The post. [volume] (Middleburg, Snyder County, Pa.) 1864-1883, 1873-05-08
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The Relentless Creditor.
Dy aAaITrARIuS.

Those who have read Fosters 8 Life
OF Goldsmith, and the biographies o,
other distinguished mon who had tn.
misfortune to live and flourish during
the same period, know SO we'll that !,
is needless here to refer to il, how in
iquitously the old law of debtor and
creditor operated in the British do.
minions. 1t was period in which
men had not yet begun to recognize
the fact that punishment has othe,
and higher aims than the qualification
ofrevenge; that even extreme punish.
ment is, after all, but a necessity that
some shall suffer for the good of all.
The poor debtor, in those days, being
unable to pay his debts, was re,
morselessly thrown into prison, and
there left to languish and pine away,
though possessing hands and skill
which, with little assistance, would
in short time enable him to pay of
all his liabilities. This was not all.
The law gave the creditor, il he SO
elected, the power of seizing the body
ofa dead debtor on its way to the
churchyard, and holding possession
Of until the friends Of fthe deceased had
established their right to it by dis
charging the indebtedness. Gold
smith, by his "vicar of Wakefield" I"
first made the people aware of tho
monstrous injustice which, as 70
|garded debtors, was then perpetrated
under the name Of law. Poor Goldy
was competent to speak Of it from OK
perience.
The great masses of the people,
however, had from the beginning q
vague idea that this punishment of
insolvent debtors was right. This
was especially the case in Ireland,
and hence, among the poorer classes
there, the extraordinary sympathy
shown for ''poor devils who had
blundered into debt:' q sympathy
which was only equslled in intensity
BY the antipathy shown for bailiffs,
process-servers, and "sich varmit. I"
Unfortunately there is too much rea-
son to believe that the sympathy
shown for poor debtors had the effect
Of increasing their number for the
sympathy sometimes rose to the de-
gree of hero6cation and a young
blood allowed pound weekly
his father, would contrive to live
at the rate Of twenty pounds a week.
Then would come judgments and at
tachments and the young blood would
be put on the defensive. All kinds
OF stratagems would be resorted to in
order to capture him, and sometimes
the bailitfs might count themselves
lucky II thoy did not get shot or
drowned. The bailiffs were regarded
as outcasts, whom anybody might
assault with impunity, and who re.
ceived no respect whatever even
from those who needed their services
and were willing to retain them.
But the class Of debtors here spoken
OF we DO NOT present as legitimate
objects for sympathy, nor did they
always stand in need Of it, generally
taking care to. keep out OF the way,
or when danger msnacsd, getting
away to Brussels, Baden Baden, or
some other place on the Continent.
The class against whom the law
operated with terrible and unjust &C.
verify were honest business people,
whose little ventures in life had sud
denly and sadly realized the truth,
that. ,, s.nfs. HEu
Life 10 . ehangssble ocean, .Hii
Whore sunshine snd shadows abound.
Where the surface SCENE least In eoamo-
tiou. 70
The sho4ls Of uisfsrtsas are found.''
!, Many s poor tradesman. once in |
Aourishing circumstances, has been
3oomsd 70 drag out years in the |
3sbtors' prison, aud knew that his |
hnily wsss starving. bscsuss his |