Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1897-07-27

W not ashamed to
work for her liv-
Ing. All the other women of Philip
pi and Thyatira have been forgotten
cut God has made immortal in our
text Lydia, the Christian saleswoman.
The other text shows you a man with
head, and hand, and heart, and foot all
busy toiling on up until he gains a
rrincely success. "Seest thou a man
diligent In his business? He shall
stand before kings"
Great encouragement in these two
passages for men and women who will
De busy, but no solace for those who
are waiting for good luck to show
them, at the foot of the rainbow. a
casket CT buried gold. 1t is folly for
anybody in this world to wait for
something to turn up. 1t will turn
down. The law of thrift is as 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 while. in
vert the same wand, and all the splen-
dcrs will vanish into thin air.
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. l
would like to fire the ambition of
young people. l have no sympathy
with those who would prepare young
folks for life by whiting down their
expectations. 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.
Therefore it is that I utter words of
encouragement to those who are &C.
! cupied as clerks in the stores and
| shops and banking houses of the coun-
! try. They are not an exceptional
| class. They belong to great COM
pany OF tens of thousands who are in
this country amid circumstances which
will either make or break them for
time and eternity. Many of these peo-
! pie have already achieved a Christian
manliness and Christian womanli-
ness which will be their passport to
any position. have seen their trials.
] have watched their perplexities.
There arc evils abroad which need to
be hunted down and dragged out into
the monday light.
In the first place, counsel clerks to
remember that for the most part their
clerkshlp is only 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 mer-
chant. Some of you will be clerks all
your lives, but the vast majority of
you are only in transient position.
After while, some December day, the
head men of the firm will call you into
the back office and will say to you:
Now, you have done well by us; we
are going to do well by you We in
vite YOU to have an interest in our con-
Germ" You will bow to that edict
very gracefully. Getting into a street
car to go home, an old comrade will
meet you ana say: What makes you
lcok so happy to 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 oc-
cupy. So / feel l 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, ship
pers, contractors, superintendent of
railroads - your voice mighty ION
standing foremost in the
great financial and religious enter
prises Of the day. For, though we
who are in the professions may, on the
platform, plead for the philanthropies.
after all, the merchants must come
forward 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 other place. What
YOU consider your disadvantages are
your grand opportunity. You see an af-
fluent father some day come down a
prominent street with his son who has
lust graduated from the university. and
establishing him in business, putting
O,OO0 capital in the store. Well, you
are enviCus. You say: "Oh, if | only
| had a chance like that young man
il l only had father to put $50 900 in
O business for me, then / would have
! 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 to
the docks when a vessel is about to
sail Cor Valparaiso, and say, Let me
pilot this ship out to sea-" Why, |
would sink crew and cargo before /
got out Of the harbor, simply because
know nothing about pilotage
| Wealthy sea captains put their sons
before the mast for the reason that
they know it is the only place where
they can learn to be successful sailors.
II is only under drill that people get
to understand pilotage and navigation,
and / want you to understand that it
takes no more skill to conduct a YES