"I used to think," said Mr. Baird, the elder of the two, "that I had weight enough to carry on my shoulders when I stood alone as the proprietor of mechanical works, and with hundreds of men in my employ. But my responsibilities seem small to look back upon in comparison with yours of to-day. There is such keen competition; news flies with such rapidity; in fact, the world lives so fast that we have hardly time to think. We seem to be in a perpetual whirl of business."
"It is quite true," returned Mr. Jackson, the younger speaker. "Times have changed greatly during the last fifteen years since you retired from business. And I could not stand it, but for one blessed relief."
"I can guess what that is—the Sabbath, that precious gift of which so many now seem to think lightly enough."
"Yes, it is precious indeed, and through all my life, I am thankful to say, I have valued its rest and been jealous of any attempt to encroach upon it. I think you know that for some years I travelled for the founders of the very works which now belong to me, and which you consider so vast and important."
"You have told me as much before," said Mr. Baird, "and just now, as you spoke of the Sabbath, I was wondering whether you succeeded in acting up to your principles whilst leading a life which exposed you to so many temptations."
"I wish I could say that I always did. I tried; but sometimes, alas! I yielded to the temptations around me. I can say this much, that I never, either as a traveller or employer, transacted business, or allowed others to do it, on the Sunday. As a rule, when 'On the road,' I so arranged my journeys that I ended the week in some quiet country place or old cathedral city. I often went a few extra miles on Saturday nights in order to reach such a resting-place; and words could not express how sweet the quiet was to me after the bustle and hurry of the week. I do not believe many men entered the house of God with a more thankful sense of its privileges than I did during those busy years."
"But you say there were exceptions to these happy Sabbaths."
"Yes. It happened occasionally that I could not reach one of my havens of rest, and that I was thrown into company with my brethren of the road who did not feel as I did, and was persuaded to spend my Sunday with them and after their fashion."
"Without attending public worship, for instance?"