The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1905-04-02

Would YOU DO IT, as ala or w alter Scott?
Would you do it. even though it cost you
your life to die an honest MANI. 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 fas talking to a ministerial
friend of mine, and he said: "slr. Camp
bell. people sometimes wonder why | am
so devoted to my wife. Could any hus-
band but an migrate be otherwise when
his wife willingly gave up all she had to
save his honor? William Mckinley never
expected to be called upon to pay those
Endorsed notes but he paid them Would
you pay if necessary, those ontes you
are about to indorse, as William MeKin-
lie vpaid? Or would you repudiate or at
least try to repudiate those debts as
hundreds of thousands have done? Dare
YOU, with your present financial burdens.
risk the sinful temptation of reputation
which you may have to face If you be-
come a financial surety for a friend?
But as see the old mother bear strug-
Cling to get her paw out of the fatal
trap I do not pity her, even with all
her sufferings, nearly as much as 1 do
the little cubs who are dependent upon
her for their lives. As see man strug-
Cling in the indorser's trap. with all his
misfortunes. do not feel nearly so sorry
for him as do for his wife and especial
ly for his children. who are dependent
upon him for financial support. Yet to
hear some people talk you would suppose
that in order to be kind. loving big
hearted generous man should be
ready to help all his friends and when
they need it to sign all their notes, no
matter what might be the financial dan
A. a.a44, u, rofa -
his own children. Now, my friends. I
believe one of the best tests of a 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 a Price.
Do you mean to tell me there is any
honor, any justice, any big-heartedness,
In man going upon friends note when
in order to do 1t he may have to take
the very bread out of his children S
mouths and the clothing off their backs
and the old homestead away from their
inheritance? This is just what many men
have done in order to win the name of
being g-hearted. I recall to mind one of
this type whom the world eulogized as a
kind man. but who purchased that eulo-
gy at fearful price. t. man of whom
I speak was for years the president of
4
at least $4,000 per year; but, though
| he made much, he spent much. Every
person in distress could go to him for
succor and get it, His name was on score
of notes. Every little while he would
gather FIVE ten, fifteen of his daughter S
friends together and give them a banquet
and good time" The last act of his
life was to buy a family plot for a po-
liceman who was about to bury his lit
It'll J. aaKFf
ful acts of kindness vhich he did were
recounted at his bier.
But would you like me to tell you the
aftermath of the second growing of that
life of indiscriminate generosity? The
notes he had signed for friends his estate
had to pay The moneys he had lent here
and there and everywhere were never
paid back Caring for every one but those
of his own house he became in the sight
of God worse than an infidel His two
daughters, to whom he could deny moth
ing when he was alive, had to deny them
selves everything when he was dead His
only son, the pride of his heart, the boy
to whom he gave unlimited pocket money
and sent across the seas on pleasure trips,
applied a few years ago in Chicago for
the position of & iantor, and he could not
get work at that. This was the after
math of the career of man who pur-
chased the unstable friendships of a fleet
ing moment by being untrue to the best
interests of his own wife and children.
Now, men you lave no right to help your
broSher with an Endorsement IL at the
same time 1t compels you to become I'M
true to those who are dependent upon you.
You have no right to give the Injuries
TO your neighbors until you first provide
the necessities for your own household.
can you afford to pay that indoors ement
Tor your friend Dare you risk the tenn
poral and perhaps the spiritual welfare
OF your children by that hidden trap?
A Careless Method.
But another danger turks over the in
dorsers note. BY going upon a friends
note man may be teaching his friend to
be careless-aye, sinfully careless-with
money. DIR. Bowers once wrote: "remrf-
alton resembles the rocks which rest their
Jagged sides above the waves when 1t Is
low water No vessel dare come near
them. But after a vale the tide comes
sweeping into the bay and bIri the rocks
under a flood of water. so that the largest
ships may ride in safety above their teeth
of death, together with the lightest slSiff :"
That Is beautiful oratorical figure. But
the incoming tide will soon be the out
going tide. Then woe betide the boat that
fingers there over the jagged rocks of
death. Yet the temporary fin incial help
we give our brothers by Endorsement or
unjust credit may be the means of carry
ing them into a position where they shall
soon meet temporal as we'll as spiritual
shipwreck
Why temporal and spiritual wreck you
ask In the first place, / start with the
premise that many people are tempted
just as much as they can bear. Place