The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1869-08-12
On Going Surety.
BY HENRY WARD BEECHER.

OI your gOOu reputation Wnen ne Is
not known. 1t lends him your credit
where his own is not sufficient. 1t
puts him in funds which otherwise he
could not command. Such service to
friend is generous, and sometimes
even noble No better use can be
made of ones money than to help a
true friend. We are commanded to
'sEemember those in bonds as bound
with Them" To be sure, this was
originally applied to bonds ola different
kind than to pecuniary bonds. A
man who, by few thousand dollars,
can save his friend, and perhaps his
family, from bankruptcy and want,
could hardly spend his money in a
manner which, all his life long, he
would remember with more sati5fae-
ton.
But, there are certain moral pruden-
tial considerations which should al
ways be borne in mind in going surety
for friend. You should make up
your mind hOtO much property yOu
haze and hOl0 much you are l0itLiHg to
give dlOGy, absolutely, for that friend
for whom you indorse. For no blunder
can be worse than to indOrse on the
suppOsitiOn that yOU 1OM not hare to
pay. Never indOrse without saying
to yourself, "This may come round
upon me. l may have to pay it and, -,
if it comes to that, am able and will
ing" Nine out of ten of the fatal
mistakes made by bOndsmen arise
from taking the opposite course to this.
They consider the act of indOrsing a
friends paper as a mere commercial
form, Hphere is no risk. 1 shall not
have to pay. He is abundantly able
TO take care of his paper. 1 shall
help him without harming myself
and he is stingy man who will not
do that" This is the calculation on
which a man binds himself to pay
friends debts in case the friend can
not pay them himself.-But how do
these things turn out? One need
not go far to ascertain. Every village
has an illustration. The borrower
was more involved than you supposed,
or, perhaps, than himself knew, and
his creditors closed on him and wound
him up, and were Overjoyed to find
such good name as yours on his pa
per. Or, the sanguine scheme on
which he had ventured, which SEEM
ed sure of success, almost without
possibility of failure, suddenly, like a
loaded wagon, slipped OFF wheel,
and upset into the dirt.
Or, just as everything else was at
the point of success, your friend sick
ened and could not look after his af-
fairs, some critical matter was neglect
ed, or some dishonest person stepped
in and crooked matters your friend
died, the estate went into executors
hands for settlement, was badly man
aged, warped and crooked, and finally
turned out insOlvent.
And what became of you? Why,
you were surety for the full amount of
what you are worth In an hour you
are confronted with a debt that sweeps
away your house, your farm, your lit
tie sum in bank, and leaves you just
where you began twenty-five years
ago, with this difference, that then
you had only yourself to provide for
and now you have a wife and eight
Then you were twenty
five years old and life was all before
you, and now you are fifty years old,
and life pretty much all behind you
You have not saved your friend,
but have ruined yourself! Perhaps
your friend had settled on his wife
a small property. So much the bet
ter for her, if he had. OF course she
will divide with you, since it was to
save her husband, that you were ru
ined. But, if she will not, (and hu
man nature is made Up of shaky stuff,)
and her children go to school, while
yours stay at home and if they live
in a comfortable house, pleasantly
furnished, while you are hiring few
rooms in the cheapest quarter of the
town, then l suspect that you will
chew the cud of a great many bitter
When it is too late, you will be
very wise. You will say to yourself,
it may be, GA man is a fool who
signs for any larger sum than he can
conveniently pay" Amen, say 1
Before a man puts his name down
on another mans paper, he should
ask himself, Gam l willing to gjUe
this person as much money as sign
for ?'' Amen, say /!
"TO sign a bond on the suppOsi-
tion that it is a mere form, and that
you will have nothing to pay, is to
put ones head into FOOLS moose"
Amen, again, say l.!
There is no harm in signing for
neighbor if you have got the proper
ty; if you are able to pay the amount
without harming your own household;
aud if you love the man for whom
you sign enough to be willing to give
him outright the sum covered by
your Endorsement. Otherwise, to go
surety for a neighbOr is a folly, a sin
and shame.