The Yale expositor., 1899-02-24

are merely the restoration of thou
sands of years ago. l suppose that
the past centuries have forgotten more
than the present century knows. 1t
seems to me that they must have
known thousands of years ago, in the
days of Nineveh, of the uses OF steam
and its application to swift travel In
my text l hear the rush of the rail
train, the clang of the wheels and the
jamming OF the car couplings. THE
chariots shall rage in the streets; they
shall jostle one against another in the
broad ways; they shall seem like
torches; they shall run like the light
nings."
Have you ever taken your position
in the night, far away from a depot,
along the track, waiting to see the rail
train come at full speed? At first you
heard in the distance a rumbling, like
the coming of a storm, then you saw
the flash of the headlight of the loco
motive as it turned the curve; then
you saw the wilder glare of the fiery
eye of the train as it came plunging
toward you; then you heard the shrek
of the whistle that frenZied all the
echoes; then you saw the hurricane
dash of cinders; then you felt the jar
Of the passing earthquake, and you
saw the shot thunderbolt of the ex-
press train. Well, it seems that we
can hear the passing of midnight
express train in my text: THE chart
otto CHI in, CD
shall jostle one against another in the
broad ways; they shall seem like
torches; they shall run like the light
nings."
/ halt the train long enough to get
on board, and / go through the cars,
and l find three-fourths of the passen-
gers are commercial travellers. They
are a folk peculiar to themselves,
easily recognized, at home on all
trains, not startled by the sudden
dropping of the brakes, familiar with
all the railroad signals. can tell you
what is the next station, how long
the train will stop. what place the pas
sengers take luncheon at, can give you
on almost any subject, are
cosmopolitan, at home everywhere
from Halifax to San Francisco. They
are on the s o'clock morning train, on
the noon train, on the midnight train
You take a berth in a sleeplng-car, and
either above you or beneath you is
one of these gentlemen. There are
100, 900 professed commercial travellers
in the United States; but 500, 900 would
not include all those who are some
times engaged in this service. They
spend millions of dollars every day
in the hotels and in the rail trains.
They have their official newspaper
organ. They have their mutual ben
eft association, about 1000 names on
the rolls, and have already distrib-
uted mere than 100000 among the
of deceased members. They
are ubiquitous. unique and tremen-
dous for good or evil. All the tenden-
cies of merchandise are toward their
multiplication. The house that stands
back on its dignity and waits for GUS
toners to come, instead Of going to
seek bargain-makers, will have more
and more unstable goods on the
shelf, and will gradually lose its con-
troll of the markets; while the great,
and successful houses will
have their agents on all the trains,
and their chariots will rage in the
streets; they shall jostle one against
another in the broad ways; they shah
seem like torches; they shall run like
the lightnings."
l think commercial travellers can
stand a sermon of warm-hearted sym
pathy. If you have any words of good
cheer for them, you had better utter
them. If you have any good. honest
prayers in their behalf, they will be
greatly obliged to you. never knew
a man yet who did not like to be
for; l never knew a man yet
that did not like to be helped 1t
seems to me this sermon is timely. At
this season of the year there are tens
of thousands OF men going out to
gather the spring trade. The months
of February and March in all our
establishments are very
busy months. In a few days our ma
tional perplexities will all be settled,
and then look out for the brightest
ten years of national prosperity which
this country has ever witnessed.
Now you, the commercial traveller,
have received orders from the head
men of the firm that you are to start
on a long excursion. You have your
patterns all assorted and prepared.
You have them put up in bundles or
cases and marked. You have full in
structions as to prices. You know on
what prices you are to stand firm,
and from what prices you may retreat
somewhat. You have your valise or
trunk, or both. packed. II I were
stranger l would have no right to look
into that valise, but as | am your
brother will take the liberty. look
into the valise and ] congratulate you
on all these comfortable articles of
apparel. The seasons are so change
able you have not taken a single pre-
caution too many. Some night you
will get out in the snowbank and have
to walk three or four miles until you
get to the railroad station, and you
will want all these comforts and con-
veniences. But will you excuse me IL
Y -. ~.