St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1897-08-21
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
q Practical Sermon to the Great
Army Of Clerks

& Practical Sermon to the Great
Army Of Clerks.
Advice as to Conduct In Buslness-In-
Portance OF the Habits or Industry,
Punctuallty and ObedIence
to Employer.
Rev. 7. Dewitt Talmage addresses the
following sermon to the great host Of
clerks in stores, Offices and other places.
It is based on the texts:
And = certain woman named Lydia, . seller
Of purple, OF the city OF Thyatira, which wor-
SHIPPED God, heard US: whose heart the Lord
Opcncd-Acts xvi, IA
Seest thou . man diligent in his business He
shall stand before ekinss--Proverbs, XIII, e.
The first passaged introduce to you
Lydia, a Christian merchantess- Her
business is to deal in purple cloths or
silks She is not = giggling nonentity,
but practical woman. not ashamed to
work for her living. AL the other
women OF Philippi and Thyatira have
been forgotten; but God has made i'm
mortal in our text Lydia, the Christian
saleswomen. The other text shows
you = man with head, and hand, and
heart, and foot all busy toiling on up
until he gains = princely success.
'.Seest thou a man diligent in his busi-
ness7 He shall stand before kings"
Great encouragement in these two
passages for men and women who will
be busy. but no solace for those who
are waiting for good luck to show
them, 1t the foot of the rainbow, =
casket of buried gold. It is folly for
anybody in this world to wait for
something to turn up. 1t will turn
down. The law OF thrift is rs inexor-
able as the law of the tides. Fortune,
the magician, may wave her wand in
that direction until castles and palaces
come: but she will, after awhile, invert
the same wand, and all the splendors
will vanish into thin mir.
There are certain styles Of behavior
which lead to usefulness, honor and
permanent success, and there are Ger
tain styles of behavior which lead to
dust, dishonor and moral default I
would like to fire the ambition Of young
people. have no sympathy with those
who would prepare young folks for
life by whiting down their expecta-
tions- That man or woman will be
worth nothing to church or state who
begins life cowed down. The business
Of Christianity is not to quench but
TO direct human ambition. There
fore, it is that / utter words OF
encouragement to those who are occu-
pied as clerks in the stores. and shops,
and banking houses of the country.
They are not an exceptional class
They belong to q great company OF
tens of thousands who are in this
country, amid circumstances which
will either make or break them for
time and for eternity. Many of these
people have already achieved Chris
tian manliness and Christian woman
illness which will be their passport to
any position. have seen their trials.
I have watched their perplexities.
There are evils abroad which need to
be hunted down. and dragged out into
the MONDAY light.
In the first place, l counsel clerks to
clerkship is only . school from which
they are to be graduated 1t takes
about eight years to get into one of
the learned professions. it takes
about eight yeears to get to be = mer-
chant Some of you will be clerks all
your lives, but the vast majority of you
are only in transient position. AZ
ter awhile, some December day, the
head men of the firm will call you
into the back Office, and they will
say to you: Now, you have done
well by us; we are going to do well by
you. We invite you to have an interest
In our concern" You will bow to that
edict. very gracefully. Getting into >
street car to 60 home, an old comrade
will meet you and say: What makes
You look SO happy tonight" .-Oh." !"
you will say, nothing, nothing" But
in = few days your name will blossom
on the sign. Either in the store or
bank where you are now, or in some
other store or bank. you will take =
higher position thaa that which you
now occupy. Sol feel l am not address
ing people who will yet have their
hand on the helm of the worlds COM
merce. and you will turn it this way or
that; now clerks, but to be bankers,
importers, insurance company direc-
tors, shippers. contractors, superin-
tendents of railroads-your voice
mighty ION 'change"-standing fore
most in the great financial and relig-
tous enterprises OF the day. For, though
we who are in the professions may, on
the platform, plead for the philan-
thropies, after all. the merchants must
come forward with their millions to
suspend the movement
BE, therefore. patient and diligent
in this transient position. You are
now where you can learn things you
can never learn in any other place.
What you consider your disadvantages
are your grand opportunity. You see
m anluent father some day come down
. prominent street with his SON who
has Just graduated from the university,
and establishing him in business, put
ting $50, 900 OF capital in the store.
Well. you are envious. You say: .Oh,
IL only had = chance like that young
man-if only had father to put $50
900 in business for me, then would
nave some chance In the world" Be
not envious You have advantages
over that young man which he has not
over you. As well might come down
% the docks when . vessel Is about to
eail for Valparaiso. and say: Let me
pilot this ship ont to sea" Why, I
would sink crew and cargo before
rot ont Of the harbor, simply because
[ know nothing shout pilotage.
Wealthy sea captains pnt their sons be-
tore the mast for the reason that they
en- learn to b successful sailors It