The Charlotte journal. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1835-1851, 1839-11-14
KEEP OUT OF DEBT.


The great error which too many young
men commit ON their entrance into life Is
that of gong into debt. Tbs difference of
their income after the age Of twenty .one, 10
what il was during minority, creates in their
minds an idea that such resources mus; be
almost inexhaustlb!e. They are, from this
cause, induced 10 anticipate this income
from day 10 day, to satisfy imaginary wants.
and before they are aware Of what they are
dong, find themselves one or two hundred
dollars in debt, without being able TO tell
what has become OF their money. BY this
time habit Of spending is acquired, and
/ they have double effort to make 10 recov
I er themselves from debt, and break bad
habit. But too frequently, such victims Of
/ their own lndlscreton find themselves mad.
equate 10 the task, and struggle few years,
4 harrassed with dUns, the haunting ghosts
of broken resolutions. Finally the chains
are broken, and humbled in spirit, they
commence the world anew, perhaps at the
age Of thirty, with the painful consciousness
that every day they meet some one who
can say BY looks, "pay me that thou owest."
Our advice to all young men, no matter how
bright their prospects, to KEEP OUT OF DEBT.
Never buy dollars worth without the mo.
ney 10 pay for it. The following advice
from father to son is admirably appro
pirate;
"Beleve me, my son, that of all the
kinds of tyranny by which the spirit Of man
is bowed down aud crushed, and all his en-
ergies, moral and physical, are paraltzed
and wllhered, there is none so active 10 lis
oppression, so bitter in its torture, as that
which a creditor exercises over his debtor
IL is a tyranny which can even quell the
sprlnging elasticity Of youths sanguine am.
bIIon. Observe, too, that lis existence
does not merely depend upon the DISPOSE
lion or acts Of the master. The latter NAV
be the mlldest and most long suffering man
upon earth, and so far from endeavoring
roughly to enforce his claims, may even re
frain from asserting them. Still by the We
~ nature Of the relation which subslsis be
tween the parties, is the debtor reduced 10
the condition Of his bondsman or serf, for
the real intensity Of the tyranny consists in
/ thls--ihai the creditor has ever in his ser
vice an otfirous and interchangeable agent,
who acts not only without his orders, but
often in spite of his expressed wishes, aud
! that agent is the memory OF the indebted
party. The master may be willing to give
time to his slave,-he may even desire him
not 10 be dsquieied by the apprehension Of
violence but can the latter forget the exis
teuce Of an obligation which may re forced
upon his memory by the slightest circum
stance of the passing moment? Can he
forget, too, that however humane his pres.
ent lord may be, bis rights and claims, may,
after death, pass 10 another Of imperious
and violent temperl Such are some of the
considerations which make the mere exis
lence of debt, without any further sggra
waiting circumstance, IN itself, tyranny Of
the most loathsome description. The pa.
rish pauper, desplcable as his lot may up.
pear, enjoys higher degree of liberty aud
independence than the man who has put il in
the power Of another TO come upto him and
say, pay me what thou owest.' Think not
that my description is oyercharged. The
fool and the prohrgate would laugh a, the pic
ture which | have displayed to you-ihe
one owing TO his mental lnlirmlty, not being
able to understand true lberty-the other
from the baseness of his nature, being dead
to the depreciation ofhis servitude. But the
man of ingenious and sensitive disposition,
will readily allow that there are letters for
the mind as well as The body, and that in
order 10 be appraised of subsection TO bond.
age, II is not necessary that one should hear
the clank Of the iron chain.
Another circumstance which tends 10
make the debtors chain still more lntoler.
able, is, that in most cases the infection of
1t is either occasioned or expedited by his
own weakness and folly. A weak submls,
sion TO the lmperlous yet trlfllng mandates
of fashion, a VAIN competition IN the race Of
extravaganza with more wealthy compeers,
and shameful compliance with the IN.
healthy and artificial ppettes,-these are
some of the principal causes which, some
times separately, but more frequently IN
close league together, enlange the young
man in tolls Of debt"