The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1859-12-15
Never go i'm debt.

If we desired to leave any one in whom
we felt a deep interest legacy, in shape o
good advice, it would be couched in thess
simple words: "Never go in debt" Cred
it is the great evil of the age 1t is the finan
cial plague which every now and then deci
mates the world of business. The ease with
which an exaggerated credit can be maintain
ed, leads to reckless speculation; and how
often that worst species of gaming leads tc
ruin, disgrace and suicide. 1t is an old say
ing, but none the less valuable, that ready
money is ready medicine. How much it car
relieve ofhuman grief! How many obliterate
of human afflIctionsl None know the value
of ready money so profoundly as he who has
forever lived within the suffocating atmos
phere of incessant debt None enjoy SO
proudly the pure sovereignty of Individual
independence as he who ever uses the au.
thority Of ready cash, and resists the tempt
alton to enter the gaudy and intoxicating
world of debt.
The grand object of most mems exertions
is to grow rich. Some are more enamored of
art and some of science Some yield them
selves up to a delicious dream of fame, and
some to the laborious pursuit of metaphysi-
cal phantoms. But wealth and credit are, in
some minds, indissoluby as reciprocating
motors IN the machinery of trade. "Give us
credit" they exclaim, "and we have capital.
Very true; they have the capital of others.
Every dollars worth for which you owe,
is dollar borrowed from somebody else to
contribute to the sum on which you do
business for yourself; but oh! the days of care
the nights Of thought-the hours of an
guish YOU endure, lest, building on 80 pre-
carious a foundation, the storm of a moment
may not topple about your feet the structure
of toilsom years On the contrary, the man
of cash entertains no such apprchensions.
Approaching the value of his little hoard, he
INDUCES in no magnificent illusions. He con-
templates everything through the serener
medium of a cool and careful judgment He
struggles slowly, but surely, up the steep hill
of affluence; and if he never realizes, till the
end, any of the golden hours ofinebriate ex-
ultation, he escapes, at the same time, all the
sombre ones of crucified hope and self iDvi-
ted despair.
Never go indebt That is the safe mans
motto. 1t points the road to fortune. 1t
indicates road full, perhaps, of privations
for time, but exempt from all those embar-
easements which dog the footsteps of the
victim of credit, harrass his mind, dampen
his energies, weigh down his spirit of enter
prise, and crowd his way with innumerable
obstacles, separately of little moment, but in
the aggregate. painfully exhaust,ng 1t is
not an easy matter for an ambitious heart to
march centendently in the rear of the rush
ing, leaping, excited multitude, and sturdily
refuse to avail itself of the inebriating
draught held out to every lip in the Circean
cup of credit. But ''they stumble who run
fast" The reaction to all this over-excite-
ment must have its turn; and when it comes,
the bounding crowd lag wearily along, over
come with WEAKNESS the result Of their
own wild and superfuous vivacity; while
plodding sobriety, so long overlooked in the
background, advances with vigorous foot,
and passes triumphantly on to the goal, in
advance of all competitors. In the race for
success, he who eschews all indebtedness
lightly, and is prepared for laborous con-
test, in view Of the Importance of the prize.
He who accepts credit only fills his pockets
with so many stones: and carrying weight,
either breaks down before he attains the
winning post or only reaches by double
consumption ofpower and Vitality. So never
go in debt9-N. Y. Mercury ... ..
ITEMS FOR HoUsEKEEPERs.-Do everything