The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-07-24

thinking. The dreams are narrowed by
imaginary loss and flashed with imagi-
nary gains. Even the Sabbath cannot
dam back the tide Of anxiety, for this
wave of worldliness dashes clear over the
churches and leaves its foam on Bibles
and ssayer books.
Men who are living on salaries or by
the culture of the soil cannot under
stand the wear and tear of body and
mind to which our merchants are sub
jected when they do not know but that
their livelihood and their business honor
are dependent upon the uncertainties OF
the next hour. This excitement of the
brain, this corroding care of the heart,
this strain of effort that exhausts the
spirit, sends great many OF our best
men in midlife to the grave. They find
that Wall street does not end at the East
river, It ends at Greenwood! Their life
dashed out against money safes. They
go with their store on their backs. They
trudge like camels, sweating from
Aleppo to Damascus. They make their
life crucifxion. Standing behind
desks and counters, banished from the
fresh air, weighed down by carking
cares, they are SO many suicides.
Oh, Iwish could today rub out some of
these lines of care; that I could lift some
IF the burdens from the heart; that Icould
give relaxation to some of these worn
muscles! 1t is time for you to begin to
take it little easier. Do your best, and
then trust God for the rest. Do not fret.
God manages all the affairs of your life,
and he manages them for the best. Con-
slider the lilies-they always have robes.
Behold the fowls Of the air-they always
have nests. Take a long breath. Be
think betimes that God did not make
you pack horse. Dig yourselves out
from among the ilogsheads and the
shelves, and in the light Of the holy Sab
bath day resolve that you will give to
the winds your fears, and your fretful-
ness, and your distresses. You brought
nothing into the world, and it is very
certain you can carry nothing out. Hav-
ing food and raiment, be Herewith con-
tent.
The merchant came home from the
store. There had been great disaster
there. He opened the front door and
said in the midst of his family circle: 81
am ruined. Everything is gone. am
all ruined" His wife said, 81 am left, "
and the little child threw up its hands and
said, ssPapa, am here" The aged grand
mother seated in the room said, 'sThen
you have all the promises Of God beside,
John" And he burst into tears and
said: 'sGod forgive me that I have been
SO ungrateful. I find I have great
many things left. God forgive me-
NEGLECT OF HOME LIFE.
Again, I remark that many of our
business men are tempted to neglect
their home duties. How often it is that
the store and the home seem to clash,
but there ought not to be any collision.
It is often the case that the father is the
mere treasurer of the family, a sort of
agent to see that they have dry goods
and groceries. The work of family gov
eminent he does not touch. Once or
twice in a year he calls the children up
on Sabbath afternoon when he has a
half aour he does not exactly know what
to do with, and in that half hour he dis
ciplines the children and chides them
and corrects their faults and gives them
a great deal of good advice, and then
wonders all the rest of the year that his
children do not do better when they
have the wonderful advantage of that
semiannual castigation.
The family table, which ought to be
the place for pleasant discussion and
cheerfulness, often becomes the place OF
perilous expedition. If there be any
blessing asked at all, it is cut off at both
ends, and with the hand on the carving
knife. He counts on his fingers, making
estimates in the interstices of the repast.
The work done, the hat goes to the head,
and he starts down the street, and before
the family has risen from the table he
has bound up another bundle Of goods
and says to the customer, Anything
more can do for you today, STRIP
A man has more responsibilities than
those which are discharged by putting
competent instructors over his children
and giving them q drawing master and
music teacher. The physical culture of
the child will not be attended to unless
the father looks to it. He must some
times lose his dignity. He must unli1n-
Der his joints. He must sometimes lead
them out to their sports and games. The
parent who cannot forget the severe du-
ties of life sometimes to fly the kite, and
trundle the hoop, and chase the ball,
and jump the rope with his children
ought never to have been tempted out
of crusty and unredeemable solitari-
ness.
If you want to keep your children
away from places of sin, you can only
do it by making your home attractive.
You may preach sermons and advocate
reforms and denounce wickedness, and
yet your children will be csptivated by
the glittering saloon of sin unless you
can make your home a brighter place
than any other place on earth to them
Oh, gather all charms into your house!
If you can afford it, bring books and
pictures and cheerful entertainments to
the household. But, above all, teach
those children, not by half an hour
twice a year On the Sabbath day, but