The Globe-republican., 1892-01-07

cial men will sometimes fail to meet theil
engagements. Cash book and money
drawer will sometimes quarrel. Good!
ordered for special emergency will come
too late or be damaged in the transpor
tation. People intending no harm will
60 shopping without any Intention tG
purchase, Overturning great stocks oI
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 viii either break you
down or brighten you up. 1t is a school,
OF patience. You have known men un.
der the process to become petulant and
choleric and angry and pugnacious and
cross ana 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 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 Gus
toners. They are patient now with un-
fortunate debtors. They have Christian
reflections now for sudden reverses.
Where did they get that patience? By
hearing minister preach concerning it
on the Sabbath? Oh, no. They got it
just where you will get tiff you ever
get it at all-selling hats, discounting
notes, turning banisters, plowing 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: sin pa
tience possess your soul. Let patience
have her perfect work"
remark again that business lite 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
Questions of finance and
politics and geography and jurispru-
dence and ethics. Business is a severe
schoolmistress. If pupils will not learn,
She strikes them over the head and the
heart with severe losses. You put
S., 600 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-I told you it was
choolmistress-butit 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 productions; manu-
facturerS of American goods come to un-
ierstand the tariff on imported articles;
publishers of books must come to under
stand the new law of copyright; own
ers of ships must come to know winds
ina shoals and navigation; and every
bale of cotton, and every raisin cask, and
every tea box, and every cluster of ba-
lanas is so much literature for busi-
ness 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
night be sharper in a trade, that yOn
night be more successful as a wording?
Oh, no; 1t was thai 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
spirit Can it be that
you have become acquainted with all the
,utrages inflicted in business life and that
hox frin 70 %
hat Gospel which is to extirpate all
,vil and correct all wrongs and illumine
III darkness and lift up all wretchedness
md save men for this world and the
world to come? Can it be that, under
standing all the lntricacies of business,
Tou know nothing about those things
which will last after all bills of exchange
md consignments and invoices and rent
oils shall have crumpled up and been
in the fires of the last great
lay? Can it be that man will be wise
or time and fool for eternity?
l remark, also, that business life Is a
school for integrity. No man knows
What he will do when he is tempted.
There are thousands of men who have
lept their integrity simply because they
AVE never been tested. A man was
elected Treasurer of the State of Maine
ONE years ago. He was distinguished
or his honesty, usefulness and upright
less, but before one year had passed he
lad taken Of the public funds for his
wn private use and was hurled out of
tfice in disgrace Distinguished for yir-
ue before; distinguished for crime after.
Iou can call over the names of men just
ike that, In whose honesty you had COM
lete confidence, but placed in certain
rises OF temptation they went over
Oard.
Never so many temptations to scoun-
relism as now. Not law on the stat
te book but has some back door through |
Ihich miscreant can escape. All! how
lany deceptions in the fabric of goods: |
0 much plundering in commercial life |
hat if man talk about living a life of |
omplete commercial accuracy there are |
hose who aScribe it to greenness and lack
tact More need of honesty now than
yer before; tried honesty, complete hon
sty, more than in those times when
usiness was plain affair and woolens
ere wOolens and silks were silks and
len were men.