Truthfulness includes honesty, and to be honest means very much more than being above taking money or jewels which belong
to others. To be true and honest in spirit is to have an intelligent care of whatever is put in a worker’s charge and which belongs to her department. It is not honest to let a beautiful damask cloth with a little rent in it go to the laundress without first reporting the rent to the owner of the cloth. It is not honest to let a fine carver rust for lack of attention at the proper time. It is not true that no gas is wasted when a gas stove is left partly turned on all night near an open window.
We have often heard that time is money. Now if one does not understand her work as she may understand it if she will study, she is constantly taking other people’s time, which we are told is other people’s money.
That all the world is not honest, that we are not always treated from the standpoint of strictly fair dealing, makes no difference to her. She is not other people, she is herself.
Among the men in one of our Eastern States whose business it is to lay stone walls
is one who has an especial talent for the work. Stones of any shape answer his purpose. He does not ask any direction, he does not have to make any measurements, or use any stakes or a line to lay his stones by. And in the whole State there are no such beautiful walls as this man lays. Does he ever have to tell a falsehood in order to get work? Does he ever talk about other persons interfering with him? Or does he need to care what other persons think? He does his work so much better than other men that it will always be sought. And although he has a special talent for it, he does not let that make him careless. His is true work, honest work, and so long as he keeps his health and there are stone walls to lay he need never rest with idle hands.
With regard to the privileges granted to workers it is not easy to lay down any set of rules that will meet the requirements of every household in the land. In some cities rules are in force to which the majority of
families conform, and they seem to answer very well. But the needs of a family where there are little children differ from the needs of a family of adults. A larger number in a household will necessitate arrangements the need of which does not exist in one made up of a few members. In order to consult the varied tastes and arrange for the comfort of all, special hours must sometimes be considered, and it is not wise for a worker to start out by saying that she must have such and such times for her own. The time offered by the existing arrangements may be, if she will stop to think, much better for her.
It is important to comprehend exactly what is promised, so that there may be no mistake and no disappointment on either side. The time stipulated as belonging to a worker is certainly her own; the rest of her time as certainly belongs to the person to whom she has agreed to give it. But if her sister were going to be married, a girl would feel very grieved if she were not allowed to go to the
wedding, and yet there was nothing said about the wedding when she promised her time. Will she realize the equal importance of the occasion if the lady of the house is obliged to ask her to give up one of her evenings because of some especial entertainment?