The Bossier banner., 1892-02-25

passed he had taken OF the puoIc IunuS
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 confidence1
but placed in certain crises of tempta-
tions they went overheard. Never SO
many temptations to scoundrelism as,
now. Not law on the statute book
but has some back door through which
a miscreant can escape. All! how many
deceptions in the fabric of goods; SO
much plundering in commercial life
that if man talk about living life OF
complete commercial accuracy there
are those who ascribe it to greenness
and lack of tact. More need of honesty
now than ever before, tried honesty,
complete honesty, more than in those
times when business was plain affair,
and woolens were woolens and silks
were silks and men were men.
How many men do you suppose there
are In commercial life who could say
truthfully: I'm all the sales | have
ever made have never overstated the
value of goods; in all the sales have
ever made have never covered up an
imperfection in the fabrici of all the
thousands of dollars / have ever made
| have not taken one dishonest farth-
ing?" There are men, however, who
can say it, hundreds who can say it,
thousands who can say it. They arc
more honest than when they sold their
first tierce of rice, or their first firl<in of
butter, because their honesty and in
tegrity have been tested, tried and came
out triumphant. But they remember
time when they could have robbed
partner, or have absconded with the
funds of bank, or sprung a snap
| Judgment, or made false assign
ment or borrowed illimitably with
out any effort at payment, or got
man into sharp corner and fieeced
| him. But they never took one step on
that pathway of hell fire. They can
say their prayers without hearing the
chink of dishonest dollars. They can
read their Bible without thinking of
the time when with a lie on their soul,
in the custom house they kissed the
| book. They can think of death and
the Judgment that comes after it with
out any flinching-that day when all
charlatans and choats and jockeys and
frauds shall be doubly damned. 1t
does not make their knees knock to-
gether and it dees not make their
teeth chatter to read "as the partridge
sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth' them not;
| l.
right, snail leave them in the midst of
his days, and at his end shall be a
fool"
Oh, what school of integrity busi-
ness life is! If you have ever been
tempted to let your integrity cringe be-
fore present advantage, if you have
ever wakened up, in some embarrass'
ment, and said: Now, I'll step little
aside from the right path and no onr
will know it, and I'll come all right
again: it is only once" Oh, that only
:, once has ruined tens of thousands OF
men for this life and blasted their souls
for eternity. 1t is tremendous school
business life, school of integrity.
merchant in Liverpool got fiye-pound
bank of England note, and, holding i
toward the light, he saw some inter.
lineations in what seemed red ink. He
finally deciphered the letters and found
out that the writing had been made by
a slave in Algiers, saying in substance
'Whoever gets this bank note will
please to inform my brother
5 John Dean, living near Carlisle, thai
am a slave of the bey of Algiers.
The merchant sent word, employed gov.
; ernment officers and found who this
man was, spoken of in this bank bill
5 After awhile the man was rescued, who
t for eleven years had been slave tc
, the bey of Algiers. He was immedi-
ately emancipated, but was so worr
: out by hardship and exposure he soor
4 after died. Oh if some of the bank bill
e that come through your hands could
S tell all the scenes through which they
u have passed, it would be TRACED,
eclipsing any drama of Shakespeare
t mightier tina n King Lear or Macbeth
l AS go on in this subject, l am i'm
> pressed with the impo rtance of ou
having more sympathy with business
men. Is it not shame that we in ou
y pulpits do not often preach about thei
struggles, their trials and their tempta
: tions? Men who toll with their hand
are not to be very sympathetic witt
those who toll with their brain. Th,
: farmers who raise the corn, and tht
I oats, and the wheat. sometimes ar
tempted to think that grain mer
G chants have an easy time, and ge
:, their profits without giving any equiva
lent. Plato and Aristotle were so or
> posed to merchandise that they de
: clared commerce to be the curse of tn
nations, and they advised that cities b
l. built at least ten miles from the Sc
3 coast. But youand l know that ther
are no more industrious or high-minde
u men than those who move in the worl
of traffic. Some of them carry burden
heavier than hods of brick, and are ez
= posed to sharper things than the cas-
u wind, and climb mountains higher tina
> the Alps or Himalayas, and if they ar
Ii faithful Christ will at last say to them
II "Well done, good and faithful servant
e thou hast been faithful ovey fe,
e things. | will make thee ruler owe
II many things. Enter thou into the jo