A HIGH-PRICED WINK

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jun 9, 1881

A HIGH-PRICED WINK.

"A WRITER in Golden Days tells a 'true story' of one Mr. Blank, who occupied a confidential position in a great railway corporation. It was rumored that the company was about to assume charge of a languishing railroad. If so, the stock of the latter would rise in price.

"Now one bold speculator—or operator, as they are called in broker's parlance—was an intimate friend of Mr. Blank.

"After long reflection, he came to the conclusion that the best thing he could do was to call on Mr. Blank, ask in confidence for some definite information on the subject, and offer to share with Mr. Blank the profits of any venture that he might make on 'points' given him. This he did.

'Mr. Blank,' said he, 'if I knew that the transaction which it is rumored is about to take place in a few days were really to occur, I could by buying up the stock of the company that is now in the market, make both you and myself rich men. Can you not, by a word, say whether the rumor will be realized or not?'

'I cannot say,' Mr. Blank replied.

'But a word,' the broker persisted; 'it shall be share and share alike.'

'I cannot say,' Mr. Blank repeated as before.

'You need not speak,' then, the broker said, excitedly. 'Lift your arm, nod your head, lift your eyebrows.'

'I cannot,' Mr. Blank replied, as calmly as was possible.

'Do you not understand your own interests?' the broker burst forth, hotly. 'Mr. Blank, you are a poor man! Now if you will only heed me, you may become a rich one in a day. Are these reports true? If so I can clear three hundred thousand at a stroke! The half of that sum shall be yours. I do not ask you for a word; you need not open your mouth. Only wink your eye! It is possible for you to make one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, sir, by simply winking your eye!'

"How vast a sum to Mr. Blank, who, though intrusted with grave secrets, was still only a clerk, receiving but a moderate salary!

"He was staggered for a moment, but soon regained his composure! he looked the eagerly-expectant broker in the face, and answered, 'I cannot do it,' and left the room instantly.

"The broker went away crestfallen. In the absence of all definite information, he feared to take the great risks which always attend speculating in the dark, and did not invest any of his money. In a few days, however, the whole matter was settled. The great company really did take the smaller, and the stock almost doubled in value.

"A few days after that, the broker met Mr. Blank on the street, and smarting keenly under the feeling that an enormous gain had slipped through his fingers, just for the want of a word, he rashly upbraided Mr. Blank for his 'obstinacy.' Mr. Blank, like all men of true power, kept his temper, and turning to his rash reviler, he said, 'The temptation with which you assailed me was great indeed; but I had a trust to fulfill, and my honor is beyond price.'

"Although everyone should do his duty for duty's own sake, still it is always a pleasure to see great deeds of honor meet with deserved reward. It was so, I am glad to say, in Mr. Blank's case. His capabilities and his perfect reliability soon secured one of the very highest positions in the company whose secrets he had guarded so well, and he is now paid a salary at least half as large as that which the President of the United States receives.

"Solomon tells of the 'naughty person,' the 'wicked man,' who 'walketh with a froward mouth.' 'He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers, frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord. Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy.' Prov. 6: 12-15.

"The world is full of winking and squinting—of signs, and grips, and cheats, and ciphers, and hypocrisies; and a man can make himself a rascal by a wink or a nod, as well as by a forgery or a falsehood. Thank the Lord, an honest man can do his business without winking about it; and a man who sells his winks for money may find that he has sold his reputation and his soul also, and has made a poor bargain, even if he has received a high price."

In these days character is of immense value and should be held at a high premium, whenever a place of trust and responsibility is to be filled in church interests as well as civil affairs. The man who will not "wink" for his own enrichment, who will not deceive or withhold censure of wrong for popularity's sake, who will fearlessly do his duty by those for whose instruction, guidance, and help in Christian work he is consecrated or appointed, is of inestimable worth, and such should be held in honor; especially so, if with the supreme qualification of character, they combine wisdom, humility, and capability for the work.—Bible Banner.