The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1892-01-01

I
since that hour / have never kept a
farthing for myself. have thought it
to be great SHAME if / couldn't toll as
hard for the Lord as had toiled for
myself, and all the products of my
factories and my commercial establish
ments TO the last farthing have gone
for the building of Christian institu-
tions and supporting the Church of
God" oh, If thousand men i'm 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.
| Again. / remark that business life is
q school of patience. In your every day
life how many things TO annoy and to
disquiet. Bargains will rub. CONNER
cial men will sometimes fail to meet
their engagements Cash books and
m oney drawer will sometimes quarrel
Goods ordered for a 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 meannesses on
the part of partners in business. An
noyance after annoyance, vexation af-
ter vexation, and loss after loss. All
that process will either break you
down or brighten you up 1t is school
of patience. You have known men I'M
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 detestation. Other
men have been la htened 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 sting
ing retort they would like to make; but
they conquered their impatience. They
have kind words now for sarcastic
filings They have gentle behavior now
for unmannerly customers. They are
patient now with unfortunate debtors.
They have Christian reflections now for
sudden reverses- Where did they get
that patience? BY hearing a minister
preach concerning it on Sabbath? Oh,
no. They got it just where you will
get tiff you ever get it at all-selling
hats, discounting notes, turning banis-
tiers, blowing corn, timing roofs, plead
ing causes. Oh, that amid the turmoil
and anxiety and evaporation of every
day 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
n 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 Jurisprudence, and ethics. Bust
ness is a severe schoolmistress. If
pupils will not learn, she strikes them
over the head and the heart with severe
losses. You put five thousand dollars
into an enterprise. 1t is all gone. You
say: THAT is a dead loss Oh, no.
You are paying the schooling. That
was only tuition, very large tuition-I
told you it was severe 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 something about foreign har-
vests; traders in fruit come to know
something about the prospects of trop-
ical production; manufacturers of Amer
can goods come to understand the tariff
on imported 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 so
much literature for a business man.
Now, my brother, what are you going
to do with the intelligence? Do you
suppose God put you in this school of
information merely that you might be
sharper in trade, that you might be /
more successful as a wording? Oh, no;
it was thought that you might take that
useful information and use it for Jesus
Christ. Can it be that you have been
dealing with foreign lands and never
had the missionary spirit, wishing the
salvation of foreign people? Can it be
that you have become acquainted with
all the outrages inflicted in business
life, and that you have never tried to
bring to bear that Gospel which is to
extirpate all evil and correct all wrongs
and illumine all darkness and lift up
all wretchedness and save men for this
world and the world to come? Can it
be that, understanding all the intri-
cacies of business, you know nothing
about those things which will last after
all bills of exchange and consignments
and invoices and rent-rolls shall have
crumbled up and been consumed in the
fires Of the last great day? Can it be
that a man will be wise for time and
fool for eternity?
Iremark, also, that business life is
school for integrity. No man knows
what he viii do when he is tempted.
There are thousands of men who have
kept their integrity merely because
they never have been tested. A man
was elected treasurer of the state of
Maine some years ago. lie was distin-
guished for his honesty, usefulness 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. Distinguished
for virtue before. Distinguished for
crime after. You can call over the
names of men just like that, in whose
honesty you had complete confidence,
but placed in certain crises of tempta-