude. 
 
 The commencement of suen a career is easy—the re¬ 
 turn difficult, though not impossible. Oh, for the pre¬ 
 vention—the prevention ! This is worth more than the 
 cure. And what is this 1 It is to guard against the first 
 steps. It is to surround the young mind with counteract¬ 
 ing influences and good associations. It is to have an 
 eye and a heart for the welfare of those under your care 
 when they are away from you, instead of verifying the 
 proverb “ out of sight, out of mind.” It is to appeal to 
 them by all the power of personal address and by all the 
 worth of your friendship. It is to arouse in them a de¬ 
 sire for self-improvement—a preference for those as¬ 
 sociations of which mental culture is the object; to 
 quicken within them the love ofknowledge, and,by encour¬ 
 aging their hopes of success in business, to stimulate their 
 minds with an excitement like that which imparts to your 
 
5 own a degree of tone and .energy. If in tne city, they 
 : are at a distance from their early homes, it is to find a 
 ; p] ace for them as much like a home as possible, and not 
 leave them to form their first acquaintanceships amidst 
 the chance-company of a boarding-house, of whichneither 
 ; knows the character. It is to open to them the path to 
 . such society as will meet the demands of their social na¬ 
 ture, from its adaptation to both please and profit them ; 
 for it has often happened that a young man’s acquaint¬ 
 anceship with a single family has become the great con¬ 
 servative power of his character, the guiding star in his 
 moral firmament, shedding its benignant rays over that 
 trackless deep on which he has been tossed in succeeding 
 
 Above all, it is imperatively necessary to favor every 
 influence which shall tend to build up character on the 
 foundation of religious principle. This is a solid and en- 
 , during basis. “ The fear of’ the Lord is the beginning 
 of wisdom.” Without this source of strength, there can 
 he hut slight grounds of trust that any human character 
 will withstand the assaults of temptation. Intellectual 
 culture and good social influences may do much to form 
 correct tastes, and sound morals ; but there are trials 
 wherein the soul needs stronger defences than these can 
 furnish — trials, in which those maxims, resolutions, and 
 habits, which sufficed in ordinary times, become like bat¬ 
 tlements of wood before a spreading flame. It is only 
 character, with whose interior elements religious princi¬ 
 ple is so thoroughly incorporated as to form a part of its 
 very substance, that can come forth from the fires of 
 temptation, like golden ore from the furnace, purified 
 from dross and increased in value. 
 
 It is not likely that these pages will fall into the hands 
 of any employer, who would not be glad, if he had the 
 opportunity, to put forth an effort in behalf of any one 
 
20 DUTIES OF EMPLOYERS. 
 
 of his young men, in order to save a large earthly fortune 
 from threatened ruin. But how much greater will b e 
 the joy in the retrospect of life, of having aided effectu¬ 
 ally to secure to them a treasure which no thief can steal, 
 no calamity destroy, lasting as eternity and more precious 
 than a thousand worlds. 
 
DUTIES 
 
 21 
 
 PART II. 
 
 Value to be attached to tile Period of Clerkship or Apprenticeship.—I. Duty 
 of the Young Man to consider well the true Object of the Relation which he 
 holds to his Employer.—Connexion between the daily Routine of his Em¬ 
 ployments and fixed Habits, between Habits and Shill, between Skill and 
 Success— II. Duty of the Young Man to conform himself to the minutest 
 Regulation of his Employer's Establishment.—Influence of this oil tile Em¬ 
 ployer, and its Reaction outlie Young Manliimsclf. The Exceptions to this 
 Rule, viz.. Cases of Moral Wrong—Duty of the Young Man ill Regard to 
 them—III. Duty of Young Men to use Diligently the Moans of Self-Im¬ 
 provement—(1) Economy of Time. —Value of Fragments worked into a 
 System—(2) Right Use of Mosey— Purchase of Books.—(3) Right Use 
 of the Sabbath.—IV. Duty of the Young Man to exercise Forethought in 
 the Choice of Confidential Friends—Conclusion. 
 
 Having called tlie attention of employers to some of 
 those imperative duties which relate to the young men 
 under their care, we would now address a few consider¬ 
 ations to those young men themselves, who have entered 
 into the relations which they hold to their employers in 
 order to become prepared for their chosen pur-suits. 
 These have reached the most critical period of life. 
 There is an obvious reason why the season of clerkship 
 or apprenticeship should be so regarded. It belongs to 
 the portion of time devoted to preparation for the duties 
 and cares of a profession, for the toils and the struggles 
 by which each is to work out the problem that involves 
 his own failure or success; and of that preparation it is 
 the closing jferiod. If in earlier days much time has 
 been lost, there is yet some chance for redeeming it; if 
 mistakes Iiave been made they may now in a great de¬ 
 gree he rectified. We have sometimes seen that those 
 
22 DUTIES OP THE EMPLOYED. 
 
 who have been negligent of study while at school, and 
 even indolent in their habits, have been transformed into 
 all that was active and promising when called to live and 
 move amidst the stirring scenes of business. A sense of 
 necessity sharpened their faculties; then, a conscious- 
 ness of power stimulated them to exertion, and at last, a 
 real delight in their work became a spring of constant and 
 successful activity. But if this probation be passed 
 without due improvement, if a young man fail to gain a 
 thorough knowledge of his calling, if by yielding to 
 temptation he dissipates his time and money, and thus 
 forms habits adverse to a life of business, it is almost im¬ 
 possible to retrieve the evil; he starts on the career of 
 manhood quite unfitted for the race, moves ever with a 
 faltering or a tardy step, and, in the end, falls short of the 
 goal that shone before him when “ distance lent enchant¬ 
 ment to the view.” 
 
 1. The first important duty, with which a young per¬ 
 son should charge himself on entering the establishment 
 of his employer, is to fix his attention on the true object 
 of ike relation which has then begun to exist. Many 
 have become awake to it just when it was too late for 
 their minds to feel its exerting influence, and only in time 
 to regret that they had not seen it before. As many a 
 student, when about to bid farewell to the university, has 
 expressed his astonishment that four years of his life had 
 flown so rapidly away, and also the wish that he could 
 roll back the wheels of time, and pass over the course 
 again with a true sense of the great end and aim before 
 him, so, many a young man of business, as he stepped 
 forth from beneath the roof of protection and guardian¬ 
 ship to “ set up for himself,” to take his place on the area 
 of competition where he would have to cope with the 
 strong and the experienced, has felt for the first time the 
 
DUTIES 
 
 23 
 
 responsibility of his position, and has seen the worth of that 
 preparatory training which alone could qualify him to 
 grapple with the difficulties, to break the snares, and es¬ 
 cape the perils that beset him. Let him, therefore, early 
 apprehend the truth that apprenticeship is no mere for¬ 
 mality, that its design is not merely to teach the theory 
 of a business, or to show him the things to be done, or 
 how to do them, but to endow him with that power which 
 comes from a iiaiiit of doing them. The “ second na¬ 
 ture” formed by habit must be one secret of his success. 
 From this come aptness and skill. When you observe 
 an attendant in a store wrapping a piece of goods with 
 neatness and despatch, it seems easily done; yet even that 
 could not be well imitated by an untutored hand without 
 repeated trials. It is not enough to see another do it; 
 there must be the training of practice. It is so in every 
 thing that may be called professional. Whether you 
 look upon the sailor who seems to feel as much at home 
 upon the “ high and giddy mast ” as does a bird upon the 
 bough, or the musician who sweeps all the chords of his 
 instrument as with a magic touch, and without the ap¬ 
 pearance of an effort, or the officer of the Bank who 
 counts vast sums of money with electrical rapidity and 
 with the. coolest confidence, or the accountant whose 
 j books display the mazes of a complicated business with 
 ; a beautiful regularity that gives his work the aspect of 
 I an amusement more than of a task, reflection teaches you 
 that nothing of this could. be accomplished without a 
 close attention and a long practice which have educated 
 the mind to quickness, and every muscle and nerve to 
 obedience. But then the acquisition is worth the cost. 
 To be a thorough master of one’s business adds im¬ 
 mensely to his enjoyment and usefulness in life. At the 
 outset, therefore, of an engagement with an employer, it 
 is well to be resolved on wa tching against every tempta- 
 
24 DUTIES OP THE EMPLOYED. 
 
 tion to form lax and careless habits, to he a loiterer to 
 do things out of their proper time, or to yield to those 
 amusements which check the growth of an energetic in- 
 • terest in your chosen employment. Adopt the maxim 
 of Paul, “ not slothful in businesseven though to cany 
 it out, may require self-denial and discipline. It will 
 lead to success; for “ seest thou a man diligent in his 
 business 1 He shall not stand before mean men; he 
 shall stand before kings and not be ashamed.” 
 
 II. In subordination to this rule, is another still more 
 particular, the adoption of which has been productive of 
 good effects : this is, conform yourself to all the regula¬ 
 tions of the establishment. It was a wise saying of the 
 old Persians, that no man is fit to command who has not 
 learned to obey. The discipline of their public schools, 
 as exhibited by Xenophon, was very minute, and con¬ 
 formity to laws apparently trivial was deemed important 
 as testing and developing character. Every commercial 
 establishment, especially if it be large, is like a well- 
 managed ship, under a necessity of being governed by 
 some specific rules ; and conformity to them is rightfully 
 expected. Even if the rules relate to small matters, 
 their observance is important in this connexion ; for the 
 benefit of strictness is twofold, affecting both the mind 
 of the employer and your own. Evidently, it gains his 
 confidence for you, and places his mind more at ease in 
 regard to the course of his affairs when he is absent from 
 home. This feeling is to him of great value, and is pro¬ 
 duced in his bosom as much by a strict conformity to his 
 wishes in little things as in the management of great 
 transactions. Once, a merchant of New York, while 
 travelling in the distant West, was heard to say that he 
 was free from all anxiety about the business that he had 
 left behind him, on account of his entire confidence in 
 
liis head-clerk, who, though at that time quite a youth, 
 let nothing within his province escape his attention. 
 Surely, the mental quiet which such a confidence pro¬ 
 duces, is worth to any man no ordinary price. 
 
 Moreover, this habit of strict conformity to an em¬ 
 ployer’s wishes in the smallest matters reacts favorably 
 on one’s own character; for surely, he is best qualified 
 to take care of his own interests who has learned to look 
 well after those which another man has committed to 
 him. He who has been careful of bis employer’s property, 
 is thereby fitted to husband property for himself, and be 
 who gains a reputation for strict fidelity will lay up a 
 good store “ against the time to come.” 
 
 But are there no cases to which these remarks do not 
 apply 1 Undoubtedly, where the rules themselves are 
 founded in wrong, and are the mere instruments of fraud 
 and chicanery ; where they contravene the command of 
 God which is the Law of laws, conformity would insure 
 the forfeiture of his blessing and of your own mental 
 peace. If the business itself which is proposed to you 
 be a bane to society, “ touch it not, handle it not.” If 
 it be good in itself, but be conducted by rules which 
 strike at the root of public virtue and fair dealing, yield 
 not up to the moral chains and slavery which they impose, 
 for the iron thereof will enter into thy own soul. The 
 bondage which hampers only the body while it leaves 
 the spirit free and serene, is more tolerable than that 
 which forces a man to act contrary to his convictions of 
 right, robs him of his self-respect, turns conscience into 
 a foe, jeopards his salvation, and arrays against him 
 the workings of an overruling Providence. A man may 
 bear with the frown of his fellow, with the loss of a place, 
 but these other evils are still more terrible and may be 
 eternal. The pains of the flesh are, on the whole, short¬ 
 lived ; those of “ the inner man” are immortal as the 
 3 
 
26 DUTTES OF THE EMPLOYED. 
 
 soul itself. As saith the scripture, “ The spirit of a man 
 may sustain his infirmity, hut a wounded spirit who can 
 hear V’ 
 
 We can easily imagine, however, that some may re¬ 
 ply, all this is true ; it is very proper that such things 
 should be said and written by moral teachers ; but we 
 are the victims of a corrupting system from which the 
 way of extrication is not easy or obvious; we did not 
 originate it, hut find ourselves encircled within the ample 
 folds of this mighty net-work, “ like the fish of the sea 
 made to be snared and taken.” If there were but few 
 whose demands are at war with our consciences, wo 
 could quickly get relief; hut now, the alternative before 
 us is that we do wrong or starve. Change the system, 
 break down prevailing customs, and then we, one by one, 
 can carry out our resolutions. 
 
 But is it so ? Must you sacrifice integrity for bread 1 
 Must you, in fact, cheat or beg 1 Must you do those 
 things in trade from which the Turk, guided only by his 
 koran, recoils with indignation 1 And do you yield to 
 the evil from a feeling of necessity, make that your 
 apology, and thus, drug your conscience with opiates 
 lest you writhe under its sting 1 If it be so, your case is 
 hard, very hard ; and, in some respects, more deplorable 
 than that of those whose bodies were the victims of Al¬ 
 gerine captivity. But what is to be done ? First, we 
 must say in answer to this question, that if the circum¬ 
 stances of your probation are made so severe by the cor¬ 
 rupted principles of trade, the thing to be done is, not to 
 wait for the alteration of the system, but to strengthen 
 in your heart the principle of resistance. Rise superior 
 to the system. Such a moral heroism is not quixotic. 
 Many have put it forth in practice, and have mumphed. 
 We have known young men who have refused to change 
 invoices, or make false entries, or say that an article cost 
 
DUTIES OP THE EMPLOYED. 27 
 
 more than it did, or engage in any kind of false dealing, 
 who have seemed to risk everything, but in fact, have 
 at last gained everything. The trial may be severe but 
 the triumph will be the greater. Therefore, “ to your¬ 
 self he true,” “ have faith in God,” for mighty is the truth 
 and will prevail. 
 
 Then again, observe, in regard to the great system of 
 trade, if the majority, or a largo proportion of the youth 
 of this country were imbued with such a morally heroic 
 spirit as would strengthen them to take a just position in 
 favor of honorable dealing, trade would be relieved from 
 the stigma cast upon it, because the system would thus 
 become conformed to the law of rectitude. If the prin¬ 
 ciples of truth and justice wore impressed effectually on 
 one generation by the teachings of the family, the public 
 school, the sabbath school, the sanctuary, and by indi¬ 
 vidual examples, our national character would be bright¬ 
 ened, the snares of business would be removed, the realm 
 of trade would not be so thickly-set with traps for con¬ 
 sciences, and succeeding generations would start forth 
 on their career with greater advantages. 
 
 Let not. the young clerk or apprentice, therefore, suc¬ 
 cumb to wrong, saying in a desponding tono, “ I have no 
 influence; I must submit and bide my time.” Carryout 
 into action your knowledge of the right, and you may 
 have more power than you suppose. The Almighty 
 Ruler of the universe will prove himself the patron of 
 virtue, and will be your helper. Take his word for your 
 guide. Let the principles laid down in the book of Prov¬ 
 erbs form your rules. Then, if constrained to differ 
 from your seniors, let it be seen by your prompt atten¬ 
 tion to every duty, and by the courteousness of your man¬ 
 ners, and by your generous efforts to please them, that 
 you are governed by no mere whim, by no element of 
 fanaticism, but by the dictates of reason, of conscience, 
 
and of Christianity. Surely, in this way, you will not 
 only-win respect, hut will find all the ministries of Heav¬ 
 en, and all the workings of Providence, to he on your 
 side. As the voice of a child has been the occasion of 
 a reform in a family when all higher teachings had beer 
 in vain, so a young man who maintains his integrity atnidsl 
 corrupting scenes of business, may put forth an influ 
 ence more far-reaching than his voice, penetrating as 
 light, and purifying as a hidden fire. 
 
 III. A third observation which suggests itself in this 
 connexion relates to the duty of self-improvement. Be 
 firmly resolved to cultivate your intellectual and moral 
 nature. In carrying out such a resolution three things 
 demand special care. (1) The first is a good economy 
 of those hours which may be at your own disposal, 
 probably there is many a young man to whom the thought 
 will occur when this subject is mentioned, that he has so 
 little time at his command, any purposes which he may 
 form respecting it would not amount to much. A et cer¬ 
 tain it is that he who knows not the value of a little time 
 so as to make it tell on some result, would squander 
 much if he had it in his power to do so. Time is money, 
 says Franklin ; and surely, as he who throws away cents 
 will waste dollars, so, he who is careless of minutes will 
 waste hours. “ Young gentlemen,” once said Prof. An- 
 thon to a class of freshmen, “ I doubt not you will all 
 make good scholars, if no one of you will imagine that 
 ten minutes is too small a fragment of time to use profit¬ 
 ably in study.” A great deal may sometimes be done in 
 ten minutes. Attention to a remark like that has made 
 the fortune of many a.student. For want of sober cal¬ 
 culation on this point many useful things which might be 
 done are never attempted. To illustrate this, observe 
 the following conversation which, in substance, took 
 
place between a young clerk and liis old teacher in the 
 Sunday school. 
 
 Teacher. —Some time ago you mentioned to me that 
 you had no doubt that the acquisition of the French and 
 Spanish languages would he of groat service to you in 
 the course of your business. Have you yet undertaken 
 to learn either of them 1 
 
 Cleric. —No sir; I have been discouraged by the want 
 of time. 
 
 T. —Why, have you not a single hour out of the twenty- 
 four at your command for any study ? 
 
 C. —Yes, I could get that, but it would be a slow work 
 to acquire a language in that way. 
 
 T. —Suppose that you had nothing to do for the next 
 
 C. —Immediately. 
 
 T. —Probably, in your active business life, there never 
 will come a year when you will have more than two 
 months’ vacation. And if you had, it would not be for 
 the health of your body or mind to devote more than five 
 unbroken hours every day to close study. If, however, 
 you should do that, you might make great proficiency in 
 the acquisition of a language within the period we have 
 mentioned. 
 
 C.— True ; I have no doubt of it. 
 
 T. —Shall I tell you how to gain that time this year? 
 
 C. —I should be glad to know. 
 
 T. —Well—begin and persevere in using your one 
 hour a day. Five hours’ study per day for two months 
 (leaving out Sundays) would make about 265 hours. 
 But one hour’s study per day for a year (leaving out 
 Sundays) would be 313 hours, so that you have at com¬ 
 mand more than two months of study the present year. 
 And one hour a day, for a year well employed, would 
 enable you to accomplish more in the study of a modern 
 
30 DUTIES OF THE EMPLOYED. 
 
 language for purposes of business than the whole of that 
 
 We believe this view of the case to be just. And how 
 obvious is it that this remark applies not only to the 
 study of a language, but to the study of political economy, 
 or of history, or of the Bible, or of any other subject: 
 and how applicable are the words of the poet, who says, 
 '■ The shortest space which we so liditiy prize 
 let it but slide into the eternal main, 
 
 (2.) Connected with the right use of time is the tight 
 use of money. “ He who is faithful in the least is faith¬ 
 ful also in that which is much and he who has learned 
 how to spend -well his pocket-money while young, is pre¬ 
 paring to appropriate large sums prudently in maturer 
 years. The habit of spending immense sums uselessly 
 in manhood comes of spending small sums worse than 
 uselessly in early life. 
 
 It was a good suggestion which was once made by a 
 clergyman to a young married couple when they were 
 about to commence housekeeping, to procure a neat 
 book-case, and to fill it only as they might have oppor¬ 
 tunity to procure such select works as they need. It 
 stood a long time in its place before it was well stored, 
 but it was an object of interest to both of them to devote 
 what money they could spare in order to supply its empty 
 shelves, and when at last they saw it filled with volumes, 
 most of which they had read together, they would not 
 have parted with them for twice their cost. How much 
 more satisfactory were such mementoes of money spent, 
 than an account-hook filled with the memoranda of the 
 same amount dissipated in trifling amusements, like pre¬ 
 cious seed scattered on arid sands to perish fruitlessly. 
 The suggestion here referred to is as applicable to a 
 
31 
 
 young man wlio has a room to himself, as to those who 
 are heads of families. 
 
 (3.) Connected with the right employment of time and 
 money as means of self-improvement, is the faithful use of 
 the sabbath. In the conversation which we have cited, 
 between the old teacher and the young clerk respecting the 
 worth of an hour per day throughout the year, for pur¬ 
 poses of study, the sabbaths were properly left out of 
 the calculation because these are appropriated by the 
 Author of our being to the care of our spiritual interests. 
 Fifty-two sabbaths a year is the birthright of every man 
 of which he may not lawfully be deprived, and which no 
 one may sell for a mess of pottage. Whatever might be 
 the price in such a traffic, it would, at last, seem mean 
 enough compared with the value sacrificed. If your 
 sabbath be habitually mispent, every good principle of 
 your character will be weakened. When I think of a 
 man posting books, all enwrapped in business on this 
 sacred day, whose winged hours stealing softly by, seem 
 to invite his thoughts to the infinite and the eternal, I 
 imagine that I hear the angel of destiny proclaim, “ He 
 is joined to his idols, let him alone.” With equal power 
 does this solemn sentence arouse my fears when I ob¬ 
 serve a young man yielding to the temptation which en¬ 
 tices him to take the sabbath for rides, and sports, and 
 sensual recreations ; as if the Divine provisions for his 
 moral good were superfluous, as if indeed he had no soul 
 to save. In this way his spiritual energies are destroyed. 
 Yet, true it is, that every sabbath renews, in some form, 
 the tempLations described in the early part of our Savior’s 
 history. When the sabbatli-bell calls man to “ worship 
 the Lord our God, and him only to serve,” then the evil 
 one holds forth the baits of sensual pleasure, saying, 
 “ these will I give thee if thou will fall down and worship 
 me.” But to accept these terms is to make a wretched 
 
32 DUTIES OP THE EMPLOYED. 
 
 bargain. These rosy blooming pleasures soon sliecl their 
 fragrance. By these “man can not live.” A good plan 
 of spending the sabbath is of inestimable worth, and this, 
 in- every case where it is possible, embraces the engaging 
 a seat in some particular church — a seat which one can 
 call bis own—occupying it regularly, and also some 
 hours set apart for religious reading. He who is faith¬ 
 ful in this, will have reason to adopt a sentiment of Mr. 
 TVilberforce, recorded in his journal: “ I thank God for 
 the institution of the sabbath, and may I so use it as to 
 find that by its means my errors are corrected, my de¬ 
 sires after good quickened, and my whole soul animated 
 in my Christian course.” 
 
 IV. It may not be amiss to add a few words in regard 
 to the choice of friends. You will have need of a friend, 
 one or more, on whom you can rely for sympathy and 
 counsel. “ But a faithful friend, who can find 1” The 
 question implies a difficulty, not an impossibility. An 
 oriental writer has said, “ Be in peace with many, never¬ 
 theless have but one counsellor of a thousand.” Trust 
 not the over-credulous—for his judgment is not good: 
 nor, on the other hand, trust the over-suspicious; for 
 when a man distrusts all others he is unsound at heart. 
 Put not yourself in the power of a covetous person, es¬ 
 pecially if he be an old man ; for there is no kindness in 
 his bosom. And if he be professedly religious, it is very 
 likely that his theoiy of religion makes covetousness a 
 virtue under the name of frugality. Beware of lnm, 
 for he is conscientiously cruel. Beware also of slight¬ 
 ing religion itself on his account, for it would be fool¬ 
 ish to wrong your own soul because you can prove 
 your neighbor a hypocrite. In every engagement with 
 such a one, however, be exact to the letter, and be not 
 satisfied to leave any point with his saying, “I’ll do what 
 
DUTIES 
 
 EMPLOYED. 
 
 is right, about it.” The supreme love of money is a 
 hellish as well as an earthly passion ; it denies the reality 
 of a generous spirit, it mocks at mercy, it confounds all 
 distinction between right and wrong, between justice 
 and oppression. If you would gain true friends your¬ 
 self, you must aim to be worthy of them, for the wise 
 man well said, “ He that hath friends must show himself 
 friendly. 
 
 Friendly reader! I would close these remarks by 
 wishing you success in the business of your life. But 
 why should I breathe such a wish 1 Merely for the enjoy¬ 
 ment which success may confer during the brief period of 
 this your fitful, feverish existence 1 No. That would be 
 too mean an object to fill the heart of a Christian man, 
 ton low to awaken a desire so strong as that with which 
 this wish is uttered. Tt is that, acting in accordance with 
 the principles here suggested, you may nobly fulfil your 
 mission to the world, “ serve well your generation,” your 
 country, and your race — that in all things pleasing 
 Christ, who “ though he was rich, yet for our sakes be¬ 
 came poor that we through his poverty might become 
 rich,” your success on earth may enhance your treasure 
 in heaven. Be sure, first of all, that you dedicate your 
 heart, your faculties, and your property, to his service. 
 Then, when Ho who hath said, “ Occupy till I come,” 
 shall summon you to the reckoning, you will not dread 
 the meeting, but will hail it with a welcome, and hear 
 that approving sentence, which enfolds within itself all 
 eternal blessings, “ Well done, faithful servant: thou 
 hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee 
 ruler, over many things : enter thou into the joy of thy 
 Lord.”