342 



GLEANINGS LN BEE CULTUltE. 



Apr. 



at all, it is his right, and neighbor B should 

 go home pleasantly without it, if his neigh- 

 bor so decides. It is true, that B might, as 

 he goes off home without the barrow, say to 

 himself : 



" Well, I think he showed a mean, stingy 

 spirit. If he does not know me well enough 

 to know that I would return his wheelbar- 

 row exactly at the time I promised, and en- 

 tirely unharmed, he can keep it till it wears 

 out, and I will never ask him for it again." 1 



B might say this, but it would be a wrong, 

 unchristianlike spirit if he did say it. Now, 

 let us suppose that it is money that B want- 

 ed, instead of a wheelbarrow. Ought the 

 case to be materially different V Mr. B 

 agrees to pay for the use of the barrow. If 

 hie asks for money to be kept for any length 

 of time, he ought also to be just as willing 

 and just as anxious to pay for the use of the 

 money as to pay for the use of the wheel- 

 barrow. You may say that money is not 

 injured by being loaned. We have found to 

 our sorrow, however, that it is often " in- 

 jured.*' Sometimes it takes quite a part of 

 the principal to get it back again, and a 

 deal of hard, wearing, and fatiguing work. 

 Sometimes it never comes back. How 

 many of you can testify to this V Suppose, 

 now, the wheelbarrow came back all right, 

 but the owner has charged an exorbitant 

 price for it for just half a day. In this case 

 the fault is on both sides. There should 

 have been a plain understanding before the 

 wheelbarrow left its owner, as to what the 

 rent should be. You may say it looks little 

 and small ; but, my friends, it does not look 

 nearly so little and small as it does to have 

 a long standing quarrel because there was 

 no understanding at the outset. During 

 my recent travels I felt obliged to decide 

 not to stop at a hotel until I had first asked 

 what the charges were. Some of you may 

 think this looks little and small. 1 can not 

 help it if it does. After I knew what I was 

 to pay, I could be friendly and neighborly 

 with the landlord, and sometimes with the 

 whole family, without any fear they might 

 take advantage of my good nature. 



We now come to another difficult matter. 

 Suppose that B finds it is going to require a 

 whole day instead of half a day. Must he go 

 half a mile in order to get permission to 

 keep it half a day longer V By no means. 

 Send the smallest boy over to A's, with a 

 scrap of paper containing something like 

 this : 



" Neighbor A, it would be a very great 

 accommodation indeed if I could keep your 

 wheelbarrow half a day longer, and on the 

 same terms. Will it discommode you if I 

 do so ?" 



If neighbor A scratches at the bottom of 

 the same paper, " Not in the least, 1 ' it is just 

 as fair as if it were returned at the time 

 promised. The same thing applies to your 

 money. There is nothing out of the way, or 

 injurious to your standing or credit in keep- 

 ing money longer than the agreed time, 

 providing you get -permission of your neigh- 

 bor to keep it. In fact, you may get the 

 time of payment extended seven times, or 

 seventy times seven, for aught I know, pro- 

 viding you make an arrangement that is 



agreeable to the neighbor who has loaned it 

 to you". To neglect to do any thing about 

 it, or to write any thing at all, however, 

 when the agreed time comes around, is 

 damaging to your credit, and it must be 

 damaging to any one's conscience. It is not 

 as bad, it is true, to say when the time 

 comes around, "Neighbor A, I have not 

 got the money, and can not get it just now, 

 and you will have to give me more time ; " 

 but it seems to me this is not quite the 

 thing after all. The money belongs to your 

 neighbor, just as the wheelbarrow belongs 

 to him, and you have not much more right 

 to keep it without permission than you 

 have to take property without permission. 

 You may not agree with me in regard to 

 this ; but if you want your name to be A 

 No. 1, and if you want all business men to 

 spring with alacrity to ship your goods, 

 whether you send the money with your or- 

 der or not, you must build up a reputation 

 for promptness and reliability.* If you 

 want to do this, be sure that some sort of 

 an arrangement is always made whereby 

 payment can be extended, and do this in 

 ample time before the money is due. Most 

 business men are willing, so far as my ex- 

 perience goes, to grant almost any thing, 

 provided they are notified beforehand. 

 Another thing that will help you greatly is 

 to be on hand promptly with the interest, if 

 you can not pay the principal. The record 

 of our ledgers shows that the man who pays 

 his interest promptly will sooner or later 

 pay the principal. f The man who com- 

 plains in regard to the amount of interest, 

 or w 7 ho maintains that he should not pay 

 any interest, or who neglects or refuse* to pay 

 interest, usually never pays any thing if he 

 can get out of it. Now, I do not say this 

 because I have a selfish motive in it, but be- 

 cause I think it will be helpful to you all. 

 Broken promises in paying debts are almost 

 as demoralizing as broken promises in sign- 

 ing the pledge. One gets conscience hard- 

 ened in a little time, if that is the right 

 term. First, he persuades himself that the 

 interest is altogether more than it ought to 

 be. The next is to decide that he ought 

 not to pay any interest at all ; and finally he 

 unblushingly repudiates all obligation, and 

 refuses to pay either interest or principal, 

 and goes along through life trying to be hap- 

 py, and trying to quell the remorse of a 

 guilty conscience. To come back to the 

 wheelbarrow again : 



Suppose that B should keep the wheel- 

 barrow without saying a word until A could 

 not get along with his work any longer, and 

 went after' it. New, our ledger shows 

 abundance of instances where the result is 

 something like this : First, B says it will 

 cost him the price of the wiieelbarrow to 

 have to return it as he promised, therefore 

 he kept right on using it without saying 

 anything. Again, he says, " I got through 

 with it just as I agreed ; but neighbor C 

 wanted it, and he promised to get it around 



*" A good name is rather to be chosen than great 

 riches."— Prov. 22: 1. 



+ Our ledgers also phow that, as a rule, he who 

 answers promptly every statement in regard to hir 

 indebtedness, usually pays all up, sooner or laie>- 



