12 



and tapering to a point some miles ahead. My train was 

 traveling about 30 miles an hour, so that the setting, the de- 

 clivity of the hill, and the speed of the train all combined to 

 make the sun to all appearances literally stand still. 



I thought of Joshua, and when I got the chance to read the 

 story I saw that something of the same thing must have hap- 

 pened. Joshua, so the story says, was pursuing his enemies 

 down the valley of Bethhoron. It was probably in the evening. 

 He must have seen the sun across the valley just over some 

 tapering hill, somewhat as I saw it. He was going so fast and 

 the lay of the land was such that the sun seemed to stand still, 

 and, being a man of imagination and needing more time to 

 accomplish his job, he commanded the sun to continue doing 

 what it seemed already willing to do. The busy, resourceful 

 man always makes the sun stand still; always lengthens every 

 day by putting more into it. 



Now, I think this a fair picture of what happens to some 

 business men. To most men in business — even the business 

 of farming — the land always lies just so; the sun sets on a cer- 

 tain day at a certain time; in other words, economic or business 

 conditions always seem fixed and unalterable. Such and such 

 things have always been done just such and such ways, but 

 now and then along comes some Joshua whose rate of progress 

 down the valley of business never allows the hill of tradition 

 or prejudice or fixed condition to get between him and the day- 

 light. The consuming public is shifting its position every min- 

 ute, and this man, by keeping alert and moving, keeps himself 

 from eclipse, and very often this modern Joshua is a man who 

 has come to see the value of advertising. 



There are yet some kinds of business, like farming dead to the 

 value of this miracle-working power in modern business. Pro- 

 gressive in methods of agricultural procedure, the business side 

 of your life has been anchored to one spot for years, while over 

 to the west is the red landmark sometimes known as the com- 

 mission merchant, the jobber or the retailer, who owns the 

 trade. Up to a certain point you prosper; you are warmed and 

 fed by the sun of public favor; but ever, at a certain point, this 

 sun gets behind these trade obstacles and you are kept humble 

 and subservient. However, now and then some one individual 



