Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1902-11-07

selves upon his mercy and plead and
continue to plead for divine strength.
Mighty as are the temptations the COM
mercial Traveller meets when he is away
FROM home, the divine power which Is
at his disposal is infinitely stronger. 1t
can triumph over every opposing force.
But there is still another reason why
the commercial traveller should not
yield to the temptations which he
meets away from home. The modern
knight OF the grip is naturally stron-
ger man. mentally. morally and physic-
ally, than the average man who Is
compelled to stay at home and work.
It takes brains, and lots OF brains, TO
be able to sell goods away from home
The time is past when the great mer-
chants think that any drunken, gam
bling, disappearing employee is good
enough to go upon the road. The en-
ployers today demand that their COM
mercial travellers be men of character,
OF brain. men with the moral stamina
to say yes and no. And, young man,
the mere fact that you are a COM
mercial traveller is proof positive that
you have character enough, by the
grace of God, TO be able to resist any
temptation which you may meet in
your travels.
Temptations assail the commercial
traveller alike when ne is buoyed up
discouraged by great financial de-
preston, when he is thrown of his
guard by exultation or disheart-
ened by a long succession OF bit
ter disappointments. Many CONNER
cial travellers do not receive a reg
ular guaranteed salary. They work on
a system of commissions. The more
goods they sell the more money they
receive. The less goods they dispose of
the less income they have. The aver
age commercial travellers income is apt
to ebb and flow like the tides. In one
town the knight OF the grip may sell
thousands OF dollars worth OF goods.
In every store he enters he finds q
large purchaser. In another town he
may not even meet expenses. Then.
when the average commercial traveller
has what he calls run of luck, he is
apt to be unduly elated, and that Ella
ton is often the means Satan uses TO
trip him up. The imminent dangers OF
exultation and disappointment are the
Charybdis and the Srylla which every
commercial traveller has 10 face.
Now, my friend, you who spend most
Of your life selling goods upon the
road, l want to warn you against the
dangers which come FROM either exul-
tation or encouragement. Henry Ward
Beecher cured one OF his parishioners
OF the temptation of entering into Wall
street speculations by an experiment.
The pastor OF Plymouth church asked
his friend not to gamble in stocks
for ut least three years. During those
three years Mr.. Beecher wanted him
to make study OF the stock market.
Every time he thought stocks were go
ing up he was to make memorandum
OF the same and decide how much be
wanted TO buy and every time he
thought he ought to sell stocks to make
memorandum OF the same. Then, at
the end of three years. Mr.. Beecher
said, Count up your results and find
out where you would have stood IL
these purchases and sales had actually
been made" This the parishioner did,
as Mr.. Beecher desired. At the end OF
three years he found out that IL he had
entered Wall street and speculated as
he wished TO do be would have been
bankrupted ten times over. You, my
commercial friend. may learn the same
lesson You do not have to expert
ment yourself. but you may see In the
lives of other commercial travellers the
results OF allowing either exultation
or dependency to overcome you. Re
call the history OF those commercial
travellers whom you have known for
the last i've or ten years. 1 want you
to try to remember all the drinkers and
carousers who started out with You
upon the road. Almost without excep-
ton. you know they have lost their DO
sitions and are living In comparative
poverty or are lying In drunkards'
graves. Now. my friend. dare you as
an intelligent man have run any such
risksf Dare you In any circumstances
drink or dissipate, no matter how in
tense may be your disappointments or
how exultant your joy?
Dangers threaten n modern CONNER
cial travellers life because his mind is
often beclouded OH account of physical
debilitation. To be n really successful
commercial traveller n young man
ought to have n physical constitution
or iron. He ought to have the same
kind of bone and muscle and sinew
which made the knights OF old famous.
He ought to be able to digest any kind
or food, sleep I'm hard or soft beds.
sleep on a hall lounge or on chair. or
lying upon the bare wooden seat of the
caboose OF freight train. He ought
To be able to walk along dark country
road at midnight in midwinter TO catch
the i o'clock train for the next town.
He ought 10 be able to assimilate ir-
regular meals, and have his nightly
rest broken mp once or twice, and
even thrice, by the chang
Ing or cars, and yet be cheerful and
happy and sell his goods Just the same
during the day. Alas, / well know
what are the physical difficulties of q
travellers life! For many years 1 have.
on and on, Travelled around the country
as a lecturer. / have had to suffer all
these trials, and have met and talked
with the knights OF the grip in many
lonely station In the midnight hour
while waiting for belated railroad
You Must Pay the Price.
But, even under the very brightest
OF conditions and even though a mans
backbone may seem to be made of
steel, nature will assert itself. A COM
mercial traveller must always pay the
price and have his physical frame re.
bel at the hardships which it has been
made to suffer, and SO during those
times of physical exhaustion a com.
mercial traveller, on account Of the
becloudment OF his mind, Is
often apt TO take a depressed view of
life. He Is apt to often lose his faith
In God and In his fellow men and to
feel that his own life Is not worth the
living and that he is but OF little use
to his fellow man. My brother, want
you, II you are a commercial traveller
and a stranger who hava fust NV