Connecticut western news., 1899-07-27

| himself all the moral liabilities If | the financial institutions steal, he | steals. If they go into wild specula | tions, he himself Is a gambler. If they needlessly embarrass a creditor, he
 himself is guilty of cruelty. If they | swindle the uninitiated, he himself is | defrauder. No financial institution l ever had a money vault strong enough, | or credit stanch enough, or dividends | large enough, or policy acute enough to | hide the individual sins of its mem | bers. The old adage that corporations | have no souls Is misleading. Every corporation has as many souls as 1t has members.
 Again, many business men have been tempted to postpone their enjoy | ments and duties to a future season of entire leisure. What a sedative the Christian religion would be to all our business men if instead of postpon- ing it's uses to old age or death, they would take It into the store or factory or worldly engagements nowi It is folly to go amid the uncertainties of business life with no God to help. A merchant in a New England village was standing by horse, and the horse lifted his foot to stamp 1t in pool of | water, and the merchant, to escape the splash, stepped into the door of an in- surance agent, and the agent said, Il suppose you have come to renew your fire insurance?' "Oh," said the mer- chant, "I had forgotten thatw The in- surance was renewed, and the next day the house that had been insured was burned. Was 1t all accidental that the merchant, to escape a splash from a horses foot, stepped into the insur- ance office? No; 1t was providential.
 And what mighty solace for busi- ness man to feel that things are provi- dential! What peace and equilibrium in such a consideration, and what a grand thing if all business men could realize 1t!
 Adjourning Joys.
 Many, although now comparatively straitened in worldly circumstances, have a goodly establishment in the fu- ture planned out. They have in imag- ination built about 20 years ahead a house in the country not difficult of access from the great town, for they will often have business or old ac- counts to settle or investments to look after. The house is large enough to accommodate all their friends. The halls are wide and hung with pictures of hunting scenes and branch of antlers and are comfortable with chairs that can be rolled out on the veranda when the weather is invit- ing or set out under some of the oaks that stand sentinel about the house, rustling in the cool breeze and songful with the robins. There Is just land enough to keep them interested and it's crops of almost fabulous richness springing up under application of the best theories to be found in the agri- cultural Journals. The farm is well stocked with cattle and horses and sheep that know the voice and have
 kindly bleat when one goes forth to look at them. In this blissful abode their children will be instructed in art
 and science and religion. This shall be
 the old homestead to which the boys at college will direct their letters, and the hill on which the house stands
 will be called Oakwood or Ivy Hill or
 Pleasant Retreat or Eagle Eyrie. May
 the future have for every business
 man here all that and more besidesI
 But are you postponing your happi-
 ness to that time? Are you adjourn
 ing your joys? Suppose that you
 achieve all you expect-and that the
 vision I mention is not up to the reali-
 ty, because the fountains will be
 brighter, the house grander and the
 scenery more picturesque-the mistake
 is none the less fatal
 What charm will there be in rural quiet for a man who has for 30 or 10 years been conforming his entire na- ture to the settlements of business? Will focks and herds with their bleat and moan be able. to silence the h.
 satiable spirit of acqtisitiveness which has for years had full swing In the soul? Will the hum of the breeze soothe the man who now can find his only enjoyment in the stock market? | Will leaf and cloud and fountain charm the eye that has for three fourths of a lifetime found its chief beauty in hogsheads and bills of sale2 Will parents be competent to rear their children for high and holy purpose If their infancy and boyhood and girl hood were neglected when they are almost ready to enter upon the world and have all their habits fixed and their principles stereotyped? No, no; now is the time to be happy. Now Is the time to serve your Creator. Now is the time to be Christian. Are you too busy? I have known men as busy as you are who had a place In the store loft, where they went to pray. Some one asked a Christian sailor where he found any place to pray in. He said, "I can always find a quiet place at masthead" And in the busiest day of the season, if your heart is right you can find a place to pray. Busy thoroughfares are good places to pray in as you go to meet your various engagements. Go home little earlier and get introduced to your children. Be not a galley slave by day and night, dashed fast to the oar of business. Let every day have its hour for worship
 and intellectual culture and recreation. Show yourself greater than your busi- ness.
 Spiritual Dedication.
 Again, business men are often tempt ed to let their calling interfere with the interests of the soul God sends men into the business world to get ed ucated, just as boys are sent to school and college. Purchase and sale, loss
 and gain, disappointment, prosperity, the dishonesty of others, panic and
 bank suspension, are but different les
 sons in the school. The more busi-
 ness, the more means of grace. Many
 have gone through widest panic un-
 hurt. "Are you not afraid you will
 break" said some one to a merchant
 in time of great commercial excite
 ment. He replied, Aye, I shall break
 when the fiftieth Psalm breaks in the fifteenth verse, Call upon me in the
 day of trouble, and I will deliver
 thee." The store and the counting
 house haye dayploDpd some of the most