Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1891-12-31


for special emergency will come too late
or be damaged in the transportation. Peo- 1
pie intending no harm will 90 shopping 4
without any intention OF purchase. over |
turning great stocks Of goods and insisting |
that you break the dozen. More bad debts |
on the ledger More counterfeit bills in /
the drawer. More debts to pay for other |
people. More meannesses on the part Of |
partners in business. Annoyance after
annoyance, vexation after vexation and |
loss after loss
All that process will either break you
down or brighten you up. 1t is a school OF
patience. You have known men under
the process to become petulant and chol
eric and angry and pugnacious and cross
and sour and queer, aud they lost their
customers, ard their name became de
testation. Other men have been bright
ened up under the process. They were
toughened by the exposure. They were
like rocks, all the more valuable for being
blasted. At first they had to choke down
their wrath, at first they had to bite their
lip, at first they thought of some stinging
retort they would like to make, but they
conquered their impatience. They have
kind words now for sarcastic filings. They
/ udf6 ktuJlc DtndNlOE uOW lOT
customers. They are patient now with un-
| fortunate debtors. They have Christian
reflections now for sudden reverses. Where
did they get that patiencel By hearing
minister preach concerning it on Sabbaths
Oh, no. They got it just where you will
get tiff you ever get it at all-selling
hats, discounting notes, turning banisters,
blowing corn, Timing roofs, pleading
causes. Oh, that amid the turmoil and
anxiety and evaporation of everyday life
you might hear the voice of God saying:
"In patience possess your soul. Let pa
thence have her perfect work"
BUSINESS A SCHOOL OF LIFE.
/ remark again that business life is
school of useful knowledge. Merchants do
not read many books and do not study
lexicons They do not dive into profounds
of learning, and yet nearly all through
their occupations come to understand ques-
tions Of finance and politics and geogra-
ply and Jurisprudence and ethics. Busi-
ness is a severe schoolmistress. If pupils
will not learn, she strikes them over the
head and the heart with severe losses. You
put s. 900 into an enterprise. 1t is all gone.
You say, "That is dead loss" Oh, no.
You are paying the schooling. That was
only tuition, very large tuition-I told you
1t was a severe schoolmistress-bu it was
worth it, You learned things under that
process you would not have learned in any
other way.
Traders in grain come to know some
thing about foreign harvests; traders in
fruit come to know something about the
prospects of tropical production; manufac-
turers of American goods come to under
stand the tariff on imported articles; pub
} fishers of books must come to understand
the new law of copyright; owners of ships
must come to know winds and shoals and
navigation; and every bale OF cotton, and
every raisin cask, and every tea box, and
J every cluster Of bananas is so much litera-
ture for II business man. Now my brother,
what are you going to do with the intelli-
geDcei Do you suppose God put you in
this school of information merely that you
might be sharper in a trade, that you
, might be more successful as a worldlingi
: Oh, no; it was that you might take that
| useful information and use it for Jesus
Christ.
r Can it be that you have been dealing
with foreign lands and never had the mis-
sionary spirit, wishing the salvation OF
. foreign peopleP Can it be that you have
/ become acquainted with all the outragcs
l inflicted in business life, and that you have
3 never tried to bring to bear that Gospel
t which is to extirpate all evil and correct
! all wrongs and illumine all darkness and
1 lift up, all wretchedness and save men fol
o this world and the world TO Gomez Can il
{ be that understanding all the intricacies
4 of business Y know nothing about those
t things w.hch viii last long after all bills
{ ofexchangc and consignments and invoices
d and rent roi.s shall have crumpled up anG
been consumed in the fires of the last great
: dayi CAN'T be that a man will be wise fol
= time and foobfor eternity?
Y A SCHOOL FOR INTEGRITY.
r i remark, also, that business life is
+ school for integrity. No man knows wha
d he will do when he is tempted There ar,
It thousands of men who have kept their in
n tegrity merely because they never Rav'
o been tested. A man was elected treasurer
J. of the state of Maine some years ago. HI
!, was distinguished for his honesty, useful
n ness and uprightness, but before one yea
: had passed he had taken of the publ,
b funds for his own private use, and wa
hurled out of Office in disgrace. Dstin
s guished for virtue before. Distinguishes
7. for crime after. You can call over tn,
l. names of men just like that, in whose hon
r esty you had complete confidence, bu
{. placed in certain crises of temptation the,
g went overheard.
l. Never so many temptations to scoundrel
b ism as now. Not law on the statute bool
'e but has some back door through which
It miscreant can escape. Ahl how many de
"A ceptions in the fabric of goods; so mucl
3, plundering in commercial life, that if a maj
IS talk about living life of complete com
% mercial accuracy there are those who as
10 cribe it to greenness and lack of tact. Nor
10 need of honesty now than ever before
honesty, complete honesty, more than il
u those times when business was plain al
y fair, and weolens were woolens and silk
% were silks and men were men.
IS How many men do you suppose there ar
l. in commercial life who could say truth
d fully, "In all the sales / have ever made
u have never overstated the value of goods
Ii in all the sales | have ever made hav
q never covered up an imperfection in tn
d fabric; of all the thousands of dollars
e have ever made have not taken one dis
a honest farthing2" There are men, how
p ever, who c say it-hundreds who Cal
Is say it, thousands who can say it, The.
5. are more honest than when they sold thei
II first tierce Of rice, or their first frkin o
II butter, because their honesty and integ
st rity have been tested, tried and carried ou
h triumphant. BdNthey remember tim
ID when they could have robbed a partner, o
have absconded with the funds of bank
or sprung snap Judgment, or made
of false assignment, or borrowed illimitabl.
= without any effort at payment, or got I
" man into sharp corner and feeced him
~ But they never took one step ON tina
pathway of hell fire. They can say thei
g. prayers without hearing the chink of dis
J. honest dollars. They can read their Bibl
le without thinking of the time when, wit