Connecticut western news., 1899-07-27

the steps of the carouSerS sound With the rumbling thunders of the lost. Farewell to all the sanctities of home! Could mother, sister, father, slumber- ing in the inland home, in some vision of that night catch a glimpse of the ruin wrought they would rend out thelr hair by the roots and bite the tongue till the blood spurted, shrieking out, God save himr'
 Gathering Curses.
 What, suppose you, will come upon such business establishments? And there are hundreds of them in the cities. They may boast of fabulous sales, and they may have an unprece- Gented run of buyers, and the name of the house may be terror to all rivals, and from this thrifty root there may spring up branch houses In other cities, and all the partners of the firm may move into their mansions and drive their full blooded span, and the fami- lies may sweep the street with the most elegant apparel that human art ever wove or earthly magnifcence ever achieved. But a curse is gathering surely for those men, and if 1t does not seize hold of the pillars and In one wild ruin bring down the temple of com mercial glory it will break up their peace, and they will tremble with sick ness and bloat with dissipations, and, pushed to the precipice of this life, they will try to hold back and cry for help, but no help will come, and they will clutch their gold to take it along with them, but 1t will be snatched from their grasp, and voice will sound through their soul, Not 8 farthing, thou beggared spirit"
 And the Judgment will come, and they will stand aghast before it, and all the business iniquities of a lifetime will gather around them, saying, Do you remember this?" and Do you re- member thatY And clerks that they compelled to dishonesty and runners and draymen and bookkeepers who saw behind the scenes will bear testi- mony to their nefarious deeds, and some virtuous soul that once stood aghast at the splendor and power of these business men will say, Alas, this is all that is left of that great firm that occupied block with their mer- chandise and overshadowed the city with their influence and made right eousness and truth and purity fall un- der the galling fire of avarice and crime"
 While we admire and approve of all acuteness and tact in the sale of goods we must condemn any process by which fabric or product is represent ed as possessing a value which 1t real ly does not have. Nothing but sheer falsehood can represent as perfection boots that rip, silks that speedily lose their luster, calicoes that immediate ly wash out, stoves that crack under the first hot fire, books insecurely bound, carpets that unravel, old fur niture rejuvenated with putty and glue and sold as having been recently man. ufactured, gold watches made out of brass, barrels of fruit, the biggest ap- ples on the top, wine adulterated with strychnine, hosiery poorly woven, cloths of domestic manufacture shin- ing with foreign labels, imported goods represented as rare and hard to get because foreign exchange is so high rolled out on the counter with match less display. Imported, indeed! but from the fact0y in the next street. A pattern already unfashionable and unstable palmed off as new print upon some country merchant who has come to town to make his first pur- chase of dry goods and going home with a large stock of goods warranted to keep.
 Tests That Won't stand.
 Again, business men are often tempt ed to make the habits and customs of other traders their law of rectitude. There are commercial usages which will not stand the test of the last day. Yet men in business are apt to do as their neighbors do. If the majority of the traders in any locality are lax in principle, the commercial code in that community will be spurious and dis honest. 1t is a hard thing to stand close by the law of right when your next door neighbor by his looseness of dealing Is enabled to sell goods at a cheaper rate and decoy your customers. Of course, you who promptly meet all your business engagements, paying when you promise to pay, will find it hard to compete with that merchant who is hopelessly in debt to the i'm porter for the goods and to the land lord whose store he occupies and to the clerks who serve him. There are a hundred practices prevalent in the world of traffic which ought never to become the rule for honest men. Their ,lxo ,{<~l Ci,, never becomes virtue by being multi piled and admitted at brokers board or merchants exchange. Because oth- CTS smuggle few things In passenger trunks, because others take usury when men are in tight places, because others palm off worthless indorse- ments, because others do nothing but blow bubbles, do not, therefore, be overcome of temptation. Hollow pre- tension and fictitious credit and con- mercial gambling may awhile prosper, but the day of reckoning cometh, and in addition to the horror and con- demnation of outraged communities the curse of God will come blow for blow. Gods law forever and forever is the only standard of right and wrong and not commercial ethics.
 Young business man, avoid the first business dishonor, and you will avoid all the rest. The captain of vessel was walking near the mouth of a riv- CT when the tide was low, and there was long stout anchor chain, into one of the great links of which his foot slipped, and 1t began to swell, and he could not withdraw 1t. The tide began to rise. The chain could not be loos- ened nor filed off in time, and a sur geon was called to amputate the limb, but before the work could be done the tide rolled over the victim, and his life was gone. l have to tell you, young man, that just one wrong into which you may slip may be link of a long chain of circumstances from which you cannot be extricated by any in- genuity of your own or any help from others, and the tides will roll over you as they have over many