Abbeville press. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1860-1869, 1868-05-22
DISHONESTY IN TRADE.
BY HENRY WARD BEECnER.

A man brings Il pearl into your
shop, and, holding it up, says: 81 was
fishing down on tho bank, and l found
this thing. don't know whether it
is worth anything or not, but they
told me could get dollar for it,"
90, yes" you say "I guess it is worth
that. l will give you u dollar for it,"
And you taks tho pearl and give him
the dollar; and you chrckle over it,
and boast Of it. You not only do not
think that you have dono that which
is dishonest, but you 90 TO your part
ncr, and hold up tho pearl, and cxult-
ingly say, "I bought it for dollar"
And when yoa so homo at night you
rub your hands, and say, "My dear,
had a raro stroke of luck today"
'What was it?" asks tho wife. "Whv.
an ignorant fisherman camo into the
shop with a magnificent pearl, and L
gave him dollar for it; and he won't
away as tickted as any man could be :;
and | guess L was another man that
was quite as happy as he was, for it is,
worth five hundred dollarsw o that
tho woman could use q woman's Office :.
. that she could give expression to
her moral Judgments! o that She
could flush and say, "l am ashamed Of
you" y that thcro could be in every
household faithful companion to
rcbul2o these tendencies to cheating :.
For call it nothing less than Cheat
ing.
suppose this is that which VIC feel
when wo hunt out OH picture stores
and grope round for ancient and black
enod canvasscs, hoping that that
which VIC buy for nero song, on
being washed and rubbed and rcstor-
ed, will provo to be Raphael, Till
an, or something Of that kind. A
hereditary property, after being han
dod down from generation to genera.
tion, at last comes into tho hands cf
some poor, uncducatcd woman; and
with other things that she does not
understand the value of, thore is an
old black faced picture A men goes
and looks at it, and says to himself, sI
should not bo surprised if that is q
magnificent Murillo." Lilo sees that
tho woman is unconscious of it's value,
and he takes care not TO have her dis.
cover that ho suspects it to be valua-
bic. But Whenever he can get
chance without being observed, he
goes to it,..and begins to work at ono
corner Of it, rubbing and scraping it.
Hc steals in at different times, and
continues tho rubbing and scraping,
using various turpontincs and var
nishes.
And by and by he begins to SEQ the
end of fgure-a foot, and he. says,
"Nobody painted that foot that was
not master painter" But he affects
ignorance, and takes tho woman at an
advantage, and buys it. And he is
anxious to get it home as quickly as
possible. He takes it, and fairly runs
down the street for fear the woman
may call him back. He succeeds IN
getting it away without awakening
any suspicion, and is delighted: He
at oncc puts it into tho hands of a
restorcr, and it turns ont TO be n pic.
ture worth fiftcon hundred dollars.
And all his lifo he boasts of how he
gotit, and in relating tho circumstances
says: "It cost mo a ridiculous sum l
paid next to nothing for it," 1t is
among the great events Of his history.
lie is 80 Unconscious OF tho simple
law of honor and right that as long
as ho lives he sils on this fault and
crows his own shame.