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

ehAt you oQnnot ~ INTO the habit OF tak
ing gtrons drink 10 please others without
getting that habit fastened ON you. / dt
not know whether TO tall N Or not.
think ] will. A close carriage came 10 thu
door Of my church In Brooklyn one night
at the close Of religious service Some
one saad, "a gentleman In that carriage
wants to see you" I looked into the car.
riage, and there sat as fine q salesman and
as elegant gentleman us New York ever
saw, but that night he was intoxicated.
He said he wanted to put himself under
my care. He said he had left home, and
he never meant to 60 back again. I got into
the carriage with him and rode with him
until after midnight, trying to persuade
him to 60 home have been SCORES OF
times to Greenwood, following the dead,
but that was the most doleful ride ! ever
took. After midnight persuaded him to
go home. We alighted at his door. We
walked through his beautiful hall, his
wife and daughter standing back alright
ed at his appearance. / took him to his
room. l undressed him. I put him to
bed. Where is that home now? All broken
up Where are the wife and the daugh-
ter? Gone into the desolations Of widow
hood and orphanage. Where is the man
himself? Dead by the violence Of his own
hand. O commercial traveller though
your firm may give you the largest salary
of any man In your line, though they
might give you 10 per cent of all you sell,
or 30 per cent, or 30 per cent, or 90 per
cent, they cannot pay enough to make it
worth your while to ruin your soul. Be-
sides that, a commercial house never COM
pensates man who has been morally
ruined in their employ. A young man III
Philadelphia WAS turned out from his elm
ploy because Of inebriation, got in the
service Of the merchant who employed
him, and here ia the letter he wrote to his
employer:
''Sir, came into your service uncor-
rupt in principles and in morals, but the
rules Of your house required me to spend
my evenings at places of public entertain
ment and amusement in search of custom
ers. To accomplish my work in your serv-
Ice, I was obliged to drink with them
and join them in their pursuits of pleas
ure. 1t was not my choice, but the rule Of
the house. went with them to the thea
ter and the billiard table, but it was not
my choice. did not wish to Co. went
in your service. 1t was not my pleasure SO
to do, but was the conductor and COM
panion Of the simple ones, void alike of
understanding and Of principle, in their
sinful pleasures and deeds of deeper dark
ness, that I might retain them as your
customers. Your interest required it.
have added thousands Of dollars to the
profits of your trade, but at what expense
you now see, and l know too well. You
have become wealthy, but l am poor in
deed. And now this cruel dismissal from
your employ Is the recompense receive
for character ruined and prospects blast
ed in helping to make you a rich mani"
Alas for the man who gets such letter
rs that
Again, charge you, tell the whole
truth about anything you sell. Lying COM
mercial travellers will precede you. Lying
commercial travellers will come right after
you into the same store. Do not let their
unfair competition tempt you from the
straight line. 1t is all awful bargain that
a man makes when he sells his goods and
his soul at the same time A young man
in one Of the stores of New York was SELL
ing some silks. He was binding them up
when he said to the lady customer, 1T is
my duty to show you that there is frac-
ture in that silk" She looked at it and
rejected the goods. The head man of the
firm, hearing of 1t, wrote to the father Of
the young man in the country, saying:
Come and take your son away. He will
never make merchant" The father came
In agitation, wondering what his boy had
hanr Goipo and tho hoo ~ he Hp,,,
said: "Why, your son stood here at this
counter and pointed out a fracture in the
silk, and of course the lady wouldn't take
IT, We are not responsible for the igno-
rance Of customers. Customers must look
out for themselves, and we look out for
ourselves Your son will never make q
rs that allp" said the father.
"Ahl am prouder Of my boy than ever
was. John, get your hat and come home"
But 1t is almost night, and you go back
to the hotel. Now comes the mighty tug
for the commercial traveller. Tell me
where he spends his evenings, and will
tell you where he will spend eternity, and
l will tell you what will be his worldly
There is an abundance Of
choice. There Is your room with the books
There are the Young Mems Christian as
ISOLATION rooms. There are the week
night services of the Christian churches
There is the gambling saloon. There is
the theater. There Is the house of infamy.
Plenty of places to go to. But which, 0
immortal man, which, 0 God, which,
Well, you say, Il guess will guess
will go to the theater" Do you think
the tarying in that place until II O'Clock
at night will improve your bodily health
or your financial prospects or your eternal
fortune? No man ever found the path to
usefulness or honor or happiness or COM
mercial success or heaven through the
American theater. well" you say, II
guess, then, will go to- guess will
go to the gambling saloon" You will
first go to look. Then you will go to
play. You will make 800, you will make
$500, you will make 81 900, you will make
81 500-then you will lose all. Then you
will borrow some money so as to start
anew. You will make $50, you will make
5000, you will make s6O0-then you will
lose all. These wretches of the gambling
saloon know how to tempt you. But
mark this-all gamblers die poor They
may make fortunes-great fortunes-but
they lose them.
be Pure In Thought and Action.
"Well," you say, of can't go to the
theater and if 1 can't go to the gambling
saloon, then guess-I guess will go to
the house Of infamy." Commercial trav
elers have told me that in the letter box
ut the hotel within one hour after thei,
arrival they have had letters Of evil solic
itation in that direction. 1t Is far away
from home. Nobody will know it, Com
mcrcial travellers have sometimes gone in
that evil path. Why not you? Haiti! There
are other gates Of ruin through which
man may go and yet come out, but that
gate has spring lock which snaps him
in forever He who goes there Is damned
already. He may seem to be comparative
ly free for a little WHILE but he is only on
the limits, and the satanic police have
their eyes upon him to bring him in at
any moment.
The hot curse Of God Is on that crime,
and because of 1t there are men whose
heaven was hlotted out ten years ago.
There is no danger that they be lost.
They are lost now look through their
glazing eyeballs down into the lowest cav
ern of hell! Oh, destroyed spirit, why
thou in here todayp Dost think
have the power to break open the barred
gateway of tho penitentiary of the damned2
There is passage in Proverbs somewhat
hesitate to read, but do not hesitate long.
AT the window of my house I looked