The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1881-11-16
All Honor to Lydia, the saleswoman.
EXTRACT.

New YoRK.- At the Brooklyn Tab
ernacle, the Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage
preached as follows form the following
texts:
Acts xvi. IA: And a certain woman named
Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thya-
tira which worshiped God, heard us whose
heart the Lord opened"
Prov. xxi, %: '.Seest thou a man dilgent
in his business? he shall stand before kings.
The first passage introduces to you
Lydia, a Christian merchantess. Her
business is to deal in purple cloths or
silks. She is not a giggling nonentity,
but practical woman, not ashamed to
work for her living. All the other women
of Phillippi and Thyatria have been
forgotten but God has made immortal
in our text, Lydia, the Christian sales
woman. The other text shows you a
man with head and hand and heart and
foot all busy toiling on up until he gains
princely success, ''Seest thou man
diligent in his business? He shall
stand before kings" Great encourage
ment in these passages for men and
women who will be busy, but no solace
for those who are waiting for good luck
to show them, at the foot of the rain
bow, casket of buried gold.
| would like to fire the ambition Of
young people. | have no sympathy
with those who would prepare young
folks for life by whiting down their
expectations That man or woman will
be worth nothing TO Church or State
who begins life cowed down. The busi-
ness of Christianity is not to quench,
but to direct human ambition. There
fore, it is that | come out this evening
and utter words of encouragement to
those who are occupied as clerks in the
stores and shops and banking houses OF
the country.
In the first place, / counsel clerks to
remember that for the most part OF
their clerkship is only school from
which they are to be graduated. 1t
takes about eight years to get one of the
learned professions. 1t takes about
eight years to get to be a merchant.
Some of you will be clerks all your lives,
but the vast majority of you are only
in transient position. After awhile,
some December day, the head men of
the firm will call you into the back Of
fee and they will say to you: "Now,
you have done well by US, we are going
to do well by you. We invite you to
have an interest in our concern" You
will bow to that edict very gracefully.
Getting into street-car to 60 home, an
old eomrade will meet you and say
"What makes you look SO happy to-
night 2" ooh, you will say, nothing,
nothing" But in few days your
name will blossom on the sign. Either
in the store or bank where you are now
or in some other store or bank you will
take a higher position than that which
you now occupy. So l feel tonight
that l am standing before people who
will yet have their hand on the helm OF
the worlds commerce, and you will turn
it this way or that; now clerks, but to be
bankers, importers, insurance company
directors, shippers, contractors, superin-
tendents of railroads--your voice
mighty on change standing foremost
in the great financial and religious en-
terprises of the day. For though we
who are in the professions may on the
platform plead for the philanthropies,
after all the merchants must come forth
with their millions to sustain the move
ment.
But you say: "Will the womanly
clerks in our stores have promotion !"
Yes. Time is coming when women will
be as well paid for their toll in mercan-
tile circles as men are now paid for their
toll. Time is coming when woman
will be allowed to do anything she can
do well. 1t is only little while ago
when woman knew nothing Of tele-
graphy, and they were kept out of a
great many commercial circles where
they are now welcome and the time
will 90 on until the who at one counter
in a store sells S25, 900 worth of goods
in a year will get as high salary as
the man who al the other counter Of the
same store sells s25, 900 worth of goods.
All honor to Lydia, the Christian sales
woman.