The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1899-09-02

any intention OF purchase, o~verturning
great stocks Of goods and insisting that
you break the dozen. More bad debts
on the ledger. More counterfeit bills
in the drawer. Morr debts to pay for
other people. More on the
part of partners in business. Annoy
ance after annoyance. vcxation after
vexation. and loss after loss,
All that process will either break you
down or brighten you up. II is q
school of patience. You have known
men under the process to become petu-
LIANT, and eholeric, and angry, and pug
nacious, and cross, and sour, and queer,
and they lost their customers, and their
name became a d~etestaiion- Other men
have been frightened up under the
process. They were toughened by the
exposure. They were like rocks, all the
more valuable for being blasted. At
first they had to choke down their
wrath. at first they had to bite their
lip. al first they thought Of some sting
ing retort they would like TO make, but
they conquered their Impotence. They
have kind words now for sarcastic
filings. They have gentle behavior now
for unmannerly customers. They are
patient now with unfortunate debtors.
They have Christian reflections now for
sudden reverses. Where did they get
that patience? By hearing a minister
preach concerning it on Sabbath? oh.
no. They got it just where you will get
tiff you ever get it at all-selling hats,
discounting notes, turning banisters,
blowing corn. timing roofs, pleading
causes. Oh, that amid the turmoil and
anxiety and evaporation Of everyday
life you might hear the voice of God
saying: an patience possess your soul.
Let patience have her perfect work"
l remark again that business life is
q school of useful knowledge. Mer-
chants do not read many books and do
not study ~lexicons. They do not dive
into %profounds Of learning, and yet
nearly all through their occupations
come to understand questions OF
finance, and politics, and geography,
and Jurisprudence, and ethics. Bust
ness is q severe schoolmistress. If pu-
pills will not learn, she strikes them over
the head and the heart with severe
losses. You put $1,000 into an enter
prise. 1t is all gone. You say: THAT
is a dead loss" oh, no. You are paying
the schooling. That was only tuition,
very large tutition-I told you it was a
severe schoolmistress-bu II was worth
1t. You learned things under that proc
ess you would not have learned In any
other way.
Traders In grain come TO know some
thing about foreign haryests; traders In
fruit come TO know something about
the prospects Of tropical production;
manufacturers Of American goods come
TO understand the tariff on imported
articles; publishers Of books must come
to understand the new law OF copy
right; owners OF ships must come TO
know winds and shoals and navigation,
and every bale Of cotton aud every
raisin cask and every tea box and every
cluster Of bananas is SO much literature
for a business man. Now, my brother.
what are you going to do with the intel
ligence? Do you suppose God put you
In this school OF information merely
that you might be sharper in a trade,
that you might be more successful as a
worldlingr Oh, 10. II was that you
might take that useful information and
use it for Jesus Christ.
Can IL be that you have been dealing
with foreign lands and never had the
missionary spirit, wishing the salvation
Of foreign people? Can 1t be that you
have become acquainted with all the
outrages inflicted in business life and
that you have never tried to bring to
bear that Gospel which is to extirpate
all evil and correct all wrongs and IL
illuminate all and save men for this world
and the world darkness and lift up all
wretchedness to come? Can it be that
understanding all the i~ntricacies Of
business you know nothing about those
things which will last after all bills Of
exchange and consignments and in
voices and rent rolls shall have crum-
Piled up and been consumed in the fires
Of the last great day? Can it be that a
man will be wise for time and a fool for
eternity?
1 remark also that business life is a
school for integrity. No man knows
what he will do until he is tempted.
There are thousands Of men who have
kept their integrity merely because
they never have been tested. A man
was elected treasurer of the state Of
Maine some years ago. He was distin-
guished for his honesty, usefulness and
u~prightness. but before one year had
passed he had taken OF the public funds
for his W private use and was hurled
out Of Office in disgrace Distinguished
for virtue before. Distinguished for
crime after. You can call over the names
of men just like that, in whose honesty
you had complete confidence, but placed
in certain crises OF temptation .ney
ven overheard.
Never so many temptations TO scoun.
drelism as now. Not a law on the stat
ute book but has some back dooi
through which q miscreant al escape
An, how many receptions In the fab.
ric Of the goods! So much %plundering
IN commercial life that II a man tall
about living a life OF complete CONNER
cial integrity there are those who as
cribe 1t to greenness and lack Of tact
How many men do you suppose ther,
are in commercial life who could say
truthfully: "In all the sales / ] have eve
made / have never oyerstated the yalul
OF goods; In all the sales / have eye
made l have never covered up an imper
lection in the fabric; in all the thou
sands OF dollars ! have ever made l hay,
not taken II dishonest farthing?'
There are men, however, who can sa,
It, hundreds who can say It, thousand
who can say 1t. They are more homes
than when they sold their first tierc
OF rice, or their first firkin OF butteI
because their honestyan and integrity hay
|. been tested. tried and come u trI
umphant. But they remember q tim
. when they could have robbed a partner
, or have %absconded with the funds Of
. bank, oil made a false assignment, O
borrowed il~limitably without any ei
Z forts at payment, or got 4 man into
! sharp orner and fieeced him. But the
, never took one step on that pathwa
Of hell fire. They can say their pray
ers without hearing the chiBk Of dis
4 honest dollars. They can read thei
/, Bible without thinking Of the tim
wheD with . lie ON their soul IN III
custom house they kissed the BooI
! They can think Of death and the judG
! ment that comes after IL without an
NtrahIua- thai dav tpbe oil ohaNlatau