The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1871-06-20
Endorsing.

80 "i Pooi' "iole horace treeley tC
Western friend last month "But it i,
my o"W jaHH, because | endorse othe,
folks notes. One was brought to me TO-
day, for $4,000, which must find a wa,
TO pay within few days. have fooled
away at least one hundred and fft,
thousand dollars trying to help others
and it has done no good. Now | guess
my foot is down, | will not endorse anoth.
er note. So you see the stables all oct
locked after the horses are stolen" Mr..
Greeley's experiences as thus related are
certainly anything but agreeable but
they are no worse than other generously
disposed men are Constantly incurrine.
Who Is there who cannot call off on his
fingers ends friend after friend. finan.
cially crippled, at one time or another,
by endorsing other folks paper? Man
KIND has been, unjustly perhaps, divided
INTO two classes, those who make money
and those who are trying to get it away
from them. We would by no means
classify endorser seekers among the lat
ter. And yet it is too true that many
OF them trade upon friendship, and take
advantage OF the very confidence reposed
IN them to impose upon friends. The in.
stances are not uncommon of individuals
persuading acquaintauces to become their
backers, at time when they are perfect
ly well aware that their affairs are in such
precarious condition, as to hazard the
fortunes of both. The person who does
this is nothing, ifnot dishonest. lie is
II anything, worse than the professional
pilicrer, for he makes way with his
neighbor's purse under the cuise off
friendship. We allude to the indyidu-
al who deliberately involves an acauain-
tance with the hope of saving himself.
1t is hard to resist the opportunities of
friend, one in whose honor and integ.
rity We place implicit confidence, but it is
still harder task to regain savings
which may be lost by yielding. 1t is an
easy matter to write ones name across
the back of another's note, but lust such
strokes of the pen have consigned thou.
sands from competence to poverty, COM
pelling them to again begin at the foot of
liie's ladder after struggling through long
years to the top. Nine times we NAV |
safely endorse, but on the tenth occasion
be caught and brought under the sherifs |
hammer.
1t is therefore good plan for persons
the world, to resolve to rarely
place themselves in other peoples power
as cndorsers. But some one may argue,
life is nothing without friends, and they |
are made and retained only by comforting
those favors, good turns, and kind Offices
which constitute the groundwork Of social
relations 10 this we would reply, that
no friendship is worth having which will
not stand the test Of a refusal to blindly
endorse. Ten to one the friend who cuts
loose from you on such grounds is a
good riddance. You are to be congratu-
ated that you have separated from him,
before he separated you from your pocket.
book.
Dean Switt's maxim, that 1--WE must
AIRY money in the head not in the
leart," applies to just such occasions as ;
hese, when one is asked to risk his own
'ecuniary welfare for that of friend. !
Not that we would have individuals be.
ome old Scrooges and steel their hearts
galnst all appeals for aid, but a man has |
lis own family first to think of and pro- {
,ide for. 1t is duty which he owes to t
hem, to leave them, if possible, with i
ompetence, should he be called suddenly I
way by death. Henry Ward Beecher c
ecared, in recent discourse, that it was
he duty Of every one to strive to accumu. S
ate wealth. independence, said Fran t
is Horner's father to his son on starting |
ut in the world, sis a grand object to t
very man ofspirit," We should aim to c
ossess riches for the good we can achieve b
18th them and for the same reason we l.
lould hold on to them when acquired, 5
lstead of "fooling" them away on other
eople's notes, as Mr.. Greeley sadly con- p
,sses that he has done.-Hcayth and e
Tome. Il