The Progress., 1894-01-27
THE POINT OF VIEW.
urss MARY E. LAND, Editor.
The Chronic Borrower.

borrowing may be diagnosed as
,.-.osa-the symptoms in the early
are slight, but when the germs
',.uorohly impreguate the system, the
.1odv assumes a chronic and incura-
,I.nbase. Society gives the stamp of ad-
nissibilitv to the mild type of borrow
ine: between neighbors it is accounted
-aiabbOrly, and between friends, inti-
oteIv associated, the custom is sell
a., carried TO an abuse. While the
Sor,owing habit could not be called
.ommendable, its crying evils rest with
.bs chronic borrower. The disease is
.hovn first in little things-the
coolies or the pins-and from incip-
iency it develops into the serious stages
otlarger borrowing. until we escape
orlv with our necks. The borrower OF
,be hopeless degree would ask for our
head if there was physical possibility
for us to uuscrew the necessary member
and deliver upon demand.
The chronic borrower is builded
mon the generous lender. If there ex-
i.t,d in the lenders breast the moral
courage to nip constant asking in the
mud the infallible cure of the borrower
would be found but the spirit Of kind
mess prompts us to send the needles
or the pins in place of the imperative re-
iusal that should be administered Us a
seu.protective measure. Thus the
borrower fattens and preys-and the
lender, driven to the wall, seeks relief
in the peaceful paths OF new neigh
borhood. The chronic borrower has
reduced the business to a science--a fine
gradation marks her work. One day
she will ask us for ink, the next. will
come an insinuating request for paper
and envelopes, and ere the week rolls
by she is sending us her letters to
stamp. Thread, dry goods, books, pro-
visions, coal, crockerY, medicine-all
are within The borrowers scope-and
We pronounce the disease incurable
when the borrower decides to give a
dinner and gently requests us to lend
our stove-pipe and our cook.
The borrowers mania has many
channels to run il. With some women
It is borrowed jewelry, with others
borrowed clotheS-and in both cases, a
lack.s-day for the lender, as the habits
Of the borrower make her as careless
with the possessions of others as she is
reckless in her asking. The borrowed
jewelry lost can rarely be replaced
the article may be duplicated, but the
associations that cluster about our
trinkets cannot. The woman who bor-
rows clothes is one of societys destruc-
tive elements. Our things are sadder
and We are wiser after experiences in
wardrobe lending. The high-neck
bodice that in our angelic goodness We
let her have for a ball occasion is
ruthlessly cut decollete, our treasured
long gloves return with dark stains
sullying their whiteness, the fan thai
was the gem Of our collection comes
back to US with pearl sticks broken and
dejected-there is jagged hole in the
dainty lace scarf that we allowed hel
to wear about her hair-and tearfu
reminders of chicken salad, as a part o.
the evenings menu, decorate the from
Of our pink silk skirt. The sins of the
chronic borrower should crush her to
The earth-but they do not-fron
every i'll she arises triumphant, anC
tells US in tone suggestive OF gigan
TIC joke, that ''she dotes on dressing IL
other peoples clothes, as she has the
oonsolation OF knowing that she is no
wearing out her ownr The chronic
borrower sometimes dies of fatty
regeneration of the conscience.
The disease of borrowing is mor1
prevalent with women than with man
outwomen have the grace which mel
lack, Of occasionally returning the Dor
Owed thing. The collar or the shirt, the
cane or the umbrella, lent bv man
man, comes back no more-and whel
money is the mania OF the chronl
Masculine borrower, the lender
shekels are as forever gone as the heet
Ing snowflake on the river.
Neither borrower nor a lende
pe'-in seven words consolidation g
wisdom worthy OF man and woman
areial thought. With him and VII
her, let the moral courage OF the lende
'oay No serve as the check to tn
oFrower. Then will the chrcnicaii
auieted grow healthful in habit agai
-and the determination OF the eV
viii bring about millennium tn
eae time when there will be no borrow
Z 'ag-we will not even borrow trouble
t4t
hewho thinks that he can do WIZ