The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1897-08-26

buy. Now l call that dishonesty on
the part of the customer IT boy runs
into store and takes roll OF cloth off
the counter, and sneaks out into the
street, you all join in the cry pell-meil:
Stop thief!' When ] Bee you go into
a store, not expecting t. buy anything
bnt to price things, stealing the time
of the clerk and stealing the time of
his employer, l say, too: Stop thief"
If | were asked which class of per-
sons most need the grace of God amid
their annoyances, l would say dry
goods clerks" All the indignation of
customers about the high prices comes
on the clerk. For instances: A great
war comes. The manufactures are
closed. The people go off to battle.
The price of goods runs up. A Gus
toner comes into a store. Goods have
gone up. How much is that worth?"
"A dollar" "A dollar. Outrageous.
\ dollar" Why, whose to blame for
the fact that it has got to be a dollar?
Does the indignation go out to the
manufacturer on the banks of the Mer-
rimac, because they have closed up?
No. Does the Indignation go out to-
ward the employer, who is out at his
country seat? No 1t comes on the
clerk. He got up the war! He levied
the taxes! He puts up the rents. OF
course, the clerk!
Then great trial comes to clerks in
the fact that they see the parsimonious
side of human nature. You talk about
lies behind the counter. There are
just as many lies before the counter.
Augustine speaks of man who adver-
tised that he would, on a certain occa-
sion, tell the people what was in their
hearts. A crowd assembled, and he
stepped to the front and said: II will
tell you what is in your hearts:
To buy cheap and sell dear?"
Oh, lay not aside your urbani-
ty when You go into store.
Treat the clerks like gentlemen and
ladies-proving yourself to be a gen
tleman or a lady, Remember, that if
the prices are high and your purse is
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 that
the martyr at the stake no more GER
tainly needs the grace of God than
our young people amid the seven-times
heated eXasperatiOns of a clerks life.
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 l have to tell you that every mis-
fortune you conquer is SO much added
to your own moral power. With omnip-
otence for 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 a young
mans lap. 0, young man, while
you have goods to sell, remem-
Der you have soul to save.
in a hospital Christian captain,
wounded a few days before, got de-
lirious, and in the midnight hour he
sprung out on the floor of the hospital,
thinking he was in the battle, crying:
Come on, boys! Forward! Charged
All. lie 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 49, 900
spiritual foes that would capture you.
In the name of God, up and at them.
After the last store has been close d,
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 world
on that day all the affairs of banking
houses and stores will come up for in.
spection. Oh, what an opening of
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
all 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
Judgments All false entries All
authorizations of liquors vita coppers
and strychnine. All mixing of teas,
and sugars, and coffees, and sirups,
with cheaper material. All embezzle-
ments of trust funds. AL, 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 confia-
grafton, the trial will 60 on; and down
in an avalanche of destruction will 90
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