The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1896-10-03
THE HABIT Of BORROWING.
A Bad One to Contract Among House
kAnara

A Bad One to Contract Among House.
keepers
The habit of borrowing Is one easily
acquired and one hat brings about q
vast amount of petty annOyances. There
ore many women, like the foolish vir-
gins of Scripture, who are ready to de-
pend on their more provident friends
In any hour of need, and feel ill-used II
the aid is refused them. The habit of
borrowing once established. all self-re.
spect seems to depart. There Is moth
ing 80 trivial, nothing 30 valuable, that
II can escape the inveterate borrower.
The proverb of the wise man of Israel
Is thus reversed. and the lender becomes
servant TO the borrower. for the lender
will frequently give anything she pos
sesses, from a drawing of tea to a
nscklace of gold. rather than risk the
inevitable sneer her gentlest refusal
would meet. It Is not too generally the
case that the borrower Is a person of
limited means. She Is often possessed
of far more worldly goods than her vic
Tins. She may make her ample pos
sessions q means by which she EFFORTS
all manner of favors from her less fortu-
nate neighbors, who are too high-spir-
tied to ask for u return. The spirit of
the beat" may exist under q velvet
gown as well as under rags. A case is
known In the village academy as q girl
who lived In a $780, 900 house and pre-
pared herself for college by borrowing
the books Of her companions. AS she
promptly dropped those acquaintance
after h left the village. It was never
known heth or not she completed
her education In this way.
The greater number of borrowers,
however. are not those who are BENT
on making a good thing out of their
acquaintances," but simply IMPROVE
dent people, who are too indolent to
attend to their own needs. They find
themselves out of grocery stores or out
OF sewing material or what not, when
1t is impossible to buy them. Without
hesitation they send to their nearest
neighbor. The inconvenience this may
cause never seems to occur to them.
The most provident providcr seldom
takes In the needs of anyone but her
oyn family, and a trifing drain on her
may cause considerable in
convenience. The bar of soap or the
cup of sugar asked for may be the last
IN her house, and she may lend. rather
than seem churlish or disobliging.
There are times when the offices of a
generous neighbor are a genuine bless
ing. When one lives in The country. at
q distance from food supplies, and COM
pany unexpectedly appears. it may be
necessary TO borrow. In such a case,
whatever Is lent. ever If 1t be but 4 tri-
fling amount of sugar or tea, is to be
s~crupulously returned, in full measure
OVERLOOKING. Independent. s~elf-respect-
ing people discharge the smallest Pc
cuniary obligation with the greatest
care. They are careful of borrowed
books-a crucial est of n truly conscien-
tious person-and will return your
precious volume unblemished, without
the impertinence of penoiled lines and
remarks on the margin. No dainty
person cares for q volume that has be-
come soiled and tattered. The minds
of borrowers who abuse books sell
dom compass the best literature and,
getting upon this, q clever woman hit
0p q plan Tor protecting her library.