Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1891-12-26


ncssess on the part of partners in bust
ness. Annoyance after annoyance, vex
alton after vexation and loss after loss
All that process will either break you
down or brighten you up. 1t is aschool
of patience. You have known men un-
der the process to become petulant, and
choleric, and angry, and pugnacious,
ind cross, and sour, and queer, and
they lost their customers and their
name became detestation. Other
men have been frightened up
under the process. They were tough
ened 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 singing retort they would like to
make, but they conquered their i'm
patience. They have kind words now
for sarcastic filings. They have gentle
words now for unmannerly customers.
They are patient now with unfortunate
debtors. They have Christian refiec-
tions now for sudden reverses. Where
did they get that patience! by hearing
n minister preach concerning it on
Sabbath? o no. They got it just
where you will get tiff you ever get
1t all-sclling hats discounting notes,
turning banisters, blowing corn, tim
ming roofs, pleading causes.
Iremarl, again, that business life is
a school of useful knowledge. Mer-
chants 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 questions OF finance
and politics, and geography, and juris-
prudence. and ethics. Business is Sc
we're 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"
o. no. You are paying the schooling.
That was only tuition, very large tut
toni told You it was severe school
mistress-but it was worth 1t. You
learned things under that process You
would not have learned in any other
way. Traders in grain come to know
something about foreign harvests; trad
ers in fruit come to know something
about the prospects Of tropical produc-
ton; manufacturers of American goods
come to understand the tariff on i'm
ported articles; publishers 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 every
cluster OF bananas is 50 much literature
for business man. Now, my brother,
what arc you going to do with the in
telligence? DO yous oppose God put you
in this school of information merely
that you might be sharper in trade,
that you might be more successful rs
wording? o, no; it was that you
might take that useful information and
use it for Jesus Christ. Can it be that
understanding all the intricacies OF
business, you know nothing about those
things which will last after all bills of
exchange and consignments and in
voices and rent rolls shall have
crumpled up and been consumed in the
fires OF the last great day? Can it be
that a man will be wise for time and a
fool for eternity?
Iremark also that business life is q
school for integrity. No man knows
what he will do when he is tempted.
There are thousands OF men who have
kept their integrity merely because
they have never been tested. A man
was elected treasurer of the state Of
Maine some years ago. He was dis
tinguished for his honesty, usefulne z
and uprightness, but before one year
had passed he had taken of the public
funds for his own private use, and was
hurled out of Office in disgrace. Dis
tinguished for virtue before. Distin-
guished for crime after. You can call
over the names of men just like that, 10
whose honesty you had complete conf
dence. but placed in certain crises OF
temptation they went overheard
Never so many temptations to scoun-
drelism as now. Not a law on the
statute books but has some back door
through which miscreant can escape
How many men do you suppose there
are in commercial life who could say
truthfully, ''In all the sales Ihave ever
made have never overestimated the
value of goods; in all the sales have
made 1 have never covered up an i'm
perfection in the fabric; OF all the
thousands of dollars have ever made
I have not taken one dishonest far
thing?" There are men, however, who
can say it, hundreds who can say it.
thousands who can say It They are
moro honest than when they sold their
first tierce of rice, or their first frkin
of butter, because their honesty aud In
tegrity have been tested, tried and
came out triumphant. But they re-
member time when they could have