Marshall County independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1897-1902, 1899-09-08

first frkin of butter, because their
honesty and integrity have been test
ed. tried and come out triumphant But
they remember a time when they could
have robbed a partner, or have alb
seconded with the funds Of a bank, or
sprung snap judgment, or made
false assignment. or borrowed ililmlt-
ably without any efforts at payment,
or got a man into a sharp corner ana
fleeced him. But they never took one
step on that pathway OF hell fire. Ihey
can say their prayers without hearing
the chink of dishonest dollars. They
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 IL
without any flinching-that day when
all charlatans and cheats, and jock
eys and frauds shall be doubly damn
ed. 1t does not make their knees
knock together, and it does not make
their teeth chatter to read 'as the part
ridge stitch on eggs, and hatcneth
them not; so he that getteh riches, and
not by right, shall leave them in the
midst of his days, and at his end shall
be a fool
What a school of integrity business
life is, If you have ever been tempt
ed to let your integrity cringe before
present advantage, if you have ever
wakened up in some embarrassment,
and said: Now, l will step little
aside from the right path and no one
will know it, and | will come all right
again. it 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 five
pound Bank of England note, and.
holding it up toward the light, he saw
some interlineations in what seemed
red ink. He finally deciphered the let
tiers, and found out that the writing
had been made by a slave in Algiers,
saying in substance: Whoever gets
this bank note will please to inform
my brother, John Dean, living near
Carlisle, that | am slave OF the Bey
employed government officers and
found who this man was spoken of in
this bank bill. After awhile the man
was rescued. who for eleven years had
been a slave of the Bey Of Algiers.
He was Immediately emancipated, but
was so worn out by hardship and ex-
posture he soon after died. oh, If
~ no
through your hands could tell all the
scenes through which they have pass
ed, it would be tragedy eclipsing any
drama of Shakespeare, mightier than
King Lear or Macbeth.
AS go on in this subject, / am i'm
pressed with the importance of our
having more sympathy with business
men. Is it not q shame that we in our
pulpits do not oftener preach about
their struggles, their trials, and their
temptations? Men who toll with the
hand are not apt TO be very sympathet-
ic with those who toll with the brain.
The farmers who raise the corn ana
oats and the wheat sometimes are
tempted to think that grain merchants
have an easy time, and get their prof.
its without giving any equivalent. Pa
to and Aristotle were SO opposed TO
merchandise that they declared COM
MERGE to be the curse of the nation,
and they advised that cities be built
at least ten miles from the sea coast.
But you and | know that there are no
more Industrious or high minded men
,l,o ln -Dr.l1 of
traffic Some of them carry burdens
heavier than hods of brick, and are
exposed to sharper things than the
east wind, and climb mountains high
er than the Alps or Himalaya, and II
they are faithful Christ will at last say
to them: We'll done. good and faith
full servant; thou hast been faithful
over a few things. l 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
street and Chestnut street, going
through hotter fires, or having their
necks under sharper axes Then it be-
hOOveS us to Danish all fretfulnesS
from our lives, if this subject 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. Bust
ness life is a school, and the tasks
are hard, and the chastisements some
times are very grievOus; but do not
complain. The hotter the fire the bet
ter the refining There are men before
the throne of God this day in triumph
who on earth were cheated out OF ev
erything but their coffin. They were
sued, they were imprisoned for debt,
they were throttled by constables with
whole pack of writS, they were sold
out by the sheriffs, they had to COM
promise with their creditors, they had
to make assignments. Their dying
hours were annoyed by the sharp ring
ing of the door bell by some impetuOus
creditor who thought it was outrageous
and impudent that a man should dare
to die before he paid the last half
dollar
/ had a friend who had many mis-
fortunes. Everything went against
him. He had good business capacity
and was of the best of morals but he
was one of those men such as you have