The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1891-12-25

getting my livelihood After awhile
this fortune came to me, and there has
been no necessity that l. toll since,
There came time when | said to my
self, Shall now retire from business,
or shall go on and serve the Lord IN
my worldly occupationF" He said:
II resolved on the latter and l have
been more industrious in commercial
circles than ever was before, and since
that hour have never kept farth-
ing for myself. have thought it to be a
great shame II couldn't toll as hard
for the Lord rs had toiled for myself,
and all the products of my factories and
my commercial establishments to the
last farthing have gone for the building
of Christian institutions and supporting
the church of God" Oh, if the same
energy put forth for the world could be
put forth for God Oh, If a thousand
men in these great cities who have
achieved a fortune could see it their
duty to do all business for Christ and
the alienation of the worlds suffering.
HOW PATIENCE Is CULTIVATED.
Again, | remark that business life lisa
school of patience. In your everyday
life how many things to annoy and to
disquietl Bargains will rub. Com
mercial men will sometimes fail to meet
their engagements. Cash book and
money drawer will sometimes quarrel
Goods ordered for special emergency
will come too late or be damaged in
the transportation. People intending
no harm will go shopping without any
intention of purchase overturning 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 WEAKNESSES on the
part of partners in business. Annoy
ance after annoyance, vexation 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 pugna-
cious and cross and sour and queer,
and they lost their customers and their
name became a detestation. Other
men have been frightened 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 lips;
at first they thought of some singing re-
tort they would like to make; but they
conquered their Impotence. They have
kind words now for sarcastic filings.
They have gentle behavior now for I'M
mannerly customers. They are patient
now with unfortunate debtors. They
have Christian reflections now for sud
den reverses Where did they get that
patience? BY hearing a minister preach
concerning it on the Sabbath? oh, no.
They got it just where you will get it
if you ever get it at all-selling hats
discounting notes, turning banisters,
blowing corn, thinning 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 patience have her perfect work"
remark again that business life is a
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 questions of finance and
politics and geography and jurispru-
dence and ethics. Business is severe
schoolrnistress Hpupils 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 school
ing. That was only tuition told
you it was schoolmistress but 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
g thing about foreign harvests; traders
t in fruit come to know something about
] the prospects of tropical production
l manufacturers of American goods come
to understand the tariff on imported
' a,,cles; publishers of books must come
a to understand the new law of copy
e right; owners of ships must come to
l know winds and shoals and navigation
e and every bale of cotton, and every
i raisin cask, and every tea box, anc
G every cluster of bananas is 50 much lit
q erature for business man. Now, my
d brother, what are you going to do witt
e the intelligence? Do you suppose Goo
} put you in this school of information
' merely that you might be sharper in {
q trade, that you might be more success
; full as worldling2 Oh, no; it wa.
That you might take that useful in
formation and use it for Jesus Christ.
i. Can it be that you have been dealing
>. with foreign lands and never had the
# missionary spirit, wishing the salvation
q of foreign people? Can it be that you
70 have become acquainted with all thu
!, outrages inflicted in business life ant
n that you have never tried to bring t.
q, bear that Gospel which is to extirpat
n all evil and correct all wrongs ant
N illumipe all darkness and lift up al
in wretchedness and save men for thi
i. world and the world to come? Can
g be that, understanding all the intri
" cacies of business, you know nothin
- about those things which will last afte
re- all bills of exchange and consignment
70 and invoices and rent rolls shall hav
crumpled up and been consumed in tn
II, fires of the last great day? Can it b
!, that man will be wise for time and
Ia fool for eternity?,
,h / remark, also, that business life is
hi school for integrity. No man know
o what he will do when he is tempted
q, There are thousands of men who hay
kept their integrity merely becaus
, they never have been tested. a ma