The Democratic press. (Eaton, Preble County, Ohio) 1860-1865, 1861-08-29
THE FARMERS COLUMN.
sANo TOOLS TO LEND"

Gently caught our eye, and fur
nished a ready theme for medita
ton. Borrowing is an ancient AM
evil custom, the fruitful source Q
many troubles. In the ruder age
: tof civitization there might -hav
been greater necessity for borrow
ing than now; but as the worlc
progresses there can be less ant
less need of it. The tendency o
cultivated humanity is to indepen
dent action, the tendency of barbar
ism is to servile obligation. ThC
more educated a community, thu
less they borrow.
There are several kinds of Dor
rowers at the present day. There
are careful and careless-the slack
and the prompt-those who expect
to pay for the privilege, and those
who don't-those who help them.
selves without permission, and
those who forget to return. The
careful, prompt-paying borrower is
usually a welcome visitor. 1t is q
pleasure to lend to such q man
This class know how to appreciate
a favor, and it is of those that
Solomon spoke when he said, "the
borrower is servant to the lender
At the farm house where the
above inscription referred to was
limned, there may have been pecu-
liar reasons for it. Ofthese reasons
we know nothing, and have no de-
sire to. But our sympathies, quick
ened by trials in this lending line,
have led us to recall cases that may
have been real. For example,
farmer A. keeps all sorts of tools
neat, bright, and in perfect order,
lie prides himself on having tools,
and sacrifices other pleasures to
save money enough to buy and pay
for them. He has neighbors who
are unable or too stingy to buy
and so they live by borrowing, ant
making old apologies for tool
answer instead. They can appre
ciate good tools, and are willing t.
save time in using them as we'll a!
anybody, and they never think
about the propriety Of remunera
ton.
Farmer A. buys a new corr
planter, and the season being back
ward, several neighbors are behint
hand in planting, and apply for the
use of the machine. The imple,
ment costmoney; the owner never
expected to buy another, handles
it himself carefully, and reluctant
ly loans it. Some days after, when
farmer A. wants to use his machine,
he has to hunt it up among his
neighbors, and finds it dirty, un.
housed, anut lost off, anG a wooden
linchpin supplying the place Of the
appropriate iron one. AS it has
been used by several individuals,
each throws the blame of damage
upon the other, coolly leaving the
owner to pocket the loss and its
Injury.
Again, farmer A. gets a moving
machine, and puts it in running
order some rainy day before the
time of using. Soon after a neigh
boring farmer comes all prepared
with his team, and wants to try it
in his home lot, intimating that he
thinks of buying when he can de-
eide upon its merits. The machine
is allowed to depart, and finally
returned by the borrower without
thanks or offering, but with the
cool impudence that it wouldn't do
its work. On examination the
knives are found capped and mark
ed by the sticks and bricks through
which it has run, and the loss of
an important screw is the key to
the mystery. Other cases might
be enumerated. Suffice it to say
that there are we'll off farmers in
almost every town, who for Years
have depended upon less opulent
neigh 1ors for plows, rakes, forks,
nTu orindstoncs.
These things ought not to be.
Every tub should stand or fall up
on its own bottom. 1t is neither
charity nor religion to lend to rich
men without remuneration. A
mans tools are property, and like
money are entitled to security and
pay. We believe more and more
in the sage advice to young men
that Shakespeare put into the
mouth Of Polonius in the play Of
Hamlet;
"Neither borrower nor lender be,
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry."
S@~ Much of the chess can be sep
arated from wheat by good fan