Year: 1869

ssns-s a1r. - -fslu1 MS money IA
a manner which. an his life long, he would
remember with more satisfaction.


Butfthere are certain and prudential con-
sideFatioua which should always be borne
ia mind IA going surety for friend. You.
should make up your mind how much
property you have. and how much proper
y you are willing to give away, absolutely,
for that friend whom you indorse. For no
bIunder can be worse than to indorse on the
supposition that you will not have to pay.
Never 2gse without saying tossufself,
''This may come around upoEss. I may
have to pay it; and, if it comes t9 that,
am able aud willing" Nine lien of
the fatal mistakes made by bond Rpen arise
from taking the opposite course to this
They consider the act of indorseiug a
friends paper as a mere commercial form.
''There is no risk. l shall not have to pay.
He is abundantly able to take care of his
paper. shall help him without harming
myself, and he is a stingy man who will
not do that" This is the calculation Oh
which a man binds himself to pay his
friends debts in case the friend cannot pay
them himself. But how do these things
turn out? One need not go far to ascertain.
Every village has an illustration. The
borrower was more involved than you sup
posed, or perhaps than he himself knew,
and his creditors closed on him aud wound
him up, and were Overjoyed to find such a
good name as yours on his paper. Or. the
sanguine scheme on which he ventured,
which seemed sure Of success, almost with
out possibility of failure, suddenly. like a
loaded wagon, slipped off wheel and up
set into the dirt.


Or, just as everything was at the point
of success, our friend sieEened and could
not look after his affairs, some critical mat
ter was neglected, or some dishonest per-
son stepped in and crooked matters. your
friend died, tide estate went. into executors
hands for settlement. was badly managed,
warped and crippled and finally turned out
insolvent


And what became of you? Why, you.
were surety for the full amount of what
you are worth! Iu an hour you find your
self confronted with a debt that sweeps
away your house, your farm, your little
sum in the bank, and leaves you just where
you began twenty-five years ago, with the
difference, that then you had only yourself
to provide for, and now you have wife
and eight children. Then you were twenty
five years old and life was all before you,
and now you are fifty and have passed its
meridian. You have given away your
children's bread You have saved your
friend, but have ruined yourself Per-
haps your friend had settled a small prop
erty upon his wife. So much the better
for her, if he had. OF course she will di-
vide with you, siuce it was to save her hus-
band that you were ruined. But, if she
will not, (and nature is made up of shOky
stuA) and her children go to school, while
yours stay at home; and if they live in a
comfortable house, pleasantly furnished,
while you are renting few rooms in the
cheapest quarter of the town; then, sus-
pect that you will chew the cud of a great
many bitter reflections.


When it is too late, you will be very
wise. You will say to yourself, it may be,
"a man is fool who signs for any larger
sum than he can conveniently pay"


"Before a man puts his name down on
another mans paper, he should ask him
self. am willing to give this person as
much money as sign for?" Amen, say I!


ITO sign a bond on the supposition that
tbs a mere form, and that you viii have
nothing to pay; is to put ones head into a
FOOLS moose" Amen, again, say


There is no harm in signing for a neigh
Dor, if you have got the property; if you
are able TO pay the amount without harm
ing your own household; and If you love
the man, for whom you sign, enough to be
willing to give him outright the sum COW
cred By your Endorsement. Otherwise, to
60 surety for neighbor is a folly, a sin and
a shame.