The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1894-05-15
SAM JONES ON pRuaIMERs.
He Likes the ubiquitous Commercial
Crayelcr-Tne Improvement of
Twenty Years.

Improvement OF
Twenty Years.
There is no more characteristic
character in history or science, or art,
NOUS, many-sided and ubiquitous.
Wherever commerce is known and
traffic is carried on the drummer goes.
Having been on the road almost con-
stantly for fifteen years, my contact
with this class of men has been
frequent; and to be candid the more l
have seen os the drummer the more /
al see he has a big heart and an in
telligent head.
The drummer of to-day, compared
with the drummer of fifteen or twenty
years ago, makes n think favorably
of the doctrine of evolution, at least in
some of its phases. There is an i'm
mense difference, morally, at least,
between the drummer Of to-day and
the drummer Of twenty years ago.
The profane, whiskey drinking. beer
soaking gambling drummer is an ex-
ception. The rule is that the drum
mer 10 a bright, upright, intelligent,
moral a Some Of the best men l
know in America belong to the Il.
p. A.
The characteristic drummer, with
his fund of Jokes, with his good humor,
with his tact and talent, Is a very in
teresting man. Take him at the hotels,
on the railroad trains, on the streets,
and even when he is pushing his traffic,
everywhere you find illustrations OF
pluck and vim and enterprise and get
up-and-get.
They are ubiquitous. On every
train, in every hotel, on every street
corner, at every religious service, and
almost everywhere else, you will find
at least one drummer. IL he be re-
ligiously inclined, he shows it. If con-
VITALITY dominates him, he shows it
by his associations.
To keep cheerful and pleasant, and
yet follow the hard life that these men
do, must be a task indeed. Almost al
ways on tho road, with the incon-
y%enience of travel on night trains,
stopping at all classes of hotels, from
the hash house up to the Fifth Avenue,
drinking all kinds of water, eating all
kinds of grub, exposed to all kinds OF
weather, and worst Of all, away from
home and loved ones, their life is
indeed a hard one.
The thousands of homesick drum
mers whom l meet bear testimony to
their devotion to their wives and their
love for their children. God has made
mon so that there Is nc weaving of O
true man away from his home. Old
drummers have told me that they have
been on the road twenty years, and yet
each successive year their absence
from home and loved mes grows more
painful and uncomfortable. This is a
wise stroke Of Providence-this in
stinct we call love for home. If this
could be obliterated, then we would be
put wandering tribes of men, and
avery other man would be a tramp.
In this particular, l have suffered
with the ayaro 90 Dim m tho hprrorc
OF inconsistencies and the longings for
associations with loved ones at home.
The bright oasis in their lives is when
the three months trip is over and for
a week or ten days they enjoy the COM
pany and surroundings of home, and
the sweet noble wife and the prattle
of the children. Thousands of these
men, amidst all their hardships and
privitations, bear love and loyalty to
home and wife and children as sacred
as the memories which connect us
with he love of u sainted mother or
a sainted wife. Some of the best
Christian men / know today are COM
mercial travellers. Their life is q
benediction in the world of commerce.
BY life, example and conversation they
stand for a clean and upright man
hood.
l love the drummer because he is q
hearty fellow, and he has "a big heart.
His charities are many, his sympathies
are profound. When the record is
made up of the affairs of men, it will
be seen then, as it never will be known
before, how many deeds of charity and
how many rivers Of sympathy, have
gone forth from the lives of these men
wherever they have found objects of
charity and needs for their sympathy.
They are a generous set of fellows, and
withal impressionable as they listen to
the things preached, and movable
under tho influences of truth. 1t has
o my privilege to preach to ten
thousand drummers, no doubt, and
many letters have | received from
them, thanking me for the good they
had received and for the reformation Of
life which had come to Thorn under the
influence of my meetings.
| am glad it is true that the vulgar
and the wicked drummer is fast being
retired to the rear or switched off on Il
side track, where his life is less infu-
ential and his power for evil is abridg-
ed. When the drummer, with his
gripsack in n hand and his Bible in
the other, shall go forth pushing his
wares and pushing the cross of Christ
with equal vigor, then it is we will
take the world for God. These men,
ramifying this country from ocean to
ocean, in every city and hamlet, can
be q power for good cqualed by no
force, scarcely, | know among man, and
verify predict the day when the
commercial world with it's army OF
drummers will give to Christianity one
OF. its most potent forces and active
.Eagencies.
The drummer is not only q student
OF human nature, but he is a fine judge
OF 1T. Thrown in connection with all
Eclasses of men, if an apt scholar, he
soon becomes an expert in divining the
character and understanding his GUS
toner.
Above all things the drummer should
be an honest men. He should be q
man of the highest sense of integrity.
He should be n pure man in his por-
s0nal life. With honesty, integrity
and purity and his leading ch%aracteris-
tics, he will reflect honor upon his pro-
fession, and, with industry coupled to
these noble qualities, he will be ctfec-
~ -" T"l 49,