The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-02-20

Or. vALMAoE's WORDS or CHEER TO
COMMERCIAL TRAVELLERS.
Cautions Them to start Right on
Their Jeurney-COndemns Work ON
the Sabbath - Duty of Employers.
Evils of Drink and Gambling.

| DR.. Talmage gives words OF good cheer tt
commercial travellers and tells Of theil
safeguards and their opportunities; text
Nahum il, 4, 1.-THE chariots shall rage il
the streets; they shall justle one agains
another In the broad ways; they shall
seem like torches; they shall run like til,
lightnings
1t has been found ont that many of thu
arts and discoveries which we supposed
were peculiar to our own age are merely
the restoration of the arts and discoveries
of thousands of years ago. suppose that
the past centuries have forgotten more
than the present century knows. 1t seems
to Inc that they must have known thou.
sands Of years ago, in the days of Ninevel,
Of the Uses Of steam and its application to
swift travel. In my text I hear the rush
| Of the rail train, the clang Of the wheels
and the tanning Of the car couplings
1.-THE chariots shall rage in the streets;
they shall justie ono 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 depot along the
track waiting to see the rail train come at
full speed? At first you heard In the dis
tance rumbliDg like the coming of a
Storm then you saw the flash of the head
light of the locomotive as it turned the
curue; then you saw the wilder glare of the
fiery eye of the train as 1t 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 earth
quake and you saw the shot thunderbolt
of the express train. Well, it seems that
we can hear the passing of midnight ex-
press train In my text, THE chariots shall
rage in the streets; they shall justle one
against another In the broad ways they
shall seem like torches; they shall run like
the lightnings.",
halt the train long enough to get on
board, and go through the cars, and
find three-fourths Of the passengers are
commercial travellers They arc folk
peculiar to themselves, easily recognized,
at homo on all the trains, not startled by
the sudden dropping Of the brakes, ia
miliar with all the railroad signals, can
tell you what is tho next station how
long the train will stop, what place the
passengers take luncheon at, can give you
Information on almost any subject are
cosmopolitan, at home everywhere from
Halifax to San Francisco They are on
the O'Clock morning train, on the noon
train, on the midnight train. You take a
berth in sleeping car and either above
you Or beneath you is one of these gentle
men. There are 100, 900 professed COM
mercial travellers in the United States but
500, 900 would not include all those who
are sometimes 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 benefit association,
about 1000 names on the rolls, and have
already distributed more than 100000
among the families Of deceased members.
They are ubiquitous, unique and tremen-
dous for good or evil All the tendencies
of merchandise are toward their multiple
cation. The house that stands back on its
dignity and waits for customers to come
instead Of going to seek bargain makers
will have more and more unstable goods
on the shelf and will gradually lose its
control of tho markets while the great,
enterprising 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 shall seem like torches,
they shall run like the lightnings."
Words of Good Cheer.
think commercial travellers can stand
sermon Of warm hearted sympathy. If
you have any words Of good cheer for
them, you had better utter them. II you
have any good, honest prayers in their be-
half, they will be greatly obliged to you.
never knew man yet who did not like
TO be prayed for. never knew 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 commercial establishments are
very busy months. In 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. All our astute COM
mercial men feel that we are standing at
the opening gate of wonderful prosperity.
Let tho manufacturers put the bands on
their wheels, and the merchants open a
now set of account books in place of those
filed with long columns of bad debts Let
us start on new commercial campaign.
Let us drop the old tune of Naomi, and
take up Ariel or "Antioch
Now you, the commercial traveller have
received orders from the head men of the
firm that you are to start on u long excur-
and prepared You have them put up in
h,I-
full instructions as to prices You know
on what prices you are to stand firm and
from what prices you may retreat some
what. You have your valise or trunk, or
both, packed. If were stranger, would
have no right to look into that yaliso, but
Us am your brother will take the liber-
ty. ! look into the valise, and congratu.
lnte you on all these comfortable articles
of apparel. Tho seasons are SO changeable
you have not taken single precauton too
many. Some night you will get out in
the snow bank and have to walk three or
four miles until you get to the railroad
station, and you will want all these conf
forts and conveniences. But will you ex-
cllse me II l make suggestion or two
about this volise2 You say Certainly; as
we are having a plain, frank talk will
not be offended Of any honorable sugges-
ton
Put in among your baggage some care
fully selected, wholesome reading. Let it
be in history, or poem, or q book of pure
fiction, or some volume that will give you
information in regard to your line of bust
ness Then add to that Bible in round,
beautiful type-small type Is bad for the
eyes anywhere, but peculiarly killing In
the jolt Of a rail train Put your railroad
guide and your Bible side by sde-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-
pcrfluous, for now in all the hotels, In the
parlor, you will find Bible, and in nearly
all the rooms Of the guests you will find
onel" But, my brother, that Is not your
Bible You want your own hat, your own
coat your own blanket, your own Bible.
But" you say, II am not Christian,
and You ought not to expect me to carry a
Bible" My brother, great many people
are not Christians who carry Bible. Be-
sides that, before you get home you might
become Christian, and you would feel
awkward without q copy Besides that
you might get bad news from home. l
see you with trembling hand opening the
telegram saying George is dying, or
"Faupie In dead; come homel" Oh M