The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1893-08-10
gle gees on. Night gives no quiet to

brain that will not stop thinking.
The dreams are narrowed by imag-
mary loss and flushed with imaginary
gains Even the Sabbath can not dam
back the tide of anxiety, for this wave
of worldliness dashes clear over the
churches, and leaves its foam on Bibles
and prayer books. Men who are living
on salaries or by the culture of the soil
can not understand the wear and tear
of body and mind to which our mer-
chants are subjected, 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 a great many of our best
men in mid-life into the grave.
They find that Wall street does not
end at the East river. 1t ends at Green
wood! Their life dashed out against
money safes. They go with their store
on their backs. They trudge, like cam
els, sweating, from Aleppo to Damas-
Gus. They make their life a cruciixion.
Standing behind desks and counters
banished from the fresh air, weighed
down by carking cares, they are so
many suicides Oh! l wish 1 could, to-
day, rub out some of these lines of
care; that l could lift some of the bur-
dens from the heart; that l could give
relaxation to some of these worn mus
cles. 1t is time for you to begin to
lyn ~ 1;ff1a n
and then trust God for the rest. Do
not fret. God manages all the af-
fairs of your life, and He
manages them for the best. Consider
the lilies they always have robes.
Behold the fowls of the air-they al
ways have nests. Take long breath.
Bethink, betimes, that God did not
make you for pack-horse. Dig your
selves out from among the hogsheads
and the shelves, and in the light of the
holy Sabbath day resolve that you
will give to the winds your fears and
your fretfulness, and your distresses.
You brought nothing into the world,
and it is very certain you can carry
nothing out. Having food and raj
ment be Herewith content. The mer-
chant 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: II am Left"
and the little child threw up it's hands,
and said: Papa, I am here" The
aged grandmother, seated in the room,
| said: "Then you have all the promises
of God, beside, John" And he burst
into tears, and said: 'God forgive me,
that have been so ungrateful. l find
| have great many things left. God
| forgive me-"
Again l 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. 1t is often the case that the
father is the mere treasurer of the fam
lily, sort of agent to see that they
have dry goods and groceries. The
work of family government he does
not touch. Once or twice in year he
calls the children up on a Sabbath
afternoon when he has half hour he
does not exactly know what to do with,
and in that half hour he disciplines 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
semi-annual castigation. The family
table, which ought to be the place for
pleas ant discussion and cheerfulness.
often becomes the place of perilous ex-
petition. 1t 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, MAX
ing estimates in the interstices of the
repast The work done, the hat goes
on the head and he starts down the
street, and before the family have
risen from the table he has bound
up another bundle of goods and saws
to the customer: Anything more
can do for you to-day, sir?'
A man has more responsibilities
than those which are discharged bv
putting competent instructors over his
children and giving them a drawing.
master and music teacher. The phys.
ical culture of the child will not be
attended to unless the father looks tc
it. He must sometimes lose his dig.
nifty. He must unlimber his Joints. He
must sometimes lead them out to Their
sports and games. The parent who
can not forget the severe duties of life
sometimes to fly the kite, and trund1e
the hoop and chase the ball, and iumr
the rope with his children, ought
never to have been tempted out
OF crusty and unredeema-
bic solitariness. If you want to keep
your children away from places of sin
you can only do it by making v our
home attractive. You may preach ser.
mons, and advocate reforms. and de.
nounce wickedness, and yet your chill.
dren will be captivated by the glitter.
ing 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. II
you can afford it, bring books, and
| pictures, and cheerful antar+,;,