Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1869-06-18
On Going Surety.

OUGHT d HAL CfSl SO ouiS'J
other? Why nots 1t is most frieDoly
act. If prudently done, it may be OF the
most eminent benefit to nelghbor. II
gives him the benefit Of your good
reputation when he is not known. LII
lends him your credit where his own
is not sufficient. 1t puts him IN Iunus
which otherwise he could not commanu;
Such service to friend is generous, ana
sometimes even noble. No bet use Can
be made of ones money than TO help
true friend. We are commanded TO re-
member those in bonds as bound with
them. To be sure, this was originally ap-
piled to bonds of q different klnd, OUT
with not whit more proprlety IMAM 10
pecuniary bonds A man who, by lew
thousand dollars, can save his 1rlenos' anu
perhaps his family, from bankruptcy anu
want could hardly spend his money in
manner which, all his life long, ne Woulo
remember with more satlsfactlon.
Rnt there are certain moral and pru
Dental considerations which should al
WAYS be borne in mind in going surety
for friend. You should make up
YOUR mind how much property you
have, and how much you are will
ing to give away, absolutely, for that
friend whom you indorse. For no
blunder can be worse than to IN
dorse on the supposition that you will not
have to pay. Never indorse with
out saying to yourself "This1 may come
around upon me. I may have to pay 1t;
and, if it comes to that, am able and
willing" Nine out of ten of the fatal mis-
takes made by bondsmen arise from taking
the opposite course to this. They consider
the act of indorsing q friends paper as a
mere commercial form. There is no risk.
I shall not have it to pay. He is abundantly
able to take care of his paper. shall help
him without harming myself, and he is q
stingy man who will not do that" This
is the calculations on which a man binds
himself to pay, his friends debts in case
the friend cannot pay them himself But
how dothese 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 he himself knew, and his creditors
closed on him and wound him up, and
were overjoyed to find such good name
as yours on his paper. Or, the sanguine
scheme on which he had ventured,
which seemed sure of success, almost
without possibility of failure, suddenly,
like loaded wagon, slipped off wheel
and upset into the dirt.
Or, Just as every thing was at the point
OF success, our friend sickened and could
not look after his affairs, some critical
matter was neglected, or some dishonest
person stepped in and crooked matters,
your friend died, the estate went into ex-
ecutors' hands for settlement, was badly
managed, warped and crippled, 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 find
yourself confronted with q debt that
sweeps away your house, your farm, your
little sum in the bank, and leaves you just
where you began twenty-five years ago,
with the difference, that then you had
only yourself to provide for, and now you
have a wife and eight children. 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 given away your
children's bread. You have not saved
your friend, but have ruined yourself!
Perhaps your friend had settled on his
wife 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 ruined. But, if
she will not land nature is made up of
shaky stuff, and her children go to school,
while yours stay at home and if they live
in comfortable house, pleasantly furnish
cd, 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 reflections.
When it is too late, you will be very
wise. You will say to yourself, it may be,
GA man is fool who signs for any larger
sum than he can conveniently pay, ["
Amen, say I! -
"Before a man puts his name down on
another mans paper, he should ask him
self, am l willing to give this person as
much money as sign for.?" Amen, say
"To sign bond on the supposition that
it is mere form, and that you will have
nothing to pay, it is to put ones head into
FOOLS moose" Amen, again, say
There is no harm in signing for neigh
Dor if you have got the property; if you
are able to pay the amount without harm
ing your own household; and if you love
the man for whom you sign enough to be
willing to give him outright the sum COW
cred by your Endorsement. Otherwise, to
go surety for neighbor is a folly, a sin
and shame.-Henry Ward Beecher.