The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-03-31
ARE YOU PAYING YOUR DEBTS?
The best Reader in the State.
BY Charles Petty.

1t will he we'll to take an inventory
of credits and assent now and hen anu
see how you stand. The account has
to be made up some day and q balance
stuck. Then it will be known whether
you are q defaulter r a hone-t person.
There is no getting around the final
accounting. This has no reference to
debts that are counted in dollars and
cents. If you DO not pay those debts
when you can, you are simply dishOn
est and will carry your dishonesty
with you into another life.
But there are debts Of another nature
that 0 owe and the paymaster it as
memorable as fate itself. You have
been blessed with health, physical
strength, food, many frierds, grand
opportunities, open fountains of know
ledge, u~nspeakable kindness, helpful
neighbors, the Astounding love of chill
dren. That has all come to you with
little effort on your part. Do you sup
pose it is a free gift just to be boarded
up by you in a selfish way?
The miser who digs hole and hides
his dollars IL more respectable and
more worthy Of heaven than the mis-
er who has been receiving best things
from God, his neighbors, the state and
society, and V pays anything back.
1t is the duty OF u reading a good
book to pass the best thought on to
some one else. knowledge of best
things hoardedis knowledge lost; when
given out to others its value is doubled.
If one is in love with his fellow men
it takes very little to remove burdens
from the struggling ones, to comfort
the distressed, to help the weak. The
world is in need of help. The little
child at school, the college student,
clerks, factory hands, farmers, men
and women all need the help of
others.
Are you, dear madam, paying off all
the debts you 1--WE for the thousand
privileges you have enjoyed? Or are
you in a selfish and mean way receiv-
ing from all sources and giving nolh-
ing in return? These debts cannot be
paid in money. A carload Of gold
would not cancel one debt of love and
mercy due to your neighbors. 1t is a
fearful thing to pass a whole day in a
crowded city, or even on the farm
without doing a good deed or saying a
kind word to man, woman or child?
There are people here in this city suf-
feringin mind for kind attention. The
happiest man or.woman at the close of
this week will be the one who has by
word or deed helped some fellow pill
grims on their journey. A citizen said
this week that he had walked the
streets with a mai whose position re-
quired reading and thinking of a high
Nr1nr Ia attended, fp ,ir,r, Liz, ~,
and get a great thought from him, but
he got nothing but money talk, and
the eXtravagant demands for cash and
a o r Of general complaint There
was no great thought there; only a per-
verted shadow of thought.
Are you paying your debts? The
more you have the more you owe. The
more you pay the more you will have
left. Measure out the oil of Joy and
gladness, full measure, running over,
and the jar will be filled again before
the measure is emptied. If you are
much in debt begin paying at once.
Do not put it off. The interest to the
uttermost farthing will he counted
against you. Begin by filling your
heart 80 full of love that all selfishness
will be driven out. Just let that love
take in everybody without regard to
ereeds, colors or condition. Add to
that a desire to do good. Then the
debt paying will begin and you will
not know it. 1t is a most blessing con
dition of mind ween you do good JUS,
because you cannot help it and you for
get it a. soon As d0ne.-Spartanburg
Journeal.