Southern shield., 1855-05-26

IN DEBT AND OUT OF DEBT.-Of what a hideous progency of i'll debt the fatherl What meannesses, what inva- |sions on self-respect, what double deal ling. How, in due season, it will carve the frank open face into wrinkles; how Hike a knife, twill stab the honest |heart. And then its transformations How 1t has been known to change a |goodly face into mask of brass; how, with the "damned custom" of debt, has the true man become callous |trickster! A freedom from debt, and what nourishing sweetness may be found in cold water; what toothsome- hess in dry crust; what ambrosial |nourishment in hard eggl Be sure |of it, he who dimes out of debt, tho his meal be biscuit and onion, dimes in "The Apollo And then for raj
 ment; what warmth in threadbare coat, if the tailor's receipt be in your pocket; what Tyrina purple in the fad led waistcoat, the vest is not owed for; how glossy the well-worn hat if it covers not the aching head of a debtor.
 Next the home-sweets, the out door re- creation of the free man. The street. door falls not knell on hls heart; the foot of the staircase, though he lives on the third pair, sends no spasm through his anatomy; at the rap of his door he can crow forth 'scome in" and his pulse still beat healthfully, his heart sink not in his bowels. See him abroad. How confidently, yet how pleasantly he takes the street; how he returns look for look with any passenger; how he saunters; how, meeting an acquain- tance, he stands and gossipsl
 But, then, this man knows notdebt: debt that casts a drug into the richest wine; that makes the food of the gods unwholsome, ,iudigestible; that sprinkles the banquets of a Lucullus with ashes, and drops soot in the soup of an Elm peror; debt, that like the moth, makes valueless furs and velvets, enclosing the wearer in fostering prison, (the shirt of Nessus was shirt not paid for:) debt, that writes upon frescoed walls the handwriting of the attorney; that puts voice of terror in the knock CT; that makes the heart quake at the haunted fre-side; debt, the invisible de- mon that walks abroad with man, now quickening his steps, now making him look on all sides ikea hunted beast andlnow brings to his face the ashy hue of death, as the unconcious passenger looks glancingly upon him. Poverty is a bitter draught, yet may, and some times with advantage, be gulped down. Though the drinker make wry faces, there may, after all, be wholesome goodness in the cup. But debt, how eVer covertlyit be offered, is the cup of a Syren, and-the wine, spicy and deli clous though 1t be, as poison. The man out of debt, though with flaw in his jerkin, crack in his shoe leather, and hole in his hat, is still the son of liberty, free as singing lark above him; but the debtor, though clothed in the utmost bravery, what is he but serf out upon a holiday-a slave to be re- claimed at any instant by his owner, the creditor? My son, if poor, see wine in the running spring; let thy mouth wa ter at last weeks roll; think thread
 bare coat the "only wear;;o and ac-
 knowledge a whitewashed garret the
 1ttest housing place for a gentleman;
 do Shls, and flee debt. So shall thy neart De at peace, and the sheriff confounded. -Douglas Jeyrold. an |"Heads of he People,
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