San Andreas independent., 1858-05-15
A Parable for Business Men

I
There was once upon time man that
kept store and sold goods wholesale and
retail. And he became melancholy, be-
cause customers were shy and times were
hard. And he said, Lo. am ruined, and
the sensation is disagreeuble. And my
ruin is the most painful to bear, because it
is slow in progress, even as water doth
gradually become hotter in the pot where
in the lobster boileth, until the crustaceous
creature shrieketh out his soul in anguish.
Lo. it is better to be ruined quickly than
to endure this slow torture
| will give my money away to the poor
man-even to the poorest, which is he
who printeth newspapers, and will shut
up my shop and wrap myself in the sack
cloth of desolation, and pass my days in
the purlieus of broken banks, cursing the
hardness of the times and rending my
garments. And the howlings of Rome
shall be as the dulcet sound of dulcimers,
and they who blow the flutes and instru-
ments of music, compared to the din L
will make in the ears of the wicked-evcn
the ears of the bank directors
And even as he said, so did he; for he
was not like other mems sons who are
foolish and know it not, and they say they
will do so and so, performing that which
is contrary. For the sons of men are
tickle, and he that is born of woman doth
spite his face by diminishing the length
of the nose thereof
And 10. the printer-even he who did
publish newspapers-was made glad by
the bounty of him who sold wholesale and
retail; and he did sound his praise and
print them moreover, and did blow the
trumpet of fame respecting that mans
dealings, from the rising of the sun even
to the going down of the same.
And he-even the printer of papers
did magnify and enlarge upon the stock
of goods which the trader had in his store,
and did publish the variety and the excel
lence and the newness and the beauty and
the cheapness thereof, till the people
yea, all of them, far and near were amazed.
And they said, 10! this man hath gath
cred from the east and the west costly
merchandise and wares of wondrous value,
} even the workmanship of cunning arti-
ticers-and we knew it not.
, Go too, then. We will lay out our sill
yer and our gold in those things which
the printer printed of, and that what he
doth publish shall be ours For this man S
f merchandise is better than the bank notes
of those who promise to pay, and therein
. lie, even banks of deposit which beguilC
J. US of our money and swindle us like sin
But the trader was still sad, and he
] said the money that those people bring
t for the goods in my store will [ still give
5 to the printer, and thus will | ruin myself;
+ | will do that which no man hath yet done
in my time or before me. / will make
the printer man, whom all men seorn for
his poverty, rich, and he shall be clad in
fine linen, and he shall rejoice
And the sons of men shall meet him in
, the market place, and the sherifEs shall
shun him, and the scoffers shall be re-
buked, and shall take off their hats to
him that was poor. And he shall fash
the dollars in the eyes of the foolish, and
shall eat bank note sandwiches. Yea,
even shall he light his pipe with railroad
scrip and cast his spittle on the boards OF
other men. For l will ruin myself, and
he who adyertises me shall enjoy my sub
: stance
, But 10 the trading man-eyen he who
) sold merchandise became rich, and even
, as the unclean beast lieth in the mire, SO
t stirred he not by reason of much gold
, And the people hocked to his store from
t the North; and from the South; and from
| the West; and from the East. And the
printer rejoiced and his phat did abound.
But the trader could not become poor
and his melancholy ceased, and the smiles
of happiness were upon his face.
And his children did become mighty
in the land by reason of the dollars which
many of the people who read his adver
tisement had poured into the traders
r money bags.