Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1850-07-29

| lndeed! Why nol2 said Petron look
ling surprised. Is not money Away.
worth its INTEREST," ,..S... $50. I.... !
| So it is said. But The poor debtor ha
no money upon which 10 make an interest
He begins the world again, with nothing
but his ability to work and, if saddled will
an old debt-principal and interest-hi
case is hopeless. Suppose he owes $40,
[ooo. and, after struggling hard for two OF
three years, gels into pos i,ion that viii
enable him to pay off $1,000 n year
There is some chance for him TO get out oi
debt in len years. But suppose interesI
has been accumulaiing, at the rate of some
500 dollars year. His debt instead ol
being II, 600 will have increased to 2,00o
| by the time he is in q condition TO pay of
anything and then, instead Of being able TO
reduce the amount 1000 dollars year, he
will have TO let 500 go for the annual in
terest on the original debt. -Four years
more would have 10 elapse before, under
This system, he would get his debt down TO
where it was when be was broken up in
business. Thus at the end of eighty years
hard struggling, he would not really have
advanced a step out of his difficulties. A
debt Of 10 900 would still be hanging over
him. And if, perseveripg 10 the end, he
would go on paying the interest regularly
and reducing the principal, some twenty
FIVE years Of his life would he spent in get
ting free from debt when little over half
that time would have been required, il his
creditors, acting fion the commonest die.
tates Of humanity, Voluntarily released the
interest. 4s ...s..
hat is a new view of the case, must
coniess-at least new one TO me, said
Petron. s. .---.-. .,.--.
1t is the humane view of the CASE
But look to interest alone, it is the best
view for every crediter to take. Many a
man who, with little effort might have
cancelled, in time, the principal Of a debt
unfortunately standing against him, be.
comes disheartened at seeing it daily grow.
ing larger through the accumulation Of, in.
terest7 gives up in despair. The desire to
be free from debt spurs man into effort
But make the difficulties in his way so
large as 10 appear insurmountable, and be
will fold his hands in hopeless inactivity
Thousands Of dollars are lost, every year
in consequence OF ofcredtors grasping alter
too much, and breaking down the h pc and
energy Of the debtors. s..z.s....--.s -
:. Perhaps you are right, said Mr.. .Petron;
that view OF the case never presented itself
to my mind. don't suppose, however,
the interest on fifty dollars would have
broken down Moale. -. -, s.:.-...-.z w.
There is no telling, 1t is the last pound,
you know, that breaks the camel's back.
Five years have passed since this day of
misfortune. Fifteen dollars is therefore,
due. | have my thoughts if he could have
paid you sixty.fiye dollars now. Indeed
am sure he could not. And the thought
Of that as new debt, for which he had re.
ceived no benefit whatever, would, il is
more than probable, have produced dis.
couraged state of mind, and made him re.
solve no, to pay you at all. 5.~-.ss
Blu, that wouldn't have been honest said
the merchant. .-ss sz.---z. s-.. 500,
Perhaps not, strictly speaking. To be
dishonest is from set purpose to defraud
TO take from: another what belongs to
him; or TO Withhold frcm another when
ability exists to puy what is Justly his due.
You would hardly have placed Moale in
either of these positions, if from the pres.
sure Of the circumstances surrounding him
as poor man and in debt, he had failed
TO be as active, industrious and prudent as
he would otherwise have been. We are
apt 10 require too much of,he poor debtor
and 10 have ,oo little sympathy with him.
-, Let the hope Of improving your own con-
dition--which is the main spring of all
your business stransactions-be taken a.
way, and, instead, let there be only the de-
sire to pay off old debts through great la
bor and self-denial, that must continue for
years, and imagine how differently you
would think and feel to what you do now.
Nay, more, let the debt be owed to those
who are worth their thousands and ten
thousa nds, and who are in the enjoyment
Of every luxury and CO mfort they would
desire, while you go on paying them what
you owe, by over exertion and depriving
yourself and family of all those little luxu
ries and recreations- which both so much
need, and then say how deeply dyed would
be that dishonesty which would cause you,
in moment of darker and deeper discour-
agement than usual, to throw the crushing
weight from your shoulders, and resolve to
bear it no longer. You must leave a man
some hope in fife if you would keep him
active and industrious in his sphere.
Mr., Petron said nothing in reply to this,
but he looked sober. :. His friend soon after
left. .---.... ''. ..'..
The Merchant, as the reader may infer
from his own acknowledg cement, was one
of those men whose tendency to regard on
ly their own interests; has become so con.
frmed habit that they can see nothing
beyond the narrow circle Of self. Upon
debtors he never looked with a particle of
sympathy; and had, in all cases, exacted
his own as if his debtor had not been a
creature Of human wants and feelings
What had just been said, however, awak.
ened a new thought in his mind; and, as
he reflected on the subject, be saw that
there was some reason in what had been