The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1886-12-31
EM1emorrat-Shr
THE CURSE OF DEBT.
81. Louis Reputit,s~

8aa WoH VIII 0GNA - cANN NEANos
bed and rise az 10 his daily t"iI
with q heavy heart because he !,
in debt. Take it for all ia all, debI
lies at the root of as much human
misery, and, perhaps, occasions US
much crime as any other fault OI
folly of our foolish and extremely
faulty race. Its immediate cOnS,..
quence is the humiliation of the
debtor. As Solomon SAY 4, "the
borrower is sci want to the lender"
and the Greek verse tells the same
truth ia hardly different words,
when it says that "debt makes free
men slaves" Borrowing without
debt, hOwever) from these, our
wise old friend, Punch, says in his
Letter Writer, "the debtor, let him
hold up his head aud rnf1e it as he
will, is the bOndman-the sert of
the creditor" 1t Is true, indeed,
that there are some to whom the
slavery of debt seems to be a light
burden, or no burden at all, and
who can gayly suap their fingers
at a creditor with some old saw in
Pistols vein, to the effect that
'Sbase is the slave who pays"
Much wit was expended by the
dramatists and essayists last cen.
fury on the airy cheerfulneSs of
debtors; but it may be doubted
whether such a c~heerfulneSs is ever
genuine or Pistols lot u lot 10 be
desired. Ella, who wrote most
amusingly on the subject of Dor
rOwers and lenders, knew the deep
humiliation which the borrower
bears. A friend to whom be once
lent ESQ seemed Immediately to
lose all the freedom of friendship
In his subsequent conversations
with his kindly creditor. Accord
ingly, Lamb took pains u day to
say as many things as possible
with which be knew his friend
did not agree, and, encounterin.
no dissent, the dear old %Stammerer
cried out ; "C-c. contradict me, YOU
villain, or p-p-pay me those fl fifty
pOundsw The humiliation of the
sensitive and the degradation of
the dull which debt brings have
often been shown by earnest writ.
ers. Thackeray pictures it in
many distressing aud degrading
aspects. OF the Rev. Charles
HOneyman Colonel Newman says;
"Think of flying before a washer.
woman, or humbllug yourself to a
tailor, or eating a poor mans chill I
dren's bread !" aud F. Bayham, /
of the same habitual Dor. !
observes to Give Newcome; |
''Take warning by him, dear youth /
by him aOd by me, if you like. :
See me-mey D. Bayham, descend !
I'D from the ancient kings that I
long the Tuscan sePptre swayed, :
down a street to get out of =
boOt.shop, aud my colossal frame 4
il a chap puts his hand OH {
ny shoulder, as You did, Penden {
ais, the other day ihf the Strand, :,
.hea thought a straw might have y
InOcked me down." Hazlitt, in Y
lis essay on ''The Want OF Money!" +
from sad experience when a
exclaims: ooh +; it is wretched v
have to confront a just aud Oft n
epeated demand, and to be with.
'ut the means to satisfy it,
o be placed in tue power OF anOth- =
=, to be indebted 10 his lenity. to q
tand convicted of having played =
he knave Or the fool, aud TO have :
o way left to escape contempt bat 8
y incurring pityr Poor Robin u
Burns in bis early days declared
hat he "abhorred an hell" the a
names which debt brings, and Z
hat this wholesome dread had u
lade him ga strict economist - but p
be wreck aud ruin of his better u
lie was slgnalized by the SORROW "
fact that he became at last a u
hronic borrower OF small sume u
reluctant lenders. Some OF 81
hose who figure disrpputably as u
asy and eOntented debtors are far ID
,ss easy than they seem. Leigh G.
Iunt, whom Dickens plllOred for. u
yer in the character of Horace "
klmpOle, was not in fact the light "a
creature who figures in h
Bleak House, but is said to have b
cen $50 necessarily haunted by
is obligations, and so Over-anx-
BUS to fulfill all that was due from
I'm, that he often paralyzed his c.
powers IN the vain effort to
leet demands which he ought not
D have incurred. Not the least nj
Use OF DIR. JOhnsOn's eounsels to n
was cOuched in these e,
Iords: "DO not accustOm yourself a,
D consider debt only as an incOn- :,
enience; you will find it u calami- ~
+" Debt is indeed . calamity, Z
nd such a calamity, that Disraeli
said OF it that if youths could
ut know the wretchedUess in store ne
them when they accept a credit OF
which they are not entitled, they Ii
brink from it with fear. elbow III
ley wonld start in their careerl
low they would tremble and clasp
leir hands in agony at the preci. On
ice on which they are disporting n III
be worst calamity of debt is that sn
tends to break down the whole on
Ioral character. 1t is u daily ex- m,
er:ence that it saps the founda. M
Ons of veracity. Sir Henry fay II
II did not greatly exaggerlte, rs m
very money collector can testify. h,
hen he said: -.