oats, about shoes, about hats, about watches, about
carriages, about books,--about everything. In the name of the Lord
Almighty, I arraign commercial falsehoods as one of the greatest of
abominations in city and town.

In the next place, I notice _mechanical_ lies. There is no class of
men who administer more to the welfare of the city than artisans. To
their hand we must look for the building that shelters us, for the
garments that clothe us, for the car that carries us. They wield
a widespread influence. There is much derision of what is called
"_muscular Christianity_;" but in the latter day of the world's
prosperity, I think that the Christian will be muscular. We have the
right to expect of those stalwart men of toil the highest possible
integrity. Many of them answer all our expectations, and stand at the
front of religious and philanthropic enterprises. But this class, like
the others that I have named, has in it those who lack in the element
of veracity. They cannot all be trusted. In times when the demand for
labor is great, it is impossible to meet the demands of the public, or
do work with that promptness and perfection that would at other times
be possible. But there are mechanics whose word cannot be trusted
at any time. No man has a right to promise more work than he can do.
There are mechanics who say that they will come Monday, but they do
not come until Wednesday. You put work in their hands that they tell
you shall be completed in ten days, but it is thirty. There have been
houses built of which it might be said that every nail driven, every
foot of plastering put on, every yard of pipe laid, every shingle
hammered, every brick mortared, could tell of falsehood connected
therewith. There are men attempting to do ten or fifteen pieces of
work who have not the time or strength to do more than five or six
pieces; but by promises never fulfilled keep all the undertakings
within their own grasp. This is what they call _"nursing" the job_.

How much wrong to his soul and insult to God a mechanic would save, if
he promised only so much as he expected to be able to do. Society has
no right to ask of you impossibilities.

You cannot always calculate correctly, and you may fail because you
cannot get the help that you anticipate. But now I am speaking of the
wilful making of promises that you know you cannot keep. Did you say
that that shoe should be mended, that coat repaired, those brick
laid, that harness