The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1890-04-19

OIL oNOi Wv vi
ever achieved.
But a curse Is gathering somewhere
for those men, and If it does not seize
hold of the pillars and in n wild run
bring down the temple of commercial
glory, it will break up their peace and
they will tremble with sickness and
bloat with designations, and, pushed to
the precipice of this life, they will try
and hold back, and cry for help, but no
help will come; and they will clutch
their gold to take it along with them,
but 1t will be snatched from their
grasp, and a voice will sound through
their soul: Not a farthing, thou
beggard spirit"
While we admire and approve of all
acuteness and tact in the sale Of goods
we must condemn any process by which
a fabric or product is represented as
possessing a value which it really does
not have. Nothing but sheer falsehood
can represent as perfection boots that
rip, silks that speedily lose their ~luster.
calicoes hat Immediately wash out
stoves that crack under the first hot fire,
books insuficiently bound, carpets that
u~nravel, old furniture rejuvenatod with
putty and glue and sold as having been
recently manufactured, gold watches
made out of brass, barrels of fruit, tho
biggest apples on top wine adulterated
with strychnine, hosiery poorly woven,
cloths of domestic manufacture shining
with foreign labels, imported goods rep
resented as rare and hard to get, be-
cause foreign exchange is so high, rolled
out on the counter with matchless dis
play. Imported indeed! but from the
factory in the next street
Again, business men are often tempt
ed to make the habits and customs of
other traders their law Of rectitude.
There are commercial usages which will
not stand the test of h last day. Yet
men in business are apt to do as their
neighbors do. II the majority OF the
traders in any locality are lax in prin-
ciple, the commercial code in that COM
munity will be spurious and dishonest
There are n hundred practices prev
alent in the world OF traffic which ought
never to become the rule for honest
men. Their wrong does not make your
right Sin never becomes virtue by
being multiplied and admitted at
DTOh6TS DOhTu VI uoTCuduto oACuuukSs
Because others smuggle a few things In
| passenger trunks, because others take
usury when mon are in tight places,
because others deal in fancy stocks, be-
| cause others palm of worthless indorse-
ments, because others do nothing but
blow bubbles, do not, therefore. be
overcome Of temptation. Hollow pre-
| tension and fictitious credit and COM
mercial gambling may awhile prosper,
but tho day OF reckoning cometh, and
in addition to the horror and condem-
nation Of outraged communities. the
curse Of God will come, blow after blow.
Gods will forever and forever is the
only standard of right and wrong, and
not commercial ethics.
Young business man, avoid the first
business dishonor and you will avoid all
the rest. E'
When Pompey, the warrior, wanted to
| take possession of q city, and they would
lot open the gates, he persuaded them
| to admit a sick soldier. But the sick
soldier after q while got we'll and strong,
and he threw open the gates and let the
devastating army come In. One wrong
admitted into the soul may gain in
strength until, after awhile. it filings
| open all the Of the immortal
nature, and the surrender is complete.
Again, business mon are sometimes
tempted to throw off personal RESPONSE
bility upon the moneyed institution to
which they belong. Directors in banks
and railroad and insurance companies
sometimes shirk personal responsibility
underneath the action of the corpora
ton. And how often, when some bank
ing house or financial institution ex.
plodes through fraud. respectable men
in the board of directors say: why,
thought all was going on in an honest
way, and I AN utterly COMPOUNDED with
this misdemeanor!" The banks, and
the fire and life and marine insurance
companies, and the railroad companies
will lot stand up for judgment in the
last day, but those who in them acted
r~ighteously will receive. each for him
self, q reward. and those who acted the
part Of neglect or trickery will, zach fol-
| himself, receive a condemnation. I'm
lawful dividends are not clean before
| God because there are those associated
with you who grab just as big a pile q,
you do.
Again, many business men have beeI
tempted to postpone their enjoyment.
and duties to q future season of entire
leisure. What q sedatiys the Christian
religion would be to all our business
men II, instead of postponing Its uses t.
old age or death, they would take IL in
to the store or factory or worldly on
gagements nowl 1t Is folly to go amiC
the uncertainties Of business life with
no God to help.
Many, although now comparatively
Strengthened in worldly circumstances
have q goodly establishment in the fu'
ture planned out They have in imag
nation built about twenty years ahead
a house in the country not difficult 0I
access from the great town, for they will
often lave business or old accounts tC
settle and investments to look after
The house is largo enough to accommo
date all their friends. The halls are
wide and hung with pictures OF b uniting
genes and . branch of a~ptlers, and are
comfortable with chairs that can be
rolled out on a yeranha when the wealth
er Is inviting, or set out under some oi
the oaks that stand sentinel about ths
house, and rustling in the cool breeze,
and songful with the robins. There ia just
land enough TO keep them interested,
and Its crops of almost fabulous
richness spripging up under appli'
cation Of the best theories TO DO found
in the agricultural journals. The farm
is we'll stocked with cattle and horses
L and ohnhn that LnAu, kha v,atnn and hau6
q kindly bleat when n goes forth tc
look Of them. In this blissful abode
their children will be instructed in ar
and science and religion.
This shall be the old homestead te
which the boys at college will direc,
their letters. and the hill on which the
house stands will be called lakewood OIL
Ivy Hill or Pleasant Retreat or Eagle
Eyre. May the future have for every
business man here all that and more be-
side. But are you ~postpOpiDg your hap.
piness to that time? Are you adjoining
your joys to that consummation? Sup
pose you achieve all you expect-and
the vision I mention is not up to the
reality, because the fountains will be
brighter, the house grander and the
scenery more pictnresque-the mistake
is none the less fatal. What charm
will there be in rural quiet for Q mar
who has for thirty or forty years
boon conforming his entire nature t.
the excitomentof busipess2 WIN locki
and herds with their bleats and moan,
DO able to silence M Unsuitable spirit Of
acquisitiyeness which for years has had
full cuino In the a0ul9 VIII tho hum