The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1897-07-30


lies behind the counter. There are
just as many lies before the counter
Augustine speaks of man who adver.
tised that he would. on certain 0cctl-
sion, tell the people what was in their
hearts. A crowd assembled, and he
stepped to the front and said: IL will
tell you what is in your hearts:
To buy cheap and sell dear?"
Oh, lay not aside YOUR tirbani4
4 ty when you go into d store.
Treat the clerks like gentlemen and
ladies-proving yourself to be gem
! tleman or a lady, Remember, that il
the prices are high and your purse ID
lean, that is no fault of the clerks.
And if you hava son or daughter
amid those perplexities of commercial
| life, and such a one comes home all
worn out, be lenient, and know thai,
the martyr at the stake no more cert
tainly needs the grace of God than
our young people amid the seven-times
heated eXasperations of clerks life.
Then there are all the trials which
come to clerks from the treatment of
inconsiderate employers. There are
protested Christian men who have no
have for the scales on which the sugars
are weighed. A clerk is no more than
SO much store furniture. No considers-
ton for their rights or interests. Not
one word of encouragement from sun
rise to sunset, nor from January to
December. But when anything goes
wrong-a streak of dust on the
counter, or box with the cover
off-thunder showers of scolding. Men
imperious, capricious, cranky toward
their clerks-their whole manner as
much as to say: "All the interest l
have in you is to see what can get
out OF YOU" Then there are all the
trials of incompetent wages, not in
such times as these, when if a man gets
half a salary for his services he ought
to be thankful, but / mean in prosper
GUS times. Some of you remember
when the war broke out and all mer-
chandise went up, and merchants were
made millionaires in six months by the
simple rise in the value of goods. Did
the clerks get advantage of that rise?
Sometimes, not always. l saw
estates gathered in those times over
which the curse of God has hung ever
since. The cry of unpaid men and
women in those stores reached the
Lord of Sabaoth, and the indigna alton
of God has been around those estab-
lishments ever since, flashing in the
chandeliers, glowing from the crimson
upholstery, rumbling in the long roll
of the ten-pin alley. Such men may
build up palaces of merchandise
Heaven high, but after awhile a dis
aster will come along, and will put one
hand on this pillar, and another hand
on that pillar, and throw itself for
ward until down will come the whole
structure, crushing the worshippers as
grapes are mashed in the wine press.
My word is to all clerks: Be mightier
than your temptations. "A Sandwich
Islander used to think when he slew
an enemy all the strength of that
enemy came into his own right arm.
And | have to tell you that every mis-
fortune you conquer is so much added
to your own moral power. With omnip
otence for a lever, and the : throne
of God for fulcrum, you can
move earth and Heaven. While |
there are other young men
putting the cup of sin to their |
lips, you stoop down and drink out OF
the fountain of God, and you will rise |
up strong to thresh the mountains. |
The ancients used to think that pearls |
were fallen rain drops, which, touch. |
ing the surface of the sea, hardened |
into gems, then dropped to the bot |
tom. L have to tell you to-day that |
storms of trial have showered imper.
ishable pearls into many young |
mans lap. 0, young man, while
you have goods to sell, remem-
Der you have soul to save. |
in a hospital a Christian captain, |
wounded few days before, got de. |
lnious, and in the midnight hour he
sprang out on the floor of the hospital,
thinking he was in the battle, crying:
Come on, boys! Forward! Charger /
All! He was only battling the specters
of his own brain. But it is no imagin-
airy conflict into which l call you,
young man, to-day. There are 10000
spiritual foes that would capture you.
In the name of God, up and at them.
After the last store has been closed
after the last bank has gone down, af-
ter the shuttle of quick feet on the Gus
tomhouse steps has stopped, after the
long line of merchantmen on the sea
have taken sail of flame, after Wash
ington, and New York, and Lon.
don, and Vienna, have gone down
into the grave where Thebes, and
Babylon, and Tyre lie buried, after the
great fire bells of the judgment day
have tolled at the burning of a world
on that day all the affairs of banking
houses and stores will come up for in.
spection. Oh, what an opening oil
account books! Side by side, the
clerks and the men who employed
them. Every invoice made out-all the
labels of goods-all certificates of stock
ALI lists of prices-all private marks
Of the firm, now explained SO every
body can understand them. All
the maps of cities that were never
built, but in which lots were sold.
All bargains. All gougings. All snap
All false entries. All
of liquors with coppers
and strychnine. All mixing of teas,
and sugars, and coffees, and sirups,
with cheaper material. All embezzle.
ments of trust funds. All swim.
dlers in coal, and iron, and oil,
and silver, and stocks. On that
day when the cities of this
world are smoking in the last conda-
grafton, the trial will go on; and down
in an avalanche of destruction will GO
those who wronged man or woman. in
suited God and defiled the Judgment
Oh. that will be great day for you,
honest Christian clerk. No getting
up early; no retiring late; no walk.
ing around with weary limbs; but
in which to live, and a realm
Of light and love and JOY, over which
to hold everlasting dominion. Hoist
him up from glory to glory, and from
song to song, and from throne tt
throne; for while others go down