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VOLUME 1
Lessons of the Hard Tines-
The year 1893 will long bp re mem
bered like the years 1837 and 1857
for its financial disasters. Very
few ptoole have escaped entirely froiu .
wide-spread financial ale. 'How far
it wa produced by past legislation
in regard to tariffs, -this is nor the
place to discass. A vast amount of
disaster and baiikrnptcy ha been
produced by causes en til el) discon
nected with legislation by ithr po
litical party. Sutton ng commonly
means sin not everybody's sin, al
tliough about every body has sruflerl
to a greater or less degree. In a aid
times the innocent surfer from the
wrong-doings of the guilty. It' eve.
rv mm built fire-proof bouses there
would be no eonfiagrai ions ; but be
cause some are oi wood or other com
bustible materials, and because there
are careless or wicked hands to kin
die flames, a whole street is endang
ered. The 'drunkard's bloated face
and mpty purse are not the result, or
ill luck they ar the legitimate Con
sequences of the bottle buc ins poor
wife and children have to bar their
share ot those consequences. Ifiuan
ciai suffering is the result of finan
cial sinning not everybody's sin,
but of somebody's sin, and during
these late years there have been a
great many somebodies.
In a certain good old Book which
is as wise in the thii.gs of this world:
as in those of the world to come .oc
curs the following sentence: 4ie
that getteth riches, aud not by right
shall lose them in the midst- of iiis
days, and at his end shall be a t"o0l.,v
Probably but few people know that
there is such a passage in the Bible,
and it would be a good tiling to hive
it writteu up large in the counting
rooms and stock-boards ami produce
exchanges and every place in which
business is transacted. The gist of
this pithy text is that the loss of
riches is very apt to come from the
wrong-gettiug of riches. . This plain
truth has a great many applications.
It applies to all that large class Vho
seek a livelihood without any kjnd
of productive labor, or any that au'ds
to the resources of the communiry.
.Mere "speculation" (as it is called)
is generally a game of hazard. It
invents nothing useful, manufactures
nothing valuable, ami contributes
nothing to the wealth of societv. "Its
vital idea is the same as that which
inspires the gambling table, its at
mosphere is intensely intoxicating
and demoralizing. Every financial
gale sweeps down a large number of
those who are attempting to pet rjch
by their wits, and not by any honest
work. Over such losses io (Jhijis
tiaii conscience will shed any. tears.
Would that every ypung man Who
wishes never to "end as a foql,"'
would keep out of that witch's cave
of speculative gambling !
When we recall the wild future? of
extravagance ;anU aelf-indulgerjce,
the mai ambifciQOS-to live oa ficti
tious incomes a life of vain show, iwe
discover some compensatipus in the
sobering and salutary effects of
c'luirl times." X.ariHTbddpse
i ot cjftlomel to those whose systeims
Wefe" terribly out of order, fifrd
times often harden good men's Vir
tues, and give new fiber to their coar
fige and self-deniaSL Hard tirties
smash some of the idcils that Chris
tiadr are too often tempted to "wor
iiip. Hard tiniesare reallyj the hard
eleirhiteveriS'worm eaten and
-woltbless. Unfortunate it is, that the
crashing down of decayed trees often
carries away some limbs from the
surrounding trees which are healthy
and v vigorous. The mischief thus
done is partial, and .generally tempo
rary, the benefits to the whole com
?)iuniry are wide preid and whole
gome. My observation h.is ben that
in the long run, very few wise, hon
est and industrious persons are per
manently injured by financial storms
The ships that weather out the stiff
gales are the shifts that bring in the
best cargoes at ast. Storm does not
always meau fehip-wieck.
There is really, in God's sight,
oniy one kind Vt'. wreck' that is'utrer
ly ruinous, and that is ihe wreck of
character. The saddtst sort of read
ing that we encon nter is the obitua
ry column ofdel reputations, borne
tihancial bubbles have exploded, but,
the most heart-rend iug losses have
been the losses or' conscience, of prin
fiple and of good name! These are
the bankruptcies that knock the hot
torn out of v'tlif market." 'We have
plenty of money in the street," said
a banker to nie, '"what we want is
confidence." The question asked in
such times i in whon can we con
fide t On every 'side the question is,
Whom can we trust ? To such ques
tions my answer would be, You can
trust God and all men who fear God
and keep His commandments. Nev
er did strict uncorruptible integrity
command a higher premium. If
! these times of tiery trial throw out a
great deal of "Mag," they are also
testing the pure gold gloriously.
White one. man after another who
veutured into slippery places is catch
iug a bad fall, "he that walketh up
rightly walketh surely."
Let us hope and pray that the
losses in 18J3 may bring some gains
in 1894. Nearly all of Vs may be the
poorer for the financial calamities of
the past twelve-month. We had bet
ter mark ourselves uown lower as to
the value of our assets, for there has
been a shrinkage of pretty much all
marketable "securities." Nearly ev
erything has depreciated except faith
and good tvorks, they still pay grand
dividends. There are many whole
some lessons to be learned in these
hard time3. The first one is to learn
the wisdom of doing business by
God's plumbline. After Chicago was
burned out, she built more fireproof
dwellings and. warehouses. We ougu t
alsb, to have a more' righteous djv
of debt. All debt means d-n
Reckless running into it has ru .
more Christians and broken ;t
hearts than many a flagrant vilv.
incur any pecuniary obligari
large or small, without a well-iou
ed assurance of ability, to repu
as bad as highway robbery.
Another hint for the hard ti ,s
is that, in our schemes for retrench.'
ment, let us be careful and not begin
by cheating God. Some people ooin !
raence their curtailment of expend'ir.l
tnres by cutting down their gifts to
wise charities, these ought to be the
last to come down. The benevolent
I Henry Thornton, of London, sub
scribed ten pounds to a religious ob
ject, but soon afterward, having met
with a great loss, be serit filty pounds,
to the treasurer, with the remark :
'I don't want to lwe this also." The
safest loans are loans to the Lord, he
repays with compound i nter es t.
Would you be rich towarcT God?,
Tien give freely; He that saves for
self loses, he that gives fori Christ's
saite is iure to save, xxave VOU a
clean conscience, a chance to work
-s.
- 4
and. a clear Jiope of Heaven ? Then
yon may marc n through this year
with a light heart against any head
winds, and may sing, the oi.e hun
dred and third Psalm at every step.
Dr. Theodore L. Cuyler in Inde
pendent. -
A Pbad Mother
"Dear me !n "cried the nurse, "the
baby has swallowed mv railroad tick
et. What shall I do i"
'Go 'and buy another right awav'
returned the mother. ' I'm not go-
iug to ha3 the baby punched'
We copy the following good one
from the Salisbuiy Herald: "The
southbound vestibule had a rather
novel experience last Thursday. At
Benaja, a small station between
Greensboro and Reidsville, ir. came
to a sudden stop. W en Conductor
Tiyior went to the engine to find out
what was the matter the engineer I
said he had ben whistled down. The ;
conductor denied having puiled the
cord and afte staiting the train went
through the cars to investigate. In
tliesleeper he found a Hebrew pas
senger wYo bad used the bell cord
as a clothesline,; hanging on it two
shirts and a pair of i rants. This so
weighed it down that the whistle in
the cab blew one time, which is the
signal to 'stop parr, of the train has
broken loose.' This was promptly
obeyed."
Reform is in the air and the towns
seem to have a worse case, of it-than
the country. Greensboro- marched
up the hill aud down again , on the
cigarette question and then muzzled
thi,dog8. Winston .has put the sa
loon keepers on the rack, and now
the good old town of Leaksville has
s tar tied the natives by forbidding
baseball andjnarbles in the corpora
tion It is bad enough to deny a
fellow the privilege of grazing his
stock on the public grass, but when
you fine him for plumping the mid
dle man well, it s unconstitutional.
Our sympathies go out to the vic
tims of "reform. "
The Wilmington Messenger says:
Whenever you see Democratic news
papers pitching into the newspapers
that criticise sharply Cleveland and
his departures from the law of the
party, you may as a general thing,
spot them as patronage trough feed
ers." There is no question if the
,,i03s had been more independent
.ad out-spoken, much of the present
Mjudition would hav been avoided.
Newbern Journal.
The Greensboro Record say We
re glad to learn that Senator Jarvis
will be accompanied by his wife on
his visit to Geeensboro this week.
They will attend thfe commencement
exercises at G. F. College where the
Senator is to deliver the literary adr
dress on Thursday of this .veek.
While here they will be the guests of
the Ben bow House. : , ,
The green tree frbec is an excel
lent barometer, according td an ex-
.changes Put him m a jar with an
inch or two ot water at the bottom
and a little ladder ru n nin c up to he
top.. If the weather i 'to be u fine he
will ascend ;.if ba4r no . wUl go dowh.
; : Gol. Jo8efmrMopr&; who ydesijgned
and constructed all vtbe. , pontoon
bridges used by Sherman on :his
rw amU tc thft aea. died, in Indianap-
J olis last week at the age of 65.
.NUMBER 16
We could say tEe paper full
but the goods talk; better than
cold type at ,
Frank Wilson's.
The Special line ot .GENTS
CLOTHTNGr from $2.50 to $30
and BOYS SUITS at 6Qcts, and
the elegant assortment 'of Gents
Furnishings, hosiery, neck wear
& under garments will please
you at
Frank Wilson's.
That every day Hat and Sun,
day too, that every "day Shoe
and Sunday too, you have been
ookitog for is at
Frank Wilson's.
Ladies, Ladies, 1 Ladies,
Before purchasing examine
th oronghl y that choice selection
of Dress goods and Notions in
the complete Dry . Gbdcfs de
partmentr of
FRANK WjlLSON
j.B.et!iiEnGO
as sortment of
Oooqs to be
found in our
Town or
County.
: o . ;
They keep about everything
you want and invite you to
call on them when yen
' want your moneys
worth.--
A penny saved
is a penny
we claim to save .. you
many pennies if . you - will
give us your patronage.
EpWE&BB gEiPQUAllTEKS
. : FOE mmTXTRRi IN
TaisguuNra.-a
' CALL OW us- ;
I , - .1
NEE&OB A-NYTHINGNI
TfflS FUBNITimE LINE.
Carry the
largest
,
1
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