Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-01-12
AS ONE WOMAN SEES 1T
Manner Of Paying Bills Is Sometimes
an Index to Character, as a Girl
About to Marry once Dis.
covered
BY SARAH ID. LONyRIE

Ava nidfrled other mon than eventually DC.
| came thelr husbands, and have been deferred
| more by series Of small negative signs
| rather than by any one big obstacle. There
rs something heroic about big obstacle that
intrigues romantic temperament. and some
| thing very unhcroic about small dclinQucncics
that gradually flattcn out enthusiasm.
remember a woman once telling me that
| her doubts as to the man she had thought
herSeh in love with were enforced by
what seemed at the time a small happening.
put what more experience of life impressed
her as having been Significant of much"
Her mother and she were downtown to-
gether on shopping expedition, and between
matching. samples her mother went into an
once OF an agency that compiled confidential
Information regarding the business status,
solvency, semisolvcncy and insolvency of the
nouSeholderS and business and professional
hrmS i, and individuals of the city and vicinity
Nhile sher mother was making her inquiries
as to the reliability of certain firm in the
town which had made n bid to do certain
piece of work for philanthropy in which
Shc was interested. the girl wandered about
the outside office, which was deserted for the
moment Spread out on desk was book
lndexed, for filing names. Under each name
was smal summary of the person or family
or nrm, giving the general characteristics Of
credit. reputation for prompt or tardy pay
hents, evidence of prudence or recklessness
IN spending. etc, that each name suggested
from the more specific records kept on file
by the agency gathered from many sources.
- '''N o"H HuHlc, or rNtner npf family 3,
- was what she turned to look for first,
ana she found to her satisfaction that her
people were listed as being prompt dis
chargers OF all money obligations and. in
tact noted for the Quickncss of their settle
mcnt of bills. She turned to look mp the man
Win whom she was more or less in love. aud
she found he was not regarded ms n prompt
payer or what might he called II good asset.
she found that number of persons whom
she knew were designated as tardy in the
payment OF bills, whose credit was none thu, ,
less good, with that drawback noted, so she
turned back to study the summary Of her
lover %loyer TO discover where he differed from the
other tardy payers. when clerk entering the
ONCE interrupted her Investigations with
scared apologies and alarmed chagrn. The
matter in the book was. he assured her, not
Tor casual inspection, and her easy and inno-
cent access to its contents. being the result
OF his own culpable carelcssness, made his
telling very pcremptory.
her trouble of mind over the seeming care
l"SsneSS with which the man whom she had
been considering marrying had always spoken
OF money Obligations was not lcsscncd by this
experience. She would have married a poor
man without much hcstancy. but in the face
OF her bringing up in the matter of owing
money. his carclcssncss doomed up rs an OBJ
stacle to their real team play. That and
other Straws eventually prevailed and she
broke with him-fortunately for her.
The bitterness of this result of n glimpse
below the surface, however. left hcr with a
Keen sense of obligation in all business trans
actions and kind of hurt dread of careless
- P'''p''i''!vnt VI ihon'S ue"ilhgs'
HNiERE are some firms as we'll as many
l. individuals whose credit is good who, as
part OF their business assets, do not nav their
pills until tho very last legal moment. But,
nTToS nTMuT'i % Suur.SSIui thcy are IN Keeping the
free for other ventures or in tdnc them
selves through tight part of the wear. their
position in the community always suffers
,'itm 'i noin o popu,n,,3n is always coupled
T YIN .n'lF hnlnG ~. ne anu mentioned with varying
taits f - .hi hnf.'Nr aS one OIL me unadlnirablc
MIN thn,' '""r l.; r r.'u[h'I"rS NO transaction
wv w." ,"til ~ lrit 10 thclr honor, money is
sofo,mo ,.,', n'ott uIlnH ana attcr al! legal
sutSuaLuS are at!chd"d 10 with rigid cX-
t;on J.; " ,bt f irli vi interest II thc rela-
orn IN ,h; ttt:' W u BUSINESS venture; II they
are m III ;nc'r hrivat" capacity. their tardiness
havnc omon ,H VIE thoi mErMS tn Mna or irritating
@ naN"c utilons 'h'lr friends that no amount of
schcroSltE or carelcSSh"SS IN their giving gifts
''n '"h'ounagc'
W. curious thihG Is that lavishness in
giving sometimes goes hand in hand with
great tnroihcSS On paying debts.
60 ,i',ta r%rroi'iillhullg % goVcrneSS once
i;t.d !" WIZ I'l ana agreeable woman for her
,Ln mi'o, sta'' si "a. lIi" rhu OF the spring term
MH'n ul' H"N'rI'SS went on Tor her holiday,
nv No"''t, ~, anu h'r niue girl went off to
ltu!"l". -" N"'iIN l0r IN" last term was
Vnins ,o,H 5n - ana shr was not pald
,.n,a,t "S"o' ~ nr result was that tho
EnoI EonoLi"ST t ro",G not pan the trip she had
ta co. .% ,nNT m mmI'ng IN" summer. not having
taG caSh on hahd' Sh" had enough to stay
u. 'mI, nome "n olt n"f enough for her trip. The
woman WI2 owed her inc salary, had habit
,i" oa H"t l""E'hS at any blll for three and not
pnElnE any uh"Gr SIX months. She said it
was nonsense. i"r credit was good people
iatn kn"W 'Nt%E WYuI4 get the money sooner or
later. htt,c later because it suited her
was an part OF IL" business, the point being
that my E"l Ih"lf money.
1t ana not humiIiate her that She owed
WorNlhs people ana professional people and
unknown people for IN" clothes she had on,
1If thc tm"a Shr ate for the education of her
child; all the time She was going about in
me clotn"S' long after she had eaten the
food and had parted from her child's gov.
ernesS. 1t never seemed to give her pauSo
lhnt tnr money Shr was spending between the