St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1897-09-18
DESPOTISM OF DEBT.
Rev. Dr.. Talmage Gives Sound Ad-
V vice to Young Mon.

vice to Young Men.
There = Ne Wrong In Borrosing; tAa
wrong Lies In Borrowing 10 secure
That Which One Caa 4es
Aleog Witheas Having.
The following discourse BY Rev. 4.
Dewitt Talmage contains good advice
to young men on the evils of recklessly
running into debt. The text is:
As an OK to the sl2ughter.-Proverbs. vii. =
There is nothing in the voice or man.
ncr OF the butcher to indicate to the OF
that there is death ahead. The on
thinks he IS going on to : rich pasture
fici6c clover where al day long he
will revcl herbaceous luxuriance; but
after awhile the men and the boys
close in upon him with sticks and
stones and shouting, and drive him
through bars and into . doorway,
where he is fastened, and with we'll
aimed stroke the ak fells him; and 50
the anticipation OF the redolent pas.
ture field u completely disappointed.
So many = young man has been driven
on by temptation to what he thought
would be psradisiacal enjoyment; but
after awhile influences with darker hue
and swarthier arm close in upon him,
and he finds that instead of making an
excursion into garden he has been
driven las an OK TO the slaughte."
We are apt to blame young men for
being destroyed when we ought to
1lame the influences that destroy them.
Society slaughters = great many young
men by the behest: "You must keep mp
appearances; whatever be your salary,
you must dress as we'll as others, you
must give wine and brandy to rs many
friends, you must smoke rs costly CT
CARS. You must give as expensive enter
tainments, and you must live in n
fashionable . boarding house. II You
haven't the money, borrow. Ii You
can't borrow, make . false entry. or
subtract here and there . bill from q
bupdle of bank bills; you will only
have 10 mske. the deception = little
while; in q few months, or in year or
two, you can make all right Nobody
will be hurt by it. nobody will be the
wiser. You yourself will not be dam
aged" BY that awful process = hum
dred thousand men have been slaugh-
tered for time and slaughtered for eter.
nifty.
Suppose you borrow. There is moth
ing wrong about borrowing money.
There is hardly man who has not
sometimes borrowed money. Vast es-
tates have been built on . borrowed
dollar. But there are two kinds of Dor
rowed money: Money borrowed for the
purpose of starting or keeping up
legitimate enterprise or expense, and
money borrowed to get that which you
can do without The first is right. the
other is wrong. II you have money
enough of your own to buy q coat.
however plain. and then you borrow
money for . dandy's outfit. you have
taken the first revolution of the wheel
down grade. Borrow for the necessi-
ties; that may be well. Borrow for
the lnxuries; that tips your prospects
over in the wrong direction.
The Bible distinctly says the bor-
rover is servant of the lender. It is q
bad state of things when you have to
go down some other street to escape
meeting some one you owe. II young
men knew what is the despotism Of
being in debt. more of them would
keep out of it. What did debt do for
Lord bacon. with mind tower
ing above the centuries? It in
duced him to take t-ibes and con-
vict himself as . criminal be-
fore all ages. What did debt do for
Walter Scott? Broken .carted 1t Alb
botsfortl. Kept writing Until his hand
gave out in paralysis TO keep the
sheriff away from his pictures and
statuary. Better for him il he had
minded the maxim which he had CHS
eled over the fireplace at Abbotsf0rd,
''Wsste not, want not"
The trouble is, my friends, that peo-
pie do not understand the ethics 1T GO
ing IN debt, and that e you pu .,ase
goods with NO expectation Of paying
for them. or go into debts which you
can not meet. yoa steal just SO much
money. If L go into q groc,r's store
and buy sugars and coffces aud meats
with no capacity to pay for them. and
no intention of paying for them. am
more dishonest than If 60 iuto the
store, and when the grocer's face is
turned the other way l fill my pockets
with the articles of merchandise and
carry off ham! In the one case /
take the merchants time, and take
the time Of his messenger to transfer
the goods to my house, while in the
other case take none of the time Of
the merchant, and wait upon myself,
and transfer the goods without any
trouble to him! In other words. ,
sneak thief is not SO bad as man who
contracts debts he never expects to
pay.
Yet, in all our cities there are fami-
lies who move every May-day to get
into proximity to other grocers and
meat shops. and apothecaries- They
owe every body within half . mile Of
where they now live, and next May
they will move into . distant part of
the city, finding : new lot OF victims.
Meanwhile you, the honest family in
the new house, are bothered day by
day by the knocking ut the door of
disappointed bakers and butchers. and
dry goods dealers, and newspaper car
riers, and you are asked where your
predecessor is.s You do mot know.
1t was arranged you should
not know. Meanwhile your prede-
cessor has gone to some distant part Of
tho city. and the people who have any
thing 70 sell have sent their wagons
and stopped there to solicit the "valu-
ablcsSs custom of the new neighbor,
and he. the new neighbour, with great