Scotland/Scots > Licht frae the smiddy o' Saunders Dinwuddie

A CHRISTIAN WORKSHOP. 45
murderer is still heard in the midst o’ the land—
‘ Am I my brother’s keeper.’ ”
“Don’t you pay wages to your men according
to the average value of labour, Saunders ?”
“ I ha’e nae average o’ my ain, Sir. My men
maun be what I tauld you, guid men and true.
I regulate their wages, no by the rule o’ a
covetous speerit, but by the law o’ a guid con¬
science. I buy the best stuff, and they put on
the best workmanship. I ha’e a guid thrivin’
business, and I pay them a’ aboon what ye
ca’ the average. As maister, I tak’ a profit to
mysel’, but no the profit o’ a greedy usurer,
and sae, makin’ a conscientious reckonin,’ I
gi’e my men their portion. I downa grow rich
by haudin’ the noses o’ the puir to the grunstane.
I downa bide to see hard-workin’ men dealt wi’
as a mass o’ livin’ machinery, to be first grund
doon to poortith, auld age, and uselessness, and
syne flung oot at the back door o’ humaiiity into
the poorshouse as into a reservoir o’ livin’ refuse
or deein’ rubbish.”
“You have been reading More’s ‘Utopia,’
Saunders, and have become visionary.”
“ Utopia here or Utopia there, Sir, it’s but a
Christian thing to ‘ live and let live. ’ My men
were ance my ’prentices, a’ brocht up aneath my
ain eye. They would do onything for me—rise
at screigh o’ day ; rin frae Dan to Beersheba at
my bidding ; work 'nicht an’ day when a spate o’
wark comes ; and will as little suffer loss or waste
in onything o’ mine as I would mysel'.
I trust them, for they are trustworthy, for they
a’ ken when they do weel for Saunders