The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1886-12-31
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THE CURSE OF DEBT.


- StvoAnk ~ VI Tue ycHI
many q man will seek q sIecpless
bed and rise np TO his daily toll
with a heavy heart because he il
IN debt. Take it for all in all, debt
lies at the root OF ~ much human
misery's and, perhaps, occasions as
much crime as any other fault or
folly of our foolish aud extremely
faulty race. Its immediate cUns...
quence is the humiliation OF the
debtor. As Solomon SANS, sstl,e
borrower is servant to the lender"
anu the Greek Verse tells The same
truth IN hardly different words,
when it says that "debt makes tree
men slaves" Borrowing without
debt, however) frOm these, our
wise old TREND, Punch, saws in his
Letter Writer, tsthe debtor, let him
hold up his head and rnf1p it as he
will, is the bondman-the serf 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, aud
who a gayly snap their fingers
at q creditor with some old saw in
Pistols vein, to the effect that
"baSe is the slave who pays"
Much wit was expended by the
dramatists aud essayiStS last cen
fury on the airy cheerfulneSs of
debtors; but it may be doubted
whether such q cheerfulneSs is ever
genuine or Pistols lot a lot 10 be
desired. Ella, who wrote most
a%musingly on the subject OF Dor
rOwers and lenders, knew the deep
humiliation which the borrower
bears. A friend to whom he once
lent ESQ seemed immediately to
lose all the freedom of friendship
in his subsequent conversations
with his kindly creditor. Accord
lngly, Lamb took pains Que day to
say as many things as possible :
with which be knew bis friend
did not agree, and, encOunterin.
no dissent, the dear old stammrTer
cried out acc, 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 J
ers. Thackeray pictures it in G
many distressing aud degrading II
aspects. OF the Rev. Charles
HOneyman Colonel Newman says: e
''Think of flying before "a washer !
woman, or humbllng yourself to a
tailor, or eating a poor mars chill, 81
dren'S bread J" and F. Bayham, f
speaking OF the same habitual Dor. q
rover, observes to Give Newc0me; Y
''Take warning 10y bin, dear youth 3
by him and by me, if you like.
See meme, f. Bayham, descend. 4
ed from the ancient kings that Z
long tue Tuscan sceptre Swaved, Z
down Il street to get out of y
q bOot.shOp, and my colossal frame =
tremble il a chap puts his hand on q
my shoulder, as you did, Peuden 6
nls, the other day in the Strand, =
when l thought a straw might have Y
knocked me down." Hazlitt, in
bis essay on ''The Want OF Money! Il
from sad experience when AM
exclaims: cob !; it is wretclled WI
% have to confront q Just aud oft M;
'epeated demaUd, and To be with
mt the means to satisfy it, " /"
o be placed in the power OF anOth. Y
r, TO be indebted 10 his lenity, to e's !,
itand convicted OF having played :
he knave or tue fool, and 10 have =
10 way left to escape contempt bnt SIC
~ iucurring pity n Poor Robin tn
Burns in bis early days declared
hat he "abhorred as help the am
,bames which delhi briu.,s aud ell
hat this wholesome dread had th'
made him "a strict economist - but pc
he wreck aud ruin of his better ma
ite was slgnalized by the SORROW. wh
al fact that he became at last \ up
borrower OF small sumo inc
reluctant lenders. Some OF sh'
hose who figure disreputably ms ma
asy and %contented debtors are far oel
sss easy than they seem. Leigh COT
lunt, whom Dickens pIllored for. lht
yer in the charaC ter of Horace We
klmpole, was not in fact the light. Jay
earted creature who figures in ule
Bleak House, but is said TO have BIZ
cen $50 necessarily haunted by
is obligations, and SO Over-anx- v
)us to fulfill all that was due from
I'm, that he often raralyzed his Can
powers IN the vain effort to A
leet demands which he Ought no.
D have incurred. Not The least his
Use OF DR.. JOhnson's counsels to #
was cOuched in these vea
'ords: "D0 not aceustOm yourself adv
consider debt only as an incOn. =.
eDience; you will find tia calami. rei
+" Debt is indeed q calamity, ror
nd such a calamity, that Disraeli
Istly said OF it that If youths could L
ut know the wretchedness in store no
n them when they accept a credit Onl
which they are not entitled, they 1t '
rink from it with fear. SHOW uui
ey would start in their career!
Ow they would tremble and clasp n
cir hands in agony at the preci acc,
5e or which they are disporting n SiII,
le worst calamity of debt is that sncI
tends to break down the whole ON
)ral character. 1t is aNlHily ex- ma,
that it saps the fonnda- did
ms of veracity. Sir Henry Fay n \