Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-02-23

copyright, 1899 by American Press Assoc
cation.l
WASHINGTON, Feb. 19--In this discourse
DR.. Talmnge gives words of good cheer to
commercial travellers and tells of their
safeguards and their opportunities text,
Nahum ii, 4, "'The churiots shall rage in
the streets; they shall iustle one against
another in the broad ways; they shall
seem like torches; they shall run like the
lightnings
II has been found out that many of tho
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 II seems
10 me that they must have known thou
sands of years ago, in the days of Ninevch,
of the us 5 Of steam and its application to
swift travel. In my text | hear the rush
of tho rail train the clang of the wheels
and the jamming of the ear couplings
"The chariots shall rage in the streets !;
they shall justlc 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 depot along the
track waiting to see the rail train come at
full speed: At first you heard in the dis
tancc a rumbling like the coming of II
storm; then you saw the flash of the head
light OF the locomotive as it turned tho
ouruc; then you saw the wilder glare of the
fiery eve Of the train as it came plunging
toward you. then you heard the shrek
of the whistle that frcnzicd 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 thundcrhOlt
of the express train. Well, it seems that
we can hear the passing of midnight eX-
press train in my text, 1.-THE chariots shall
rage in the streets. they shall lustlc one
against another in the broad ways; they
shall seem like torches; they shall run like
the lighthings
| halt the train long enough to get on
board and l go through the cars, and
find to: efourths of the passengers are
commercial travellers They are folk
peculiar to themselves, easily recognized,
at home on all the trains, not startled by
the sudden dropping of tho brakes, ia
miliar wieh all the railroad signals, can
tell you what is the next station how
long the train will stop, what place the
:
information on almost any subject, arc
cosmopolitan, at home everywhere from
Halifax to san Francisco They are OF
the o'clock morning train, on the moor
train, on the midnight train. You take :
berth in a sleeping car, and either above
YOU or beneath you is one of these gentle
men. There are eOO, 900 profcsscd com
mcrcial travellers in the United States, bu
900, 600 would not include all those wht
are sometimes engaged in thi, -oryicC
They spend millions Of dollars every da,
in the hotels and in the rail trains. The.
have their official newspaper organ. The,
have their mutual benefit association
about 4. 900 names on the rolls, and hav'
already distributed more than 5000, 00
among the families of deceased members
They are ubiquitous unique and tremen
dous for good or evil. All the tendcncie
of merchandise are toward their multipli
cation. The house that stands back on it
dignity and waits for customers to com
instead of going to seek bargain maker
will have more and more unstable good
on the shelf and will gradually lose it
control Of the markets. while the great
entcrprising and successful houses vii
have their agents on ali the trains, an
their chariots will ia ge in the streets, the.
shall iostle one against another in tn
broad ways, they shall seem like torche,
they shall run like the lghtungs.
Words of Good Cheer.
think commercial travellers can starr
IA SerRou Of warm hearted sympathy.
you have any words of good cheer fO
them, you had better utter them. If yo
have any good, honest prayers in their bC
half. they will be greatly obliged to you
never knew a man yet who did not Xix
TO be prayed for. | never knew man Y,
that did not like to be helped. 1t seems I
me this sermon is timely. At this seaso
of the year there are tens of thousands C.
men going out to gather the spring trade
The months Of February and March j
all our commercial establishments ar
very busy months. In few days our III
tional pcrploXiticS will all be settled, an
then look out for the brightest ten year
of national prosperity which this countr
has ever witnessed. All our aStutc con
mercial men feel that we are standing ;
the opening gate of wonderful prospcrit!
Let the manufacturers put the bands q
their wheels, and the merchants open
new set of account books in place of tho'
filled with long columns of bad debts l..
us start on a new commercial campaign
Let us drop the old tune of Naomi, al
take up Ariel or Antioch"
Now you, the commercial traveller, ha'
received orders from the head men of Il
firm that you are to start on a long cXcu
sion You have your patterns all assert,
and prepared. You have them put up
bundles or cases and marked You ha
full instructions as TO prices. You kno
on what prices you are to stand firm, III
FRI. u hat Trif t..tf eat nm
what. You have your yalise or trunk,
both, packed. If were "a stranger, Won
have no right to look into that valisc, b
ar | am your brother | will take the libe
ty. l look into the yalise, and | congrat
late you on all these comfortable articl
of apparel The seasons are 50 changcat
you have not taken a single prccaution I
many. Some night you will get out
the snow bank and have to walk three
four miles until you get To the railro
station, and you will want all these con
forts and convcnioncos. But will you {
cuse me if ! make a suggestion or t,
about this valisc? You say, "Certainly;
we are having a plain, frank talk | W
not be offended at any honorable sugg'
ton
Put in among your baggage some ca
fully selected, wholesome reading. Let
be in history, or "A poem or u book Of PIT
fiction, or some volume that will give y
information in regard to your limo Of bu
ness. Then add to that Bible i'll rouI
beautiful typc-snall type is bad for I
eyes anywhere but peculiarly killing
the jolt of u rail train, Put your railro
guide and your Bible side by slde-the G
TO show yOu the route through this Wol
and the other TO show you the route to