Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1897-08-20

tened, and with we'll aimed stroke tn
AK fells him, and so the anticipation 0
the redolent pasture field is completel
disappointed. So many a young MAJ
has been driven on by temptation t
what he thought would be paradisiaca
enjoyment, but after awhile influence
with darker hue and swarthier arm
close in upon him, and be finds that in
stead Of making an excursion into
garden he has been driven "as an OK t
the slaughter.
Society to Blame.
We are apt to blame young men 70
being destroyed when we ought L
blame the influences that destroy them
Society slaughters great many younl
men by the behest: "You must keep NJ
appearances Whatever be your salary
you must dress as we'll as others, yoI
must give wine and brandy to as many
friends, you must smoke as costly cigars
you must give as expensive entertain
ments and you must live in as fashion
able boarding house. If you haven
the money, borrow. If you can't Dor
row, make false entry or subtract here
and there bill from a bundle of bank
bills. You will only have to make the
deception q little while. In a few
months or in a year or two you car
make all right. Nobody will be hurt by
it, nobody will be the wiser. You your
self will not be damaged. " By that aw.
full process 100, 600 men have beer
slaughtered for time and slaughtered
for eternity.
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 a borrowed
dollar. But there are two kinds of Dor
rowed money, money borrowed for the
purpose Of starting or keeping up legiti-
mate enterprise and expense and money
borrowed to get that which you can dc
without The first is right, the other
is wrong. If you have money enough Of
your own to buy "a coat, however plain,
and then you borrow money for dan
dy's outfit, you have taken the first rev
olution of the wheel down grade Bor
row for the necessities; that may be
well. Borrow for the Injuries; that
tips your prospects over in the wrong
direction.
The Bible distinctly says the borrow
er is servant of the lender. 1t is a bad
state Of things when you have TO gc
down some other street TO escape meet
ing some one whom you owe. If young
men knew what is the despotism of be-
ing in debt, more of them would keep
out Of it. What did debt do for Lord
Bacon, with a mind towering above the
centuries? 1t induced him to take bribes
and convict himself as a criminal be
fore all ages. What did debt do for
Walter Scott, broken hearted at Abbots-
ford? Kept him writing until his hand
gave out in paralysis to keep the sheriff
away from his pictures and statuary
Better for him if he had minded the
maxim which he had chiseled over the
fireplace at Abbotsford, Waste not,
want not.
Going In Debt.
The trouble is, my friends, that peo-
pie do net understand the ethics Of 60
ing in debt, and that if you purchase
goods with no expectation Of paying fol
them, or go into debts which you can
not meet, you steal just so much money.
If go into a erocers store and | buy
sugars and coffees and meats with nc
capacity to pay for them, and no inten-
tion of paying for them, am more dis
honest than if L go into the store. and
when the grocer's face is turned the
other way FIJI my pockets with the
articles of merchandise and carry off d
ham. In the one case | take the mer-
chant S 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, a sneak thief is not so bad
as a 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
meatshops and apothecaries They owe
everybody within half mile Of where
they now live, and next May they will
move into distant part Of the city,
finding "a new lot of victims. Mean
while you. the honest family in the new
house, are bothered day by day by the
knocking at the door Of disappointed
bakers and butchers and dry goods deal
ers and newspaper carriers, and you are
asked where your predecessor is You
do not know 1t was arranged you
should not know. Meanwhile yon'
predecessor has gone to some distant
part of the city, and the people who
have anything to sell have sent theii
wagons and stopped there to solicit the
"yaluable" custom of the new neigh
Dor, and be, the new neighbor, with
great complacency and an air OF affiu-
| enCe, OfNcIs lut nueHt ctSohS ehN VIZ
highest priced sugars and the best Of
the canned fruits and perhaps all the
newspapers. And the debts will keel
on accumulating until he gets his goods
ON the g0th Of next April in the furni
ture cart
No wonder that so many OF our mer
chants fail in business. They are swim
dled into bankruptcy by these wander
ing Arabs, these nomads Of city life
They cheat the grocer out Of the greer
apples which make them sick, the ply
sician who attends them during thei
distress and the undertaken who ft
them out for departure from the neigh
borhood where they owe eyerybod.
when they pay the debt OF nature tn
only debt they ever do pay.