The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-07-23
BEHIND THE COUNTER.
REV. DIR. TALMAGE TO Statesmen
AND SALEsWOMEN.

He Would Inspire Them With . Healthy
Ambition and Allay Many Of Their An
noyances-Some Practical Advice and
Eloquent Exhortation
This sermon Of DR.. Talmage, ad-
dressed to the great host of clerks in
steers and offices and factories, viii in
spire such persons with healthful ambi-
tion and 'alFay many of their annoy
ances. Text, Acts xvi, IA, And a GER
tain woman named Lydia, a seller Of
purple, of the city Of Thyatira, which
worshiped God, heard us, whose heart
the Lord opened" Proverbs xvii, 20,
."Seest thou a man diIient in his BUSH
ness? He shah stand before kings"
lydia, a Christian nferchantess. Her
business is TO deal in purple clothes or
silks. She is a gigglfng nonentity,
but a practical woman, not ashamed to
work for her living. All the other wo-
men of Philippi and Thyatira have been
forgotten, but God has made immortal
in our text Lydia, the Christian sales
III olilcI lCAI SIo"S you d
man with head and hand and heart and
foot all busy tOiling on up until he
gains a pyincely success. "SeeSt thou a
man diligent in his business? He shall
stand before kings"
Great encouragement in these two
passages for man and women who will
be busy, but no solace for those who
are waiting for good luck to show
them, at the foot Of the rainbow, a
ysarkaf nf hurried o<nl6 Ut ic nfnl1u for
anybody in this world to wait for some
thing to turn up. It will turn down.
The law OF thrift is as inexOrable as the
law of the tides. Fortune, THE magi-
clan, may wave her wand in tina direc-
tfOn until castles and palaces come, but
she will after awhile invert the same
wand, and all the splendors will van
fish into tnin air.
Their 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 am bitiOn of young
people. / ave mo sympathy with those
who would epa young folks for life
by whiting down their expectations.
That man or woman will be worth
nothing to church or state who begins
life covcd down.. The business of
II rs Fblllly 10 IlOl W dISlICI DuL w I'LL
rect human ambition. Therefore it is
that / utter words of encouragement to
those who are occupied as clerks in the
stOres and shops and banking houses
of the country. They are not an ex-
ceptiOnal class. They belong to a great
of tens of thousands who are
i'm this country, amid circumstances
which will esther make or break them
for time and for eternity. Many of
n IS-o ,Nn1pla hLo,va % JrooIx- nohiorn1 a
Christian manliness and a Christian
womanliness which will be their pass
port to any position. 1 have seen their
trials. / have watched their perplexi-
ties. There are evils abroad which
need to be hunted down and dragged
out into the monday light.
PATIENCE AND DILIGENCE.
In the first place, / counsel clerks to
remember that for the most part their
clerkship rs only a school from which
they are to be graduated. 1t takes
about eight years to get into one OF the
learned professions. 1t takes about
eight years to get to be a merchant.
Some of you will be clerks all FOUR
lives, but the vast majority of you are
only in. a transient position. After
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 we'll by us, We
are going to dc we'll by you. We invite
you to have an interest in our concern
You will bow to that Nedict very grace
fully. Getting into a street car TO go
home, an old comrade will meet you
and say, What makes you look so
happy tonight?" oh" you will say,
nothing, nothing" But in a 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 a higher position than
that which you now occupy. So I feel
I am now addressing people who will
yet have their hand ON the helm of the
worlds commerce and you Will turn it
this way or that. Now clerks, but to be
bankers, importers, insurance company
directors, shippers, contractors, super
~intendentS of ailrOadS-yOur voice
mighty Ion 'Change"-standing fore
MOST in the. great financial and relig-
ious 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 orwar with their millions to
sustain 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 Nther place. What
you consider your disadvantages are
your grand opportunity. You see an
Hfiuent ather some day come down "a
prominent street with his son who has
Just graduated from the university and
establishing him in business, putting
$50, 600 of capital in the store. Well,
You are enVious. You say: "Oh, IT
only had a hance like that young man!
If | only had a father to put $780, 900 IN
a business for me, then I would have
some chance in the world Be not en-
vious. You have advantages over THAT
young man which he has not over you.
AS we'll might 1 come down to the
docks when a vessel is about to sail for
Valparaiso and say, Let me pilot this
ship out to sea-" Why, l would sink
crew and cargo before I got out of the
harbor simply because l know nothing
about pilotage. Wealthy sea captains
put their sons before the mast for tbs
reason that they know it is the only