.w 1 - . (
BUYERS AND SELLERS
BUSINESS UFE THE SUBJECT OF DR.
TALM AGE'S ERMON.
Tbe Great Dlrine Pay nib Com
pllmeai to the Integrity of the
Da.lnfM Man of Tod.f-Deouiicei
Trickery In Trade.
Copyrijht, Louis Klopsch, 1S99.
Washixotqn, July 23.-Integrity and
trickery in business Ufe form the sub
ject of Dr. Talmage's sermon today,
and the contrast be establishes be
tween the two is a striking one. The
text is Proverbs xx, 14: "It is naught,
it is naught, salth the buyer, but when
he is gone his way then he boasted"
Palaces are not suctt prisons as jthe
world imagines. If you think that the
only time kings and queens come forth
from the royal gates is in procession
and gorgeously attended, you aremis
taken. Incognito by day or by night
and clothed in citizen's apparel or the
dress of a working woman, they come
out and see the worW as it Is. In no
other way could King Solomon, the
author of my text, have known ev
erything that was going on. From my
text 1 am sure he must, in disguise,
some day have walked into a store of
ready made clothing in Jerusalem and
stood near the countermand heard a
conversation between a buyer and a
seller. ' The merchant put a price on a
coat, and the customer began to dicker
and said: "Absurd! That coat is not
worth what you ask for it. Why; just
look-at the coarseness of the fabric!
See that spot on the collar! Besides
that, it does not fit. Twenty dollars
for that? Why, It is not worth more
than $10. They have a better, article
than that and for lower price down at
Clothem, Fitem & Bros. Besides that,
I don't want it at any price. Good
morning." "Hold!" says the mer
chant "Do not go off in that way. I
want to sell" you that coat. 1 have
some payments to make, and 1. want
'the money. Come, now, how much
will you give for that coatr "Well,"
says the customer, "1 will spilt the dif
ference. You; asked $20, and I said
$10. Now, I will give you $15."
-Well," says the merchant, "it is a
great -sacrifice, but take it at that
price."
Then the customer with a roll under
Ills arm started to go out and enter
bis own place of business and Solo
mon in disguise followed him. Ho
heard the customer as he unrolled the
coat say: "Boys, V have made a great
bargain. How much do you guess 1
gave for that coat?'' "Well? says one,
wishing to compliment his enterprise,
'you gave $30 for it." Another says,
"I should think 70U got it cheap if you
gave $25- "No," says the buyer in
triumph. "1 cot it for $15. 1 beat him
down and pointed" out the imperfect
lions until I really made him believe
It was not worth hardly anything! It
takes me to make a bargain. Ha, ha!"
Oh, man, you got- the goods for less
than they were worth by positive
falsehood, and no wonder, when Solo
mon went back to his palace and had
put off his disguise, that he sat down
at his writing desk and made for all
ages a crayon sketch of you, "It Is
naught, it is naught, salth the buyer,
but when he is gone his way then he
boasteth."
DailneM Integrity.
There are no higher styles of men in
all. the world than those now at the
bead of mercantile enterprises In the
reat cities of this continent. Their
casual promise Is as good as a bond
with piles of collaterals. Their reputa
tion for integrity is as well established
as that of Petrarch residing In the
family of Cardinal Colonna. It is re
lated that when there was great dis
turbance in the family the cardinal
called all his peopletogether Tand put
them under oath to tell the truth ex
cept Petrarch; when he came up tft
swear, the cardinal put away his book
and said, "As for you, Petrarch, your
word is sufficient" Never since the
world stood have there been so many
merchants whose transactions can
tand the test of the ten command
ments. Such bargain makers are all
the more to be honored, because they
have withstood year after year
temptations which have flung so many
fiat and flung them so hard they-can
oeveiv never recover themselves.
While all positions in life have pow
erful besetments to evil there are spe
cific forms of allurement which are
peculiar to each occupation and pro
fession, and it will be useful to speak
of the peculiar temptations of business
men. "
First, as In the scene of the text,
business men are often tempted to sac
rifice plain truth, the seller by exag
gerating the value of goods and the
buyer by depreciating them. We can
not but admire an expert salesman.
See how he first induces the customer
into a mood favorable to the proper
consideration of the value of the
goods. He shows himself to be an
honest and frank salesman. How care-
, fully the lights are arranged till they
fall just right upon the fabric! Be
ginning with goods of medium quality,
he gradually advances toward those of
more thorough make and of more at
tractive pattern. How he watches the
moods and whims of his customer!
With what perfect calmness he takes
the order and bows the purchaser from
his presence, who goes away, having
made up his mind that he has bought
the goods at a price which will allow
him a living margin when he again
sells them. The goods were worth
what the salesman said they were and
were sold at a price, which will not
-make it necessary for the house" to
fall every ten years in order to fix od
things.
In0.wltoii Stratagems.
But with what burning indignation
we think of the iniquitous stratagems
by which goods are sometimes dispos
ed of. A glance at the morning papers
shows the arrival at one of our hotels
cf a young merchant from one of the
inland cities. He Is a comparative
stranger in the great city, and. 3 of
course, be must be shown around, and
it will be, the dutyof some of our en
terprising bouses to escort him. He. Is.
a large purchaser and has plenty, of
time and money, and It will pay to be
very attentive. The evening Is spent
at a place of doubtful amusement.
Then they go back to the hotel.- Hay
Ing just come to town, they must, of
course, drink. : I
,A friend from the same mercantile
establishment drops In, and usage anb"
generosity suggest that they must
drink. Business prospects are talked
over, and the stranger is warned
against certain dilapidated mercantile
establishments that are about to fall,
and for such kindness and magnanimi
ty of caution against the dishonesty Of
other business houses of course It Is ex
pected they will and so they do take
a drink. Other merchants , lodging in
adjoining rooms find it hard to sleep
for the clatter of decanters, and the
coarse carousal of these "hall fellows
well met" waxes louder. But they
sit not all night at the wine cup. They
must see the sights. They stagger
forth with cheeks flushed and eyes
bloodshot. The outer gates of hell
open to let In the victims. The wings
of lost'souls flit among the lights, and
the steps of the carousers sound with
the rumbling thunders of the lost,!
Farewell.to all the sanctities of home!
Could mother, sister, father, slumber-
ing In the Inland home, In some vision
of that night catch a glimpse of the
ruin wrought they 1 would rend out
their hair by the roots and bite the
tongue till the blood spurted, shrieking
out "God save him!"
Gathering Cnriea.
What, suppose you, will ' come upon
such business establishments? And
there are hundreds of them in the
cities. They may boast of fabulous
sales, and they may have an unprecc
dented run of buyers, and the name of
the house may be a terror to all rivals,
and from this thrifty root there may
spring up branch houses In other cities,
and all the partners of the firm may
move Into their mansions and drite
their full blooded span, and the fanjU
lies may sweep the street with the
most elegant apparel that human art
ever wove or earthly magnificence ever
achieved. .. But a curse is gathering
surely for those men, and if it does not
seize hold of the pillars and in one wild
ruin bring down the temple of com
mercial glory it will break up their
peace, and they will tremble with sick
ness and bloat with dissipations, arid,
pushed tothe precipice of this life,
they will try to hold back and cry for
help,, but no help will come, and they
will 'clutch their gold to take It along
with" them, but It will be snatched
from their grasp, and a voice win
sound through their soul, "Not a
farthing, thou beggared spirit !" j
And the judgment will come, and
they will stand aghast before it, and
all the business Iniquities of a lifetime
wiU gather around them, saying, "Do
you remember this?" and "Do you re
member that?" And clerks that they
compelled to dishonesty and runners
and draymen and bookkeepers who
saw behind the scenes will bear testi
mony to their nefarious deeds, and
some virtuous soul that once stood
aghast at the splendor and power j of
these business men will say, "Alas,
this Is all that is left of that great firm
that occupied a block with their mer
chandise, and overshadowed the city
with their influence and made right
eousness and truth and purity fall un
der the galling fire of avarice and
crime."
While we admire and approve of
acuteness and tact in the sale of goods
we must condemn any process by
which a fabric or product is represent
ed as possessing a value which it real
ly does not have. Nothing but sheer
falsehood can represent as perfection
boots that rip, silks thai speedily lose
their luster, calicoes that Immediate
ly wash out, stoves that crack under
the first hot fire, books insecurely
bound, carpets that unravel, old fur
niture rejuvenated with putty and glue
and sold as having been recently man
ufactured, gold watches made out of
brass, barrels of fruit, the biggest ap
ples on the top, wine adulterated, with
strychnine, hosiery poorly woven,
cloths of-domestic manufacture shin
ing with foreign labels, Imported goods
represented as rare and hard to get
because foreign exchange is so high
rolled out on the counter with match
less display. Imported, indeed! but
from the factory in the next street.
A pattern already unfashionable and
unsalable palmed off as a new print
upon some country merchant who has
come to town to make his first pur
chase of dry goods and going home
with a large stock of goods warranted
to keep.
Testa That Won't Stand.
Again, business men are often tempt
ed to make the habits and customs of
other traders their law of rectitude.
There are commercial usages which
wiU notstand the test of the last day.
Yet men In business are apt to; do as
their neighbors do. If the majority of
the traders in any locality are lax! in
principle, the commercial code in that
community wiU be spurious and dis-
hhonest. It. is a hard thine to stand
close by the law of right when your
uoxt door neighbor by his looseness of
tlealing is enabled to sell goods at a
i-hea per rate and decoy your customers.
Of course, you who promptly meet; all
your business engagements, paying
when you promise to pay, will find jit
hard to compete with that merchant
who is hopelessly in debt to the im
porter for the goods and to the land
lord whose store he occupies-and jto
the clerks who serve him. There are
a hundred practices prevalent In the
world of traffic which ought never I to
become the rule for honest men. Their
wrong does not make your right. Sin
lever becomes virtue by being mult!-
all
plied and admitted at brokers' boara
or merchants exchange. Because oth
ers smuggle a few things in passenger
trunks, because others take usury
when men are in tight places, because
others palm off worthless Indorse
ments, because others dp nothing but
blow bubbles, do not, therefore, be
overcome of temptation. Hollow pre
tension and fictitious credit and com
mercial gambling may awhile prosper,
but the gay of reckoning cometh, and
In addition to the horror and con
demnation of outraged - communities
the curse of God will come blow for
blow. -1 Qod'8 law forever and forever
Is the only standard of right and
wrong and not commercial ethics.
Young business man, avoid the first
business dishonor, and you will avoid
all the rest. The captain of a vessel
was walking near the mouth of a riv
er when tBfc tide was low, and there
was a long stout anchor chain. Into
one of the great links of which his foot
slipped, and it began to swell, and he
could not withdraw it. The tide began
to rise. The chain could not be loos
ened nor filed off in time, and a sur
geon was called to amputate the limb,
but before the work could be done the
tide rolled over the victim, and his life
was gone. I have to tell you, young
man, that just one wrong Into which
you may slip may be a link of a long
chain of circumstances from which
you cannot be extricated by any In
genuity of your own or any help from
others, and the tides will roU over you
as they have over many.
Rla-hteouaneaa Rewarded.
i Again, business men are sometimes
tempted to throw off personal responsi
bility, shifting it to the institution to
which they belong. Directors in banks
and railroad and Insurance companies
sometimes shirk personal responsibili
ty underneath the action of the cor
poration. And how often, when some
banking house or financial institution
explodes through fraud, respectable
men in the board of directors say
"Why, I thought ail was going on in an
honest way, and I am utterly con
founded with this demeanor!" The
banks and the fire and life and marine
insurance companies and the railroad
companies will not stand up for judg
ment In the last day, but those who
In them acted righteously will receive,
each for himself, a reward, and those
who acted the part of neglect or trick
ery will, each for himself, receive a
condemnation.
Unlawful dividends are not clean be
fore God, because there are those as
sociated with you who grab just as big
a pile as ypu do. He who countenances
the dishonesty of the firm or of the
corporation ' or association takes upon
himself all the moral liabilities. If
the financial institutions steal, he
steals. If they go Into wild specula
tions, be himself Is a gambler. If they
needlessly embarrass a creditor, he
himself Is guilty of cruelty. If they
L swindle the uninitiated, he himself Is a
def rauder. No financial institution
ever had a money vault strong enough,
or credit stanch enough, or dividends
large enough, or policy-acute enough to
hide the Individual sins of its mem
bers. The bid adage that corporations
have no souls is misleading. Every
corporation has as many souls as it
has members.
Again, many business men have
been tempted to postpone their enjoy
ments and duties to a future season
of entire leisure. What a sedative the
Christian religion would be to all our
business men If, Instead of postpon
ing its uses to old age or death, they
would take it into the store or factory
or worldly engagements now! It 1a
folly to go amid the uncertainties of
business Ufe with no God to help. A
merchant In a New England viUage
was standing by a horse, and the horse
lifted his foot to stamp it in a pool of
water, and the merchant, to escape the
splashstepped into the door of an In
surance agent, and the agent said, "1
suppose you have come to renew j your
fire insurance?" "Oh," said the! mer
chant, "I had forgotten that!" The In
surance was renewed, and the 5 next
day the house that had been insured
was burned. Was it all accidental that
the merchant, to escape a splash -from
a horse's foot, stepped into the insur
ance office? No; It was providential.
And what a mighty solace for a busi
ness man to feel that things are provi
dential! What peace and equilibrium
in such a consideration, and what a
grand thing if aU business men could
realize it!
Adjourning? Joya.
Many, although now comparatively
straitened in worldly circumstances,
have a goodly establishment in the fu
ture planned out. They have In Imag
ination built about 20 years ahead a
house In the country not difficult of
access from the great town, for they
wiU often have business or old ac
counts to settle or investments to look
after. The house Is large enough to
accommodate all their friends. The
halls are wide and hung with pictures
of hunting scenes and a branch of
antlers and are comfortable with
chairs that can be rolled out on the
veranda when the 'weather is invit
ing or set out under some of the oaks
that stand sentinel about the house,
rustling in the cool breeze and songful
with the robins. There is Just land
enough to keep them Interested and Its
crops of almost fabulous richness
springing up under application of the
best theories to be found In the. agri
rultural journals. The farm Is well
Itocked with cattle and horses and
sheep that know the voice and have a
kindly bleat when one goes forth to
look at them. In this blissful abode
their children wiU be Instructed in art
and science and religion. This shall be
the .old homestead to which the boys
at coUege wiU direct their letters, and
the hlU on which the house stands
will be caUed Oakwood or Ivy HlU or
Pleasant Retreat or Eagle Eyrie. May
the future have for every business
man here all that and more besides!
But are you postponing your happl-
n n r.
Com
t i
i
mar-
to
S'66
Us
Everybody is coming. to Greensboro for our GALA Week
STATE FIREMEN'S TOURNAMENT. , ar:
to take advantage of you and se
We are going
i
values ; this is pur advertising scheme,.
is SW Stop! Hay Werstsi Ms, is
' .
Bl!is? Values ta
you
$on
Mays ad Sst's:, Sli,
U b P.
ICE WATER! ICE WATER I ICE WATER!
FOR EVERYBODY I
min
JYJ
rJ9
Salesmen :
J. W. Craw
Inl
JUUg
fo)
N
!
Oils,
ord, W. H. Bees, Harry 8. Donneli,
Will. E.Rankin, Jou T. Bee.
-I
300 Soutk Elm St., Greeiisk
ness to that time? Are you adjourn
ing your Joys? Suppose that I ypu
achieve all you expect and j that the
vision I mention Is not up to the reali
ty, because the fountains will be
brighter, the house grander j and the
scenery more picturesque the mistake
is none the less fatal.
What charm will' there be, In rural
quiet for a i)ian who has for 30 or 10
years been conforming his entire na
ture to the excitements of business?
Will nocks and herds with their bleat
and moan be able, to silence the in
satiable spirit of acquisitiveness which
has for years had full swing in the
soul? Will the hum of the breeze
soothe the man who now cab find bis
only enjoyment in the stock market?
Will leaf and cloud and fountain
charm the eye that has for three
fourths of a lifetime found! its chief
beauty In hogsheads and bills of sale?
Wlll parents be competen: to rear thir
children for high and holy purpose if
their Infancy and boyhood and girl
hood were neglected when they j ;are
almost ready to enter upon the world
and have all their 1 habits fixed and
their principles stereotyped? No, no;
now Is the time to be happy. Now j is
the time to serve your Creator, ffpw
Is the time to be a Christian.1 Are you
too busy? I have known men as busy
as you are who had a place in; the
store loft, where they went to pray.
Some one , asked a' Christian sailor
where be found any place to pray In.
He said,' "1 can always find a quiet
place at masthead." And in the busiest
day of the season, ' if your heart ls
right, you can find) a place to pray.
Busy thoroughfares are good places to
pray In as you go to meet your various
engagements. Go home a little earlier
and get introduced to your children.
Be not a galley slave by day and night,
lashed fast to the oar of business. Let
every day have Its hour for worship
and intellectual culture and recreation.
Show yourself greater than your bus!
ness. ; I .
Spiritual Defalcation.
Again, business men are often tempt
ed to let their calling Interfere with
the interests of the soul. ; God sends
men Into the business world jto get ed
ucated, just as boys are sent to school
and college. Purchase and sale, loss
and gain, disappointment, prosperity,
the dishonesty of others, panic and
bank suspension, are but different les
sons In the schooLj The more busi
ness, the more means of grace. Many
have gone through wildest panic j un
hurt. "Are you not afraid you will
break?" said some one to a j merchant
In time of great commercial excite
ment. He' replied, "Aye, I shall break
when the fiftieth Psalm breaks In the
fifteenth verse, 'Call upon me In the
day of trouble, and I will deliver
thee." The store and the counting
house have developed some of the most
stalwart characters. Perhaps origi
nally they had but little sprlghtlihess
and force, but two or three hard busi
ness thumps woke them up from their
lethargy, and there came a thorough
develppment In their hearts pf all that
was good and holy and energetic and
tremendous, and they have become! the
front men in Christ's army, as well as
lighthouses in the great world of traf
fic. But business, bas been1 perpetual
depletion, to many a man. It first pull
ed out of him all benevolence, next all
amiability, next all religious aspira
tions, next all conscience, and, though
he entered his vocation with large
heart and noble character, he goes lout
of it a skeleton, enough to scare a
ghost. i ,
Men appreciate the Importance of
having a good business stand, a s1 ore
on the right side of the street or In
the right block. Yet every place of
business Is a good stand for spiritual'
culture. God's angels hover over Ithe I
world of traffic to sustain and build up
those who are trying to do their duty.
Tomorrow if in your place of worldly
engagement you will listen for it you
may hear a sound louder than the rat
tle of drays and the shuffle of feet and
the chink of dollars stealing Into your
soul, saying, "Seek ye first the king
dom of God and his righteousness, and
all other things shall be added unto
you."
Yet some of those sharpest at a ban
gain are cheated out of their immortal
blessedness by stratagems more palpa
ble than any "drop game" of the
street.- They make Investments In
things everlastingly below par. They
put their valuables in a safe not fire
proof. They give full credit to influ
ences that will not be able to pay one
cent on the dollar. They plunge into a
labyrinth from which no bankrupt law
or two-thirds enactment" will ever
extricate them. They take Into their
partnership the world, the flesh and
the devil, and the enemy of all right
eousness will boast through eternal
ages that the man who In all his busi
ness life could not be outwitted, at
last tumbled into spiritual defalcation
and was swindled out of heaven.
Perhaps some of you saw the fire In
New York in 1835. Aged men tell us
that It beggared all description. Some
stood on the housetops of Brooklyn
and looked at the red ruin that swept
xlown the streets and threatened to ob
literate the metropolis. But the com
mercial world will yet be startled by
a greater conflagration, even the last
one. Bills of exchange, policies of In
surance, mortgages and bonds and gov
ernment securities will be consumed
In one lick of the flame. The bourse
and , the United States mint will turn
to ashes. Gold will run molten Into the
dust of the street. Exchanges and
granite blocks of merchandise will fall
with a crash that will make the earth
tremble. The flashing up of the great
light will show the righteous the way
to their thrones. Their best treasures
In heaven, they will go up and take
possession of them. The tolls of busi
ness life, which racked their brains
and rasped their nerves for so many
years, will have forever ceased. "There
the wicked cease from troubling, and
the weary are at rest."
UNCLE SAM'S HOT BATHS.
Stomach j
Out of Order!
Can't !cp c v
i i -
lOfffiilOlf1
Create appetite, induce refrethinf i
make work a pleasure. One Tablet, oat tern.
Imnadiata, Lasting, AjmsbW. Upk
(Jj Tablets) 10 Cents. Made at -
Tbs Jehnsa LaboratorWs, lac, Philaiti
Howard Gardner, Cor.jopp. IV.! j
POSITIONS S2SS;
tillposition Is securcd.or will accepts
Cheap board. Car fare pill Nj-;
cation . Enter any time. Oped lor x
. nteUKij
sexes.
Catalogue free
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For illustrated literature, con
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For reduced excursion tickets
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ye have splcTmany different
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PRACTICAL
BUSINESS
$
Osrrtot.Te
Nashville, Tettti.
Savamah. Ga.
Indorsed by merchants and bwkSj
By far best patronized bQsinesi co'. Tj
in South. Three months! boottc
with us equals six by the old pte
commercial branches tamjbt. for cs" ,
lars expUining'HomeStudrCoBr)
address Department A " Frf
catalogue, address 'Departaect i
Southern Rata;
14.
IN EKFLCT mXEMUfcE 4.
This condense! :bedufe hfJ
notice to the public
TrafMleaTeGreeruhoro, : . i.
7:00 a. m. iMn; j v."
Dining Car and tubule . &
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sleeper ew i-rii i" r
and Ux.-ul nation-.
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forOJumlii. Ai:.-Mj. 'n t. v
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