St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1899-03-25

OF pure fiction, or some volume that WILL
give you information in regard to your
line of business. Then add to that .
Bible in round, beautiful type-small
type IS bad for the eyes anywhere, but
peculiarly killing in the jolt of rail
train. Put your railroad guide and
your Bible side by side-the one to show
you the route through this world and
the other to show you the route to the
next world. "Oh," you say, that is su-
perfluous, for now IN all the hotels. in
the parlor. you will find Bible, and in
nearly ali the rooms of the guests
you will find one!" But. my brother,
that is not your Bible. You want your
own hat. your own coat. your own blar-
ket, your own Bible "But," you say.
81 am not a Christian, and you ought
not to expect me to carry Bible" My
brother, great many people are not
Christians who CARR a Bible. Besides
that before yol get home you might
become Christian. and You would feel
awkward withou; a copy. Besides that.
you might get bad news from home. i
see you with trembling hand opening
the telegram, saying: George is
dying" or .Fannie is dead; come
home!" Oh. as you sit in the train,
stunned with the calamity, going home,
you will have no taste for fine scenery,
or for conversation. and yet you must
keep your thoughts employed or yon
will go stark mad. Then you will want
Bible whether you read it or not. 1t
will be a comfort to have it near you
that book full OF promises which have
comforted other people in like calamity.
Whether you study the promises or net
you will want that Book near you. Am
l not wise when say put in the Bible?
Now. you are all ready to start. You
have your valise in The right hand and
you have your blanket aud shawl strap
in the left hand. Good-Ey! May you
have prosperous journey. large sales.
great percentages. Oh, there is one
thing forgot to ask you about-what
train are you going to take? WELL"
you say, II will take the five o'clock
Sunday afternoon train" Why? "Oh."
you say, Il shall save day by that, and
on Monday morning will be in the dis
tant city in the commercial establish
ment by the time the merchants come
down." My brother. you are starting
wrong. If you clip off something from
the Lords day, the Lord will clip off
something from your lifetime sue
cesscs. Sabbath breaking pays no better
for this world than it pays for the next.
Young man, the dollar that you earn
on the Sabbath is q red-hot dollar, and
If you put it into bag with 5000 hon
est dollars that fed-hot dollar will burn
a hole through the bottom of the lag
and let out all the 5000 honest dollars
with it.
But Sc. you change your mind. and
you are going on Monday morning. and
/ see you take. the. train-Pennsylvaria.
or the Baltimore & Ohio or the Hudson
River. or the Erie, or the Harlem. or the
New Haven train. For a few weeks
now you will pass half of your time in
the rail train. How are You going to
occupy the time? Open the valise and
take out book and begin to read.
Magnificent opportunities have our
commercial travellers for gaining infor-
nation above all other clerks or mer-
chants. The best place in the world
to study is a rail train. Iknow it by tx-
perience. Do not Go as some CONNER
cial travellers do-as many of them dc.
as most of them do-sit reading TIE
same newspaper over and over again
ard all the advertisements through and
through. then sit for two or three
hours calculating the profits they ex-
pect to make, then spending two or
three hours looking listlessly out of the
window, then spending three or four
hours in the smoking car. the rastiest
place in Christendom, talking with men
who do not know as much as you Go.
Instead cf that, call William Shake
speare. the dramatist, and John Rus
kin, the dramatist. end Tennyson. the
poet, and Bancroft and Macaulay. the
historians, and Ezekiel and Paul, the
inspired men of God, and ask them to
sit with you and talk with you. as they
will if you ask them. / hear You say:
II do wish I could get out of this busi-
ness of commercial travelling. I don't
like it," My brother. why don't you
read yourself out? Give me young
man of ordinary intellect and good eye
sight, and let him devote. to valuable
reading the time not actually occupied
in commercial GRAND. and in six years
he will be qualified for any position for
which he is ambitious.
But you have come now near the end
Of your railroad travel. / can tell by
the motion of the car that they are
pulling the patent brakes down. The
engineer rings the bell at the crossing.
The train stops. "All QUIT" cries the
conductor. You dismount from the
train. You reach the hotel. The land
lord is glad to see you-very glad! Re
stretches cut his hand across the reg
istry book with all the disinterested
warmth of a brother! You are assigned
an apartment. In that unilvitiDg
apartment you stay only long enough
to make yourself presentable. You
descend then into the reading room,
and there you find the commercial tray-
elers sitting around long table with
a great elevation in the center covered
with advertisements, while there are
inkstands sunken in the bed of the
table. and scattered all around rusty
steel pens and patches of blotting pa
per. Of course yon will not stay there.
You saunter out among the merchants.
You present your letters of introduc-
ton and authority. You begin busi-
ness. Now. let me say, there are two
or three things you ought to remember.
First. that all the trade you get ny thr.
practice of "::reating" viii rot stick.
II you cannot get custom except by fip-
ping n wine glass with somebody. you
lad bettef not get his custom. An old
commercial traveller gives as his ex-
perieEce that trade got by treating
always damages the house that gets il
in one way or the other.
Again. charge you. tell the whole
truth about anything you sell. Lying
commercial travellers will precede you.
Lyirg commercial travellers will come
right after You into the same store.
Do not let their unfair competition