Year: 1870

&


! Ought a man ever TO go surety for anothe.9 )
Why not? It is most friendly act. If pru-
IDENTITY done, 1t may be Of the most eminent
benefit to a neigbbor 1t gives him the
benefit Of your good reputation wheu lie is
not known. 1t lends him your credit where
his own is not sufficient IL puts hin. in
funds which otherwise be could not com
mand. Such service to a friend is generous
and sometimes even noble. No better use
can be made of ones money than to help a
a true friend. We are commanded to re
memberthose in bonds as bound with Them .
10 be sure, this was originally applied 10
bonds Of different kind, but with moi
whit more propriety than to pecuniary
bonds A man who, By few thousand dol
lars, can save his friend and perhaps his
family, from bankruptcy and want, could
hardly spend his money in a manner which.
all his life long, be would remember with
more satisfaction.


but, there are certain moral and pruden.
tlal considerations which should always he
borne in mind 10 going surety for a friend
You should make up your mind holo much
property you hare, and ho,o much you are
1oifttag to gire aaoay, absolutely. for that
friend whom you endorse. For no blupder
can be worse than to endorse on the sumo
sltion that yoa seiH not hare to pay. Never
indorse without saying to yourself, This
may come round upon me / MAY have 10
pay II; and if it comes to that, am able
and willing. Nine out of ten of the fatal
mistakes made by bondsmen arise from ia
king the opposite course to this. They con.
slider the act of indorsing friends paper
as a mere commercial form. There i no
risk | shall not have it to pay. He is
abundantly able to take care of his paper
| shall help him without harming myself
and be Is a stingy man who will not do that. /"
This is the calculation on which a man binds
himself to pay friends debts in case the
friend cannot pay them himself


But how do these things turn out? One
need not 60 far to ascertain Every village
has an Illustration. The borrower was more
involved than you supposed, or, perhaps.
than be himself knew, and his creditors closed
on him and wound him up, and were over
joyed to find such good name on his psper
Or, the sanguine scheme on which he had
ventuled, which seemed sure of success. a.
most without possibility of failure, sudden
y, like loaded wagon, slipped off wheel
and upset into the dirt! Or, Just as every
thing was at the point of success. your
friend sickened and could not look after his
affairs, some critical matter was neglected.
or some dishonest person stepped in and
crooked matters; your friend died, the es-
tate went into the executors hands for set
tlement, was badly managed, warped and
crooked, and finally turned out insolyent.


And what became of you? Why, you were
surety for the full amount of what YOU are
worth! 10 an hour you find yourself con.
tronted with debt that sweeps away your
house, your farm, your little sum in bank.
and leaves you just where you began twenty
i've years ago, with this difference, that then
you had only yourself to provide for, and
noW you hare wife and eight children.


Then you were twenty-five years old, and
life was all before you, and now you are fifty
years, and life pretty much behind you!
You have given away your children S bread.
You have not yet saved your friend, but
have ruined yourself! Perhaps your friend
had settled on his wife small property.
So much the better for her, if he had. Of
course she will divide with you, since it was
to save her husband, that you were ruined.
But, if she will not land human nature is
made up of shaky stuff; and her children
go to school, while yours stay at home; and
if they live in comfortable house. pleas
antly furnished, while you are hiring few
rooms in the cheapest quarter of the town,
then | suspect that you willchew the end of
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 a fool who signs for any larger sum
than be can conveniently pay" Amen,
say l


Before man puts his name down on
another man paper, he should ask himself,
Am | willing to gire this person as much
money as sign for? Amen, say 1?


To sign bond on a supposition that it
is mere form, and that you win have moth
ing to pay, is to put ones head into fools
moose. Amen again, say / !


There is no harm in signing for neigh
L


Dor if you have got the property; if you are
able TO pay the amount without harming
your own household; and if you love the
man for whom you sign enough to be will
ing to GIVE him outright the sum covered
! By your endorsement Otherwise, to go
surety for a neighbor is a folly, sin and a
shame Henry Ward Beecher