The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1898-02-17

women of the 0l6oe-FeDarka0So To-
their virtue. or their want Of II, o. re
markable for their deeds-Deborah
and Jesebei and Herodias and Alfalfa
and Dorcas and the Marya ,exeelleat
and abandoned-it 10 high time, some
Of the. attention we have been givins
to these conspicuous women Of The
Bible be given to Julia, an ordinary
woman. amid ordinary circumstances
attending to ordinary duties and meet
ing ordinary responsibilities.
Then there are all the ordinary busl.
ness men. They need divine and
Christian help. When We begin to talk
about business life. we shoot right on
and talk about men who did business
on . large scala, and who sold mill.
ions Of dollars Of goods . year, and
the vast majority Of business men do
not sell million dollars Of goods, nor
half . million. nor quarter Of . mill.
ion, nor the eighth part Of . million.
Put all the business Of our cities,
towns, villages and neighborhoods
side by side. and you win hnd that
they sell less than 10000 worth Of
goods. All these men in ordinary bust.
ness life want divine help. You zee
how the wrinkles are printing on the
countenance the story Of worriment
and care.
You cannot tell how old q business
man is by looking at him. Gray hairs
at 30. A man at 46 with the stoop Of
uonogenarian. No time to attend to
improved dentistry. the grinders cease
because they are few. Actually dying
Of old age at 40 or 50, when they ought
to he at the meridian. Many Of these
business men have bodies like q ne
elected clock to which you come, and
when>y you wind 1t up 1t begins to buzz
and roar, and then the hands start
around very rapidly, and then the
clock strikes 8 or 10 or 4u, and strikes
without any sense, and then suddenly
stops. So Is the body Of that worn
out business man. 1t Is a neglected
clock. and though by some summer
recreation 1t may be wound up, still
the machinery Is all out Of gear. The
hands turn around with velocity
that excites the astonishment Of the
world. Men cannot understand the
wonderful activity, and there Is roar
and n buzz and a rattle about these
disordered lives and they strike 10
when they ought to strike s, and they
strike 12 when they ought to strike 6,
and they strike 40 when they ought to
strike nothing, and suddenly they
stop.
Now. what Is wanted is grace, d.
vine grace, for ordinary business men,
men who are harnessed from morn
till night and all the days Of their life
-harnessed in business. Not grace to
lose 100000, but grace to lose $40.
Not grace to supervise $50 employees
in factory, but grace to supervise
the boOkkeeper and two statesmen and
the small boy that sweeps out the
store. Grace to invest not the 0,000
Of net profit, but the $2,500 Of clear
gain. Grace not to endure the loss
of whole shipload of spices from the
Indies, but grace to endure loss of
q paper of collars from the leakage of
a displaced shingle on q poor roof.
Grace not to endure the tardiness Of
the American Congress In passing a
necessary law, hut grace to endure the
tardiness of an errand boy stopping
to play marbles when he ought to de-
liver the goods. Such grace us
thousands of business men have to-
day-kceping them tranquil, whether
goods sell or do not sell, whether GUS
toners pay or do not pay, whether
tariff is up or tariff is down, whether
the crops are luxuriant or dead fail
urc-calm in all circumstances and
amid all vicissitudes. That is the sind
OF grace we want.
Then there are all the ordinary
farmers. We talk about agricultural
life. and we Immediately shoot of to
talk about Cincinnatus, the patriclan,
who went from the plow to a high pO-
sitiOn. and after he got through the
dictatorship in 2l days went back
again to the plow. What encourage
ment is that to ordinary farmers? The
vast majority Of them-none Of them
will be patricians. Perhaps none Of
them will be senators. II any Of them
have distatorships, II will ne over 40
or so or 100 acres of the old homestead.
What these men want Is grace to keep
their patience while plowing with
halky oxen and to keep cheerful amid
the drought that destroys the corn
crcD and that enables them to restore
tie garden the day after the neigh
bor's cattle have broken In and tram
pied out the strawberry bed and gone
through the Lima bean patch and
eaten up the sweet corn In such large
quantities that they must be kept
from the water lest they swell up and
die.
Those stone masons do not want to
hear about Christopher Wren, the ar.
chi,ect. who built st. faurs cathedral.
II would be better to tell them how
10 carry the hod Of brick up the lad
,Iov xyithout a1.unsng and h0W ON n