Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1905-04-01

dorse my note they will let me have
the goods. OF course there is abso-
lutely no danger Of your ever being
called upon to pay. Will you indorse
for old friendships sakeT You pin
the man down. BY long argument he
seems to prove that there is no possi-
BILE danger of your being compelled to
pay. Then, for friendships sake, you
sign the fatal note.
Or perhaps the man wants respon-
slble position. He is about to be ap-
pointed cashier of some institution. He
says he must have certain indorsers,
and down goes your name. Now, my
brother it would be all right for you to
sign your name there if you felt you
could afford to make good that pledge
If it ever came back to you. But the
trouble is that most of US, with our
present financial struggles, cannot af-
ford to pay. Aye, | go further than
this--nine men out Of ten. ninety-nine
men out of hundred, nine hundred
ana ninety-nine men out Of thousand,
never can pay or intend to pay the
notes they indorse for the benefit of
their friends. AS soon as the notes
fall due and come back upon the in
dorsers they begin to squirm and twist
and~try to wriggle out Of their diff
cuIties. Sometimes by fair, but, alas,
often by foul, means they try to shirk
and repudiate their debts of indorse-
ment. even as some dishonest men
clear off their debts by putting their
money in their wives names and then,
going into a bankruptcy court, ask for
q clean financial sheet.
A True Picture.
Isnot the picture true? What would
you do IL you were asked to pay the
dishonest debts Of your friends which
YOU indorsed? Would you do it?
Would you do 1t even IL you had in
dorsed their notes and could find
loophole to crawl out? Would you do
It, as did Sir Walter Scott? Would you
do 1t even though it cost you your life
to die an honest man? Would you
pay those indorsed notes, as William
Mckinley paid the ones he indorsed for
friend? In order to pay those notes
he literally gave up all his own money
and all his wife's money. A short time
before his death he was talking to
ministerial friend of mine, and he said:
"Mr. Campbell, people sometimes won
der why. am so devoted to my WIFE
Could any husband but an migrate be
otherwise when his wife willingly gave
I'D all she had to save his honorT
William Mckinley never expected TO
be called upon to pay those indorsed
notes. but he paid them. Would you
pay, If necessary, those notes you are
about to indorse, as William Mckinley
paid? Or would you repudiate or at
least try to repudiate those debts, as
hundreds and thousands have done?
Dare you, with your present financial
burdens, risk the sinful temptation
OF reputation which you may have to
face If you become a financial surety
for friend?
But as see the old mother bear
struggling 70 get her paw out of the
fatal trap | do not pity her, even with
all her sufferings, nearly as much as L
do the little cubs who are dependent
upon her for their lives. AS | see a
man struggling in the indorser's trap,
with all his misfortunes, / do not feel
nearly so sorry for him as / do for his
wife and especially for his children,
who are dependent upon him for finan-
cial support Yet to hear some people
talk You would suppose that in order
to be kind, loving, big hearted, gener-
GUS. a man should be ready to help all
his friends and when they need 1t to
sign all their notes. no matter what
might be the financial danger that man
may run in reference to his own chill
dren. Now, my friends, l believe one
of the best tests of true, big hearted
man is not how he looks after his
friends notes so much as how he first
looks after his own flesh and blood.
Too Big n Price.
Do Won mean to tell me there Is any
honor, any justice, any big heartedness'
in a man going upon a friends note
when in order to do it he may have tC
take the very bread out of his chill
dren's mouths and the clothing off thell
backs and the old homestead away
from their inheritance? This Is just
what many men have done in order tC
win the name of being big hearted.
recall to mind one of this type whom
the world eulogized as kind man
but who purchased that eulogy at
fearful price. The man of whom
speak was for years the president OF q
New York company His income was al
least $4,000 per year; but, though ne
made much, he spent much. Every
person in distress could go to him fol
succor and get it. His name was Oh
scores of notes. Every little while h(
would gather five, ten, fifteen, of bis
daughters friends together and give
them a banquet and a good time
| The last act Of his life was to buy
family plot for a policeman who was
about to bury his little girl. Wher
that man died the beautiful acts o.
kindness which he did were recounteC
at his bier.
But would you like me to tell yot
the aftermath or the second sowing o.
| that life Of indiscriminate generosity
The notes he had signed for friends hi'
estate had to pay. The moneys he hat
lent here and there and everywhere
were never paid back. Caring for ev
cry one but those of his own house, h'
became In the sight of God worse thar
an infdel. His two daughters, to whom
le could deny nothing when he wa
alive, had to deny themselves every
thing when he was dead. His only son
the pride of his heart, the boy to whom
be gave unlimited pocket money ant
sent across the seas on pleasure trips
applied few years ago in Chicago 10
the position Of janitor, and he coul
not get work at that. This was IN