OCTOBER 1, 11)13 



695 



There are good Christian people, a lot of 

 them, in Florida and everywhere else, who 

 are really seeking " God's kingdom," and 

 trying to lay up treasures in heaven. But 

 tliis fashion of holding up people is in dan- 

 ger of spreading everywhere, among young 

 and old. Let me give you one illustration. 



In our capital city of Columbus, Ohio, I 

 slopped to have my shoes shined up a little, 

 after some dusty travel. The boy did a very 

 neat job ; and noticing some shoe-laces on a 

 hook by his stand I told him he might re- 

 jilace my old soiled ones with the new. Af- 

 ter he had my shoes neatly tied up I asked 

 liira liow much the bill was. He replied. 

 " Twenty-five cents." 



" Why, my young friend, your sign here 

 says, ' Shine, 5 cents.' Do you mean you 

 want 20 cents for a pair of shoe-laces? " 



" Yes. that is the j^rice for those extra- 

 nice shoe-laces." 



You see the boy was up with the times. 

 He not only had my shoes nicely shined and 

 tied up, but he had me " tied up " also. I 

 could not ask him to undo the laces and 

 hang them up again on the hook, for they 

 would be second-handed. Should I quarrel 

 with the boy, even if he did charge 20 cents 

 for a pair of laces, knowing that two pair 

 just as good are usually sold for a nick- 

 el? I imagined his eyes twinkled as he saw 

 that he had me "in a corner." I gave him the 

 quarter, mentally deciding that next time I 

 would stick to my rule of inquiring the 

 price before I invested, even if it were only 

 a pair of laces. 



Now. dear friends, it is not only for your 

 good, but for the good of every one who 

 has sometliing to sell, that you make it a 

 rule to ask the price beforehand. It will 

 help you and help the other man, or boy, 

 to get nearer to both of the two precious 

 texts we are considering. 



Let me suggest to our friends who are 

 writing me letters lately in regard to social- 

 ism, that the man who uses his monej^ to 

 start a factory, and gives employment with 

 fair wages to hundreds of men, women, and 

 children, is, in my opinion, laying up trea- 

 sures in heaven. If the article that he man- 

 ufactures is better and cheaper, and some- 

 thing that is needed in evei-y-day life, his 

 money is really invested in a way that may 

 be called " treasure in heaven." Suppose 

 tliis factory is started in a rural community 

 and is for the purpose of manufacturing 

 hoes. If the proprietor secures better steel 

 than has been used before, makes a lighter 

 implement, hunts up better wood for a han- 

 dle, and if he sells it at a smaller profit than 

 other makers, he does good in two or three 

 ways. First, he gives a poor man a nice 

 hoe for a little money. Then by the inven- 



tion of this beautiful bright and shining 

 hoe like the one I have used nearly every 

 day of my life, he induces old men and 

 those loafing around in toAvns to get out 

 into the garden and help " reduce the high 

 cost of living." Now, this manufacturer 

 could not have done any thing of the sort 

 without having considerable capital. If he 

 is a Christian man (and he certainly ought 

 to be, and thank God there are lots of men 

 of means who are Christians) he can easily 

 be a personal friend, I might saj^, to every 

 one in his employ, and to every one who 

 buys one of his hoes. I might say the same 

 thing about hammers. When Maydole first 

 made a better liammer than the world had 

 ever before seen, he sent out men to sell 

 them.. These men would drive a nail through 

 a board, and then by means of the beautiful 

 well-tempered claw, they would grab hold 

 of the small end of the projecting nail and 

 ]mll it through the board, head and all. My 

 friends, you have probably tried to get 

 along with a poor hammer, and I hope you 

 have also found out what can be done with 

 one of the very best Maydole hammers. 



In the last few years it has got to be 

 quite the fashion to put great values on 

 special things.* Last summer the news- 

 papers gave several accounts of Avomen who 

 have been robbed at fashionable watering- 

 places. They carried along to these summer 

 resorts diamond necklaces worth thousands 

 of dollai'S. I am old-fashioned, I must con- 

 fess : but I have reason to believe " there 

 are others," and I have said several times 

 to Mrs. Root, " What in the world does a 

 woman want with a diamond necklace that 

 cost enough to buy half a dozen good big 

 farms? What good does it do them to in- 

 vest money in that way? " And if the poor 

 deluded creature in seeking for happiness 

 must have the senseless bauble, why on 

 earth should she carry it to a watering- 

 place or have it in a Pullman car where the 

 porter, who is perfectly innocent, may be 

 worried to death because he is accused of 

 stealing it? If Billy Sunday (may God be 

 praised for what he has already done) or 

 some other evangelist like him has been the 

 means of getting such women — yes, and 

 men too — to give up their diamonds, and 

 " invest " the money in " treasures laid up 

 in heaven," we can all rejoice that God's 



* Just recently I noticed they are putting great 

 value on special furs. I am told by the papers there 

 are fox skins worth — no, I mean fox skins that are 

 called worth — $10,000; and if I am not mistaken I 

 read of a pair of silver foxes that were sold for 

 breeding purposes for $60,000. These foxes that are 

 worth such a pile of money are bred on Prince Ed- 

 ward Island, Canada. Can we not take it for grant- 

 ed that it is the women-folks who are mostly to 

 lilame for putting these tremer\do\is values on a little 

 piece of fur ? 



