Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-03-25

u IL De plankec II ! u
pay a cent?
Does he owe you money!" said the writer il
the kindness Of his heart, for the man looked
poor and unhappy.
mo. no." he answered, IT am a collector y
'And he won't pay?"
mo, he won't pay now. but he will later. II
Is one OF the pleasant privileges Of my calling
that have to be sworn at I'll 90 back to HIM
in week. He will probably swear again. Blu,
tho third time he will, doubtless, pay That's
the way with these fellows"
Now: why should this young broker swear al
an inonensive man who comes to collect n debt!
The broker knows he owes tho money: BE-
knows that the man who sold him the clothes
he wears must be paid eventually, but he geta
angry when he IL asked to pay ard abuses q
citizen who has done him no harm. This ID
human nature, and not one Of It's good sides
and the trade Of collector Is, IN Consequence
not unlike the trade Of the haagman. He In .
necessary member Of society, but he IL oh.
noSious to those he meets IN q business capac-
ity.
TWO CLASSES OF coILEcroap.
or collectors investigation has revealed two
particular kinds. The one il tho pugnacious
man who won't take abuse and who often
frirhtens the debtor into paving and the other
10 the persistent man who wears his subject out
and finally gets mis- money because the man who
owes 1t is tired OF putting him OF. Most co.,
iectors live with difficulty, are keenly alive to
the disagreeable position they occupy and only
follow their calling from sheer necessity
The writer o1cs knew Young man who be-
came collector for a large firm Of book pub
fishers and his duties consisted in travelling
around and collecting debts from people who
would not remit their Indebtedness by mail.
In this way no ssw good many different kinds
OF debtors. He was very successful at his cali
In h,i1
firing ont and wheedling tina. will last him the
balance OF his days. For instance, no was sent
to town, the leading physician OF which had
bought library on credit and had seemingly
determined never to pay for q book in it. Upon
politely stating his errand the physician said
Come in again this afternoon" fully deter.
mining to spend the whole afternoon away from
his Office. Thank you" said ths collector, 81
will wait here II you will allow me have
nothing else to do" So he took an easy chair
In the physician's waiting room. picked up
book and read. Whenever the physician opened
the door to let a patient in there sat the col
lector calmly reading. The physicians Office
hours in tho morning ended and he went out
The collector went out himself for few mo-
ments for lunch. returned and again took bis
seat in the waiting room and began reading.
Late in the day the physician returned and
more Office patients came all Of whom in sue
cession saw the doctor, and every time he
opened tho doc. to let one In there he saw the
collector calmly reading in the corner. He
could not make q fuss about his debts before
his patients and realized that he was caught in
q trap. 1t was quite dark before the last patient
went home.
GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS.
Then the doctor came into the waiting room
and sat down opposite the collector.
"well," he said, "how have you enjoyed
your day?"
oTo,erab}v wall ,,.v,r.a a.. .,n..x
You see am very fond Of reading, aud I sell.
dom get chance to indulge nv taste, but your
library, Doctor, is SO well selected that it is
really pleasure to spend the day In II. You
have great many ine books. Doctor"
Many OF these fine books were what the doc
tor owed for
How would you like to spend another day
with these fine books?" asked the doctor, who
thought he might eventually tire his man out
81 may have to do it. SIR" was the answer,
.for have ordered an express wagon to come
here and remove them to my hotel unless I
carry away their equivalent"
You don't mean it?''
'Yes. do. When went out 70 lunch I left
the order, and. by Jove. here comes the wagon
now. Shall call in the driver?''
NO, no, send him away for heavens sake
Here's a check for the whole amount I had
no idea you we're such q determined character
Good-day, good-day. Never mind a receipt.
Don't let me detain you e moment longer"
The collector won this time, but he some
times only won after undergoing a severe con-
hict On one occasion going to . debtor who
was with his friends smoking and drinking, he
was challenged to take a drink and a cigar. As
he neither smoked nor drank he politely de-
clined. upon which the man who owed the
money said, Then I won't pay"
But If l smoke a cigar and drink some
whisky you will pay9'' said the collector.
Yes"
Done
So he took cigar and drank q stiff drink Of
whisky and the debtor handed over the money,
and the collector went out into the roadway
and lay down and wrestled with himself for
half an hour and then got up and tottered to
his lodgings, feeling that be deserved q promo
ton from his firm. and that the life of col
lector was altogether too severe o one for any
man who was not Texan born.
DIFFERENT KINDS OF DEBTORS.
Having said this much about collectors it may
prove interesting to take view Of the different
kinds of debtors there are in the world First,
there is the honest man who is ALWAYS in debt
and who always pays. To this fellow debt is a
second nature. He can no more keep out of it
than bird can keep from flying. Give him a
little money and he will pay such debts as are
most pressing. but he will immediately pro-
coed to run up new debts. Suppose for an in
slant that some one wiped out all of such
mans debts and gave him a good round sum in
bank. Would he live on a cash basis long?
Never. He would leave the money in the bank
until he had run up bills that he couldn't meet
on presentation and he would be Just where he
was before. But this man is perfectly honest,
and, while he cannot paw for ANYTHING when
the bill is presented to him, he always paws for
everything in the end. Sometime he gets too
seriously into debt, and then he has to live low
for while until he can pick up and get where
he was before. OF course these remarks apply
to a mans private life. No man can carry on a
business on the same system. When a business
mans debts become too pressing he fails.
e. There Is another class OF manor rather bow
who runs into debt because he thinks il
manly. He likes to tell about his duns. He
soon gets over this habit, and he is easily
frightened when the duns become pressing. OF
course, these callow youths are very foolish.
They learn their lesson in due course. You
might as well argue with them as with a youth
who persists In smoking cigarettes. He will
break the habit Of his own accord, or it viii
break him.
A far worse class Of debtors are those men
who buy wnatever they can get with the full
Determination Of never paying. II is q strange
illustration OF how easily gulled people are that
tnese Fellows do succeed in acquiring q great
deal OF other peoples property. When they
nave any money they may pay q little on ac-
count. put 1t Is only with . view to getting more
OF the things they want and Of leaving the per-
son VINO supplies them in the luroh In the end.
PUT on TIE BLACK LIST
The tailors eventually put people Of this
character on the black list, but Just reflect how
long they have lived at free quarters before
ttop Ill IL