Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1879-06-12
"a Graphing Mortgage

"a Graphing Mortgage"
"Don't know what crappipg mort
gage is! TO be shufe you amt never lived
in the country, them" said an honest, hard
working and thrifty farmer of small means,
who lives in au Eastern county, to ono Of
our lawyers, as eminent for his 5onhomtc
as for his admirable talents; "you q lawyer
and don't know what orapping mortgage
is? We'll, I'll tell you"
"I made ono of them burned thinoa
once; the way of it was this: Ycu seo !
went down to the store at the forks of tho
road in my ncighborhoci, 20 buy a fow
articles that was needed at nomo, and whom
got en- in the osrt to 60 homo, my friend,
oEafPman' nc Is TIE merchant, you know,
,!., VINO Keeps llt..io store down therc--just
llttlo ecun.ry -Sharpman, ho said to
NC; ""nat is tho uso of botlering along
W.T.. little things of this sort? Why don't
you just make "cropping mortgugo," aud
then you can get anything you want, and
wont have to pay for it until your crap
comes in, and then you can pay it off with
q bale of cotton or So"
"lt sounded mighty easy like, SO signed
one of the cusscd things and started Of
homo with my load. Well, sir, them mort.
cages is curious things. hadu't morc'n
got up the red hill going home before |
commenced to think of what needed, and
the internal thing made me think of things
that l must have that L never had wanted
before. You sec always had money on
hand to buy what me and tho old woman
~ fol hol l,k 81, III
my life, but all the ncighbors was trying
their hands on "crapping mortgages" and
| thought / would 60 in for little too.
Well, | did. [ kept on wanting things,
and | kept on getting things We all got
along fine and Sharpuan sold the old
woman lots Of nico things that we never
had wanted before, but that VIC was bound
to have after | signed the "crapping mort
gage They breed wants, they do.
CA last The crap came in. sent two
or tkrcc bales Of cotton down to the store
10 pay it off, as Sharpman said it would do
but it didn't. then sent down all nv
fodder; but that didn't do it. | talked the
matter over with the old woman, and she
got up all the ducks, chickens and cnss,
aud J. sent down all the corn tnat | had
made, and that did not do it; so just got
OIL my horse aud rode down to the store to
sec about it, looked at what we had
bought came to all figured up, you know,
and there was always what you call bal
ancc agin nc. So | Just took out nv
pockctbook that had had the mortgage in
it all the time, and paid off the mortgage
and took the confounded thing and went
back home. Well, when go: thcrc
thought Ia read over that paper that
always managed to keep balance agin me
somehow or other, and | done 80. Well,
now, what do you think there was in that
trapping mortgage? | hope the recording
angel ain't listening, but wish may be
ID if that 'crc little crapping mortgage
weren't spread all over my land. My
horses, my mules, my stock, my farming
utensils, my household and kitchen furni-
turc, even the dishrag was flung into it.
| always thought that the things must have
India rubber in 'cm, they stretched so, and
they ought to be called dish-rag mortgages,
and crapping mortgages, oughtn't they?
Well, let me tell you. Don't you never
sign one You never will get through
paying it, and when them store fellows tell
you how easy it is to get things now and
pay for 'cm in the fall, you remember
what tell you about a crapping mort
gage"
And having finished his description of
these little engines of oppression, he pulled
out his twist of home made tobacco, that
looked as rich and brown MS walnut wood,
cut off chew with his horn-hande knife,
put into his mouth, put the knife and
tobacco back into his brecchcs pocket and
walked away. lie turned round after
walking little way, and said retlcctivcly:
"Don't you never sign one in the world;
if you do, you'll ,aycr get through paying
il off"
Vain is the search fer happiness unless
VIC carry it within US. The hidden springs
OF JOY must gush from our own souls.