Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1903-02-21
stroying child Of perjury, which is Of.
ten the offspring Of accursed Debt!


y inhalation. The pirates Of old used
l. raise their black flags and prey upo
the ancient shipping. The robbers {
/ Scotland used to place false light
+ upon the shores so that the ships woul
i be decOyed upon the rocks and ii.
Il wreckers could collect the broken cal
l goes. The man who wlllfully runs int
debt Is human vampire who is sucl
5 ing the lifeblood out of his butche
\ and baker, his tailor and landlord, hi
friend and Bis enemy alike. He care
not how he gets money so long as b
gets 1t. He cares not who has to SUI
2 fer so long as his present desires ar
satisfied What Is the natural and In
eyitable result? There have been thou
sands Of small retail merchants driver
into bankruptcy because their custom
ers. supposed to be honorable men
: would not pay their bills. There hay,
been hundreds and thousands Of pOol
widows and orphans and aged anC
helpless depositors of small Sums II
the banks who have lost all merely be
cause the cashiers have become de
faulters and cared not whom they
dragged down with them I'm their own
moral and spiritual destruction. 1t is
contemplate act for a man to steal
from Il millionaire. 1t is infinitely
meaner for woman to steal from her
poor dressmaker. her cook or her wash
70 To roI D. nfc
ceryman or iceman or his coachman or
the gardener who sells to him his flow.
ers. 1t Is meaner because those who
are robbed under such circumstances
must perhaps lose their all and be
driven to starve and die.
But if it Is hendike for the willful
debtor TO steal from his butcher and
baker, how much more criminal Is II
for him to destroy the spiritual and
moral life of his own children! There
Is many man who Is rearing his chill
dren after the exalted style Of mil
liOnaire's children. who when he dies
will leave to them not one cent. In
other words, he is instilling into the
hearts Of his boys and girls unnatural
desires, and then. when he is gone,
those boys and girls. in order to graft
fy those desires. may be led to plunge
into a life Of dissOluteness and crime. |
To illustrate. would introduce to you
q young man who was once a compan-
ion of my youth. He was the son Of |
the president Of large life insurance |
company In the east He came to my
home some time ago. why, joe" l
said to him, II have not seen you for
years. Where did you come fromT
From poverty and want and drunken
ness and from nowhere" he answered
gloomily. 81 have come to you for help.
Will you help meY What was the
cause Of that young mans downfall?
The extravagant life his father led and
the life he 5tliowed 1is children to lead.
While that boy was growing up he
could have anything he wanted that
money could buy. His father sent him
on pleasure trips across the sea and
willingly paid all his bills; then, when
his father died, Joe and his sisters
were helplessly stranded. They had
the tastes and desires of millionaires:
they had the empty pockets of paupers.
Preparations for such tragedies are be-
ng enacted today by selfish men all
'ound the world. AS long as these
vickedly foolish fathers can satisfy
heir present wants they care not what
nay become Of their children after
hey are gone. Every wise father
hould teach his children that the red
breasted oriole of gold has wings swift
r than the winds. When it is gone, It ,
very hard to overtake and to bring
ack. He should train each child to be
BILE to earn livelihood independent of '
ny money he may bequeatb to that I
hid.
A Well Dressed villain 6
Willful Debt Is often we'll dressed y
lllain who pretends TO be an honest a
ian. In Olden times If a man could o
OF pay his debts he was looked upon a.
the same sense as a thief and sent ~
Jail. Under the old Roman law, n
ter spending a certain time in JAIL II Fl
was still unable to pay his creditors, ~
was sold into slavery and had to a
lss his life as a serf. Some one might ~
y that such a condition Is very hard ~,
I'd unjust, and so it is. But, in many .,
ses, when man will deliberately
ter store and run up q heavy bill,
hich he has no intention Of paying,
is just as much a robber as the
eak thief who rushes into the bakery
d steals a loaf Of bread, and be q
ould have little mercy shown to him. OF
e debtor not only steals the grocery
ms goods, but he steals his time and Ve
service. In
lany a man who for years has de- uc
eratcly run up all the debts he can w
today walking around our streets III
inning that in the sight of the law Da
Is honest. After deliberately swim te
lg all the men he could he puts the De
lie money he had left In his wife's alb
ne. Then he enters the bankruptcy an
lrt and asks the judge to free him so
m all these financial obligations. alb
W, l care not what the bankruptcy ba
rt may say in such cases, no honest ba
n, In the sight Of God or man, can ma
r be morally freed from a financial of
It until that debt is paid. 1t Is ma
MS business to pay what he owes, sta
matter how the bill was contracted. ant
! Of the first signs Of Zaccheus' real the
version was when he turned to the 30
iour and said, Behold, Lord, the wo
Of my goods l give to the poor, con
If have taken anything from any
] by false accusation l restore to
fourfold." In other words he said, '
l have cheated any man out Of his con
dues, l am ready not only to re- Tex
e to him the full amount Of money Mis-
N, but l will restore to him double Ark
treble and quadruple that which / to
: taken" And no man, in the sight pop
cd, can be a Christian until he first Mas
ifies his intention to repay to the 627.
Ost Of his ability all the money 1nha
owed by him and to cancel his full Qua
cations to every one of his financial 900.