The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1877-06-28
Debt.

A VERY nice girl, indeed, Martin. l
congratulate you. And you've chosen
your domicile, too? A pretty villa, you
say. And as to drainage? Well, you
don't know, really, whether there are any
drains or not. You suppose that is all
right, and it's the landlords affair and not
yours. Excuse me, Martin. l don't see
that. 1t may be the landlords affair us
to whether they do exist, but it is you,
and not your landlord, that is going to
live in the lovely little villa; and you will
be susceptible to typhoid fever, and not
your landlord. You and your beloved!
Please to remember, my friend, that
drains are often like the Eden TO which
Martin Chuzzlewit emigrated, on the
banks of the Mississippi, a prospective
thing, on a map, etc.-matters belonging
to the verb to be! While you are settling
comfortably down, the damp may, per.
haps, be settling intentionally up; and
the only ditty that you and your fellow vii
laites will be able to sing, is, There's a
good time coming, boys" However, not
to depress you, Martin, perhaps your
selected villa is drained, and the next
say. You're going to manage that ad.
AAAA 0ulys ClA 1"uASS VtCs, ali ul u1SllCu
throughout for $3.50, and you are to pay
on system, and you are not going to worry
ly. till it is paid for. Isn't that glorious
No. Martin, it is utterly inglorious and
horrible. You have positively taken my
honest, sensible fellow. should he of
cOnrH mind ond al %hof tho 1oro1
documents say, and yet be forging, with
your own hands, the detestable gives and
letters of debt, is absolutely alarming to
me. You look hale and cheerful now,
but am already transforming you, in
imagination, into a weird, wizened, wor-
ried man, old at thirty. What immunity
can you and yours claim from the or
binary sickness and trials of humanity +?
You will have dark, gloomy days, as
we'll as bright sunny ones, and that cool
little arithmetical calculation you have
made, as to quarterly installments, month
ly interest, ETC., under the vile, damaging
system of debt, will break down like a
piece of gossamer web. 1t is horrible
enough gradually TO get into debt
but you are about to handicap your
self in the difficult race of life by
commencing with an entire system of Il
all ready to hand. / have known men
who have been followed all the weary
years of life by a CHASTITY phalanx of o
US! The cry of "pay, pay, pay" has
been the miserable chime of bells that
they hung in the belfry of home, with
their own hands! You haven't told Alice
your idea about furnishing. No, Martin,
I felt quite sure of that. She is far too
practical aud sensible to indorse such an
idea. know her well, and she would
rather begin life with few honestly
bought fittings, however plain, than lie
on sofa that said "debt!' and dine of
a table that said "debt!" and play on a
piano that said "debt!" Don't you know,
my dear fellow, that in a few years all
this fine furniture will be worn and torn,
that casters will come of, and china break
and polish get scratched, and damask
fade, and carpets wear out? And then, if,
in five years or so, you have succeeded in
emancipating yourself from the tyranny
of debt, what disappointing vision will
meet your eye! You will then have paid
for worn goods, instead of having the
pleasure of investing in fresh and fair
furniture as you 60 Onl
Yes, very pretty! A lovely little villa
furnished all over, from kitchen to garnet,
with somebody else's money! And some.
body else's money means-please to re.
member that of all, dearcr price
than you need pay for ready cash, and
next heavy interest if your quarterlies are
left in allegiance. Look here, Martin, il
you eschew debt, you can live on oatmeal
if you cannot afford meat, and you can
make shift and continuance in other ways
to the preservation of your self.respect,
and the Joy and rest of yourself and others.
Heart s-ease in the garden of the soul is
better than many other more daring flow
ers. Plant that, and you will be free
from many terrible horrors of the mind
1t is one of the saddest influences of debt
that it deadens the delicate feelings of the
mind; men and women get, in way, used
to it; they do not feel the shame of it, but
I only the agony of being dunned for pay
ment; and there is this great evil con.
nected with it, that, one by one, doors of
escape get closed, and the terrible tempt
aticn comes to drink. and drown dull care.
Multitudes of inebriates have been made
such, not so much by actual love of drink
as bv the fact that they can drown painful
sensibility in the wine cup. Believe me,
Martin, you are contemplating real leap
in the dark; don't mean as concerns
your marriage: more prudent, thought
full little lassie don't know than your
fancee, as society terms it, though am
not fond of French synonyms. But to
furnish according to your idea is leap in
the dark, and may land you at the bottom
of a precipice of ruined health, ruined
reputation and ruined honor. am all
the more earnest because you haven't
translated your idea into action yet; and
if I thought you would, feel almost in
clined to infringe on the liberty Of the
subject, lock you up in my room, and take
away the key, till you are in better
mind. Ali right-you won't tempt me to
such daring act; you won't fur
nish 80. You see it now. You won't
get into debt; nothing shall tempt
you to; by Gods help you'll keep
out of such bitter bondage; and
you're glad you came to see q true friend |!
Bravo, Martin! Bravo! feel thankful
that you have ported your helm at once.
I ann glad to hear that you need not
even bide wee, but that if you only part
ly furnish, anu reduce some of your esti-
mates. you can make a CHEEKY little home
of villa all the same; and. let me add,
having resolved to begin we'll, go on in the
<rO~,<l vs,ox, oud don,< no oohovuod IN aov