The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1899-10-18

corner anu ueeceu ulu. Dut luey
never took one step on that pathway
of hell fire. They can say their
prayers without hearing the chink Of
dishonest dollars. Can read their
Bible without thinking of the time
when with lie on their soul in the
custom house they kissed the book.
They can think Of death and the
judgment that comes after it without
any Ainching-that day when all
charlatans and cheats and jockeys
and frauds shall be doubly damned.
| What school Of integrity bust
ness life is! If you have ever been
tempted to let your integrity chringe
before present advantages, if you
have ever wakened up in some en-
barrassment and said: "Now I will
step little aside from the right path,
and no one will know it, and I will
come all right again. II is only
once" That only once has ruined
tens of thousands of men for this life
and blasted their souls for eternity.
A merchant in Liverpool got a f5
Bank of Eogland note, and, he saw
some interlineations in what seemed
red ink. He finally deciphered the
letters and found out that the writing
had been made by slave in Algiers
saying in substance, "Whoever gets
this bad note will please to inform
my brother, John Dean, living near
Carlisle, that I am slave of the bey
of Algiers!" The merchant sent
word, employed Government officers
and found who this man was spoken
of in this bank note. After awhile
the man was rescued, who for eleven
years had been a slave of the bey Of
Algiers. BE was Immediately eman-
cipated, but was so worn out by hard
ship and exposure he soon after died.
Oh, if some of the bank bills that
come through your hands could tell
all the scenes through which they
have passed it would be a tragedy
eclipsing any drama Of Shakespeare,
mightier than King Lear or Mac
beth!
Plato and Aristotle were so opposed
to merchandise that they declared
commerce to be the curse of the ma
tions, and they advised that cities be
built at least ten miles from the sea
coast. But you and I know that
there are no more industrious or
high minded men than those who
move in the world of traffic.
Some of them carry burdens heavier
thad hods of brick, and are exposed
to sharper things than the east wind,
and climb mountains higher than the
Alps or Himalayas, and if they are
faithful Christ will at last say to
them: "Well done, good and faithful
servant; thou hast been faithful over
few things, will make thee ruler
over many things. Enter thou into
the joy of thy Lord"
We talk about the martyrs of the
Piedmont valley, and the martyrs
among the Scotch highlands, and the
martyrs at Oxford. There are just
as certainly martyrs OF Wall street
and State street, martyrs of Fulton
street and Broadway, martyers of
Atlantic street and Chestnut street,
going through hotter fires or having
their necks under sharper axes.
Then it behooves rs to Danish all
fretfulness from our lives, if this sub
ject be true. We look back to the
time when we were at school, and we
remember the rod, and We remember
the hard tasks, and We complained
grievously, but now We see it was for
the best. Business life is a school,
and the tasks are hard, and the chas.
tisements sometimes are very gre.
vious; but do not complain. The
hotter the fire the better the refining
There are men before the throne OF
God this day in triumph who or
earth were cheated out Of everything
but their coffin. They were sued
they were imprisoned for debt, they
were throttled by constahles with 6
whole pack of wits, they were sole
out by the sheriffS, they bad to com
promise with their creditors, they
had to make assignments. Theil
dying hours were annoyed by tht
sharp ringing CT the door bell by
some impetuous creditor who thought
it was outrageous and impudent tina
q man should dare to die before ht
laid the last half dollar.
I had friend who had many mis-
fortunes. Everything went against
him. He had good business capacity
and was of the best of morals, but he