Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1886-11-13

they call the .'hard times" when In
any times they never pay. Goods
placed on the wrong shelf. Casl
books and money drawer in a quarrel
Goods ordered for III especial emer-
gency failing to come, or, if coming,
damaged in the transportation. Peo-
pie who intend no harm going about
shopping, unrolling goods they do no;
intend to buy, and trying to break the
dozen. Men obliged to take up other
peoples notes. More counterfeit bills
in the drawer. More bad debts
der all this friction men break
down, or they are secured up into ad-
ditional brightness. How many you
and ! have known who, in the past few
years, have gone down under the pres.
sure, and have become petulant, and
choleric. and grabbed, and sour, and
p~ugnacious, until customers forsook
their stores, and these merchants have
become insolvent, and thei: names
were pronounced with detestation!
But other men have found in this a
school for patience. They toughened
under the exposure. They were like
rocks, more serviceable for the blast
ing. There was a time when they had
to choke down their wrath. There was
Another ridiculous panic. I'm
Il time when they had to bite their lip.
There was a time when they thought of
a singing retort they would like to ut
ter. But now they have conquered
their impotence. They have kind
words for sarcastic filings. They have
"A polite behavior for discourteous GUS
toners. They have f~orbearance for
unfortunate debtors. They have moral
reflections for the sudden reverses of
fortune. How are you going to get
that grace of patience? Not through
hearing ministers preach about it. O..
no! If you get it all. you will it get in
the world, where you sell hats, and
plead causes, and tin roofs, and make
shoes, and turn banisters, and plough
corn. | pray God that through the
turmoil, and sweat, and evaporation
of your everyday life, you may hear
the voice of Christ saying to you: IF
patience possess your soul, let patience
have her perfect work"
Again: God intended business life
to be to you
A SCHOOL o II ATTAINING OF
KOWLEDGE.
Merchants do not read many books,
nor study many leXicons, nor dive into
great p%rofounds, yet through the force
of circumstances they get intelligent
on questions of politics, and finance.
and geography, and Jurisprudence, and
ethics. Business is a hard school-mis-
tress. If her pupils will notlearn in any
other way, with unmerciful hand she
SmiteS them on the head and on the
heart with inexorable loss. You went
into some business enterprise, and five
thousand dollars got out of your grasp.
You say the five thousand dollars were
wasted. o, no. that was only tuition.
Expensive schooling, but it was worth
it. Misfortune, with hard hand, comes
upon a mar and wakes him mp, and by
the very force of circumstances bust
ness men get TO be intelligent. Traders
in grain must know about foreign har-
NNSNS' III ibI llINL hnoN
about the prospects of tropical produc-
ton. Manufacturers of American
goods must knew about the tariff on
imported articles. Publishers of books
must know the new law of copyright.
Owners of ships come to understand
winds, and shoals, and navigation.
And so every bale of cotton, and every
,.nioi,, nnpl- anl nynp,v tn, IAx a,J
every cluster of bananas, becomes
LITERATURE TO OUR BUSINESS MEN.
Now what is the use of all this intelli-
gence unless you give it to Christ? Do
you suppose God gives you these OPP
%portunities of frightening up your in
tellect and increasing your knowledge
merely to get larger treasures and
grander businessp O, no! Can it be
that you have been learning about for
eign lands and people that dwell under
other skies, and vet have no missionary
spirit? Can it be that you have been
learning the f%ollics, and trickeries, and
hallowncss of the business world, and
yet you are not trying to bring to bear
upon them this gospel which is to o
rect all abuses, and abolish all ignor-
ance, and correct all mistakes and
arrest all crime, and irradiate all dark
ness, and lift up all Indebtedness? Can
it be that, Notwithstanding your ac-
qLaintance with the intricacies of bust
ness, yen are ignorant of those things
which will last the soul long after bills
of exchange. and commissions and in
voices, and consignments. and rent
rolls have been crumpled up and con-
sumed in the fires of a judgment dayp
Again: God intended business life
to be to you a school of Christian in
tegrity. No age Of the world ever Of
fered so many inducements for scoun-
drelism as are offered now. There is
hardly n statute on the law books that
has not some back door through which
miscreants can escape. How MANY de-
ceptions in the fabric of goods! Com
mercial life plies the land with trick
cries innumerable, and there are so
many people in Brooklyn AID New
York who live a life of plumber, that
when a man proposes a s~traightfor-
ward, honest business, it is almost
charged to g%reenness and want of tact.
All! my brethren, this ought not to be.
But | have to tell you that