The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1897-04-23
Door old creturs when you can borry

poor old creturs when you can borry
it,"
''That's so. be. You shall have
that money back if live, old lady,
and int'rest too. promise ye. feel
like man as'in, and it's you that
made me-"
"Oh, mol You was man afore, but
kinder unfortunate, that's ALL"
swell, here's your note. I've wrote
1t to pay In years time, If that will
do"
1T will, less one of us should die,
and then 'twouidn't be as if we hadn't
got that note to chow"
The man laughed q laugh of amuse-
ment and reliof. i watched him as he
went to the door, and this time his
head was up and his shoulders were
square. In listening to the colloquy I
had entirely forgotten or overlooked
the fact that had constituted myself
the guardian of the old lady's slender
fortune. What to do did not know.
The man seemed anxious to pay the
borrowed money, and she WAS ready
to trust him. Perhaps would better
let the matter rest as 1t was, and in
case he did not return to pay it in q
year pay it myself as fine for my
| negligence, which would then have
been proved culpsble.
When descended, which I did as
aoon as the man had been gone several
minutes, I found the old lady to be
very nervous.
"Why" she said, starting to her
| feet In alarm at my entrance, 81 clean
forgot there was anybuddy in the
house bat me-"
$50 you wieh had come down be-
fore and prevented the loan you
nader"
"No. I pitied the poor cretur' SO.
He'll pay it back il he can, and if not
it'll be jest another orphan we've
helped. Most like bein' so old, both
OF us up'ards of seventy, we shan't do
tor no more as we have done. and We
shall git buried some way"
Don't worry. If he doesn't pay it
l will" was my reply.
"You needn't think nothin' about
it. I've saved the mortgage money
and given q man q liit on the road to
heaven. and I'd oughter be satisfied.
l be satisfied" she said ferven ly.
"An1 you have reason to be, said.
We did not go to bed, either of us,
and in the morning / returned to the
city.
But / did not forget the old lady
nor the burglar. felt convinced that
he would return the money on the
exact date when the note was given, if
at all, and accordingly, in just one
year, made it convenient to visit the
old lady at her residence.
This time I was 30 fortunate as to
see her husband, and 1 Immediately
discovered that he was just such an.
other guileless persoo as herself. They
were expecting the man to pay the
note, and it lay ready for him on the
mantel when 1 entered.
Sure enough, at ten o'clock firm,
stalwart man walked up to the door,
where the old lady met him with a
cordial grasp of the hand.
"You did git work." she said.
"Yes, I did, and it was you that
saved me from crime. I had tried
every way to find something to do un-
til that night. and the fifty dollars
put me on nv feet square and firm. I
got chance in a shop where I got
good pay. and here's the money and
the interest"
"The interest didn't ask you no
interest"
''But I mean to pay it,"
do not know whether he ever heard
that was in the house that night or
not. 1t doesn't matter. l saw him
several times afterward, and he seemed
both prosperous and honest, and I
don't doubt that he was. The fact did
not tend to make me neglect my hobby.
which was that crime, when it is not q
disease, is either the result of inherit
ed evil tendencies or of misfortune,
and that circumstances keep and make
some men honest and others dishonest.
-Waverley Magazine.