354 



GLExlNIXGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



May 



tiou to say he lias done the best he could, 

 but, rather, — 



So likewise yo, when ye shall have done all those 

 things which are commanded you, say. We are un- 

 profitable servants : we have done that which was 

 our duty to do.— Luke 17: 10. 



Satan is sure to get hold of a man who al- 

 lows debt to rini and accumulate. Just no- 

 tice how quickly the man who owes begins 

 to talk hard about the one he is owing, and 

 accuses him of underhanded and mean ways 

 of doing. You have probably heard the ex- 

 pression, " If he had used me like a man I 

 would have paid him every cent of it as soon 

 as I could ; but now after the Avay he has 

 acted, I won't pay him till I get ready." 

 And this, too, to one who has done him a 

 kindness and a favor ! 



A great many plead sickness as a reason 

 for not keeping promises or paying bills that 

 ought to be paid. Please do not think me 

 uncharitable here, dear friends ; but it has 

 often seemed to me that a man's family is 

 more apt to get sick when he does not pay 

 his bills. In fact, he is more apt to have 

 trouble of all kinds. It is the man who is as 

 good as his word year in and year out who 

 seems to be blest in all he luidertakes. Many 

 people. Christian people even, seem to think 

 they are not under obligations to pay bor- 

 rowed money as if it were something else 

 that was borrowed, or that a bill they owe 

 the grocer or the butcher is different from a 

 tool or vehicle they borrowed, or any other 

 piece of property. "Let us take a little illus- 

 tration : 



Your neighbor has a nice new wheelbarrow 

 which he has l)ought because he needed one 

 and wanted it almost every day. You come 

 to him some time and sav, "Mr. A., we have 

 got a big lot of wood to get from the street 

 into the woodhouse. and it would save us 

 very much hard back-breaking fatigue if you 

 could just manage to spare the wheelbarrow 

 a little. AVe will be very careful of it, and 

 not injure or break it." Suppose your neigh- 

 bor, because he wishes to be accommodating, 

 puts himself out a little to let you have it. 

 When you took it you honestly intended to 

 do exactly as you agreed. But suppose it 

 should transpire that that wheelbarrow was 

 not only kept many days, but weeks, months, 

 and years, and that a neighborhood (luarrel 

 came up almost every time Mr. A. spoke ot 

 wanting to have it again. Suppose you 

 talked about him in your own family, and 

 abused him, and that, too, while you are 

 keeping the wheelbarrow, and using it every 

 day. Suppose, too, that when he suggested 

 that, if you really could not spare it, to let it 

 be sent back home again, you should pay a 

 moderate rent for it, and you should indig- 

 nantly decline to pay a copper m the way of 

 rent, but still hold on to the wheelbarrow. 

 You say the case is preposterous. No one 

 ever heard of a neighbor so unreasonable 

 and mean. Perhaps not. But suppose we 

 substitute, in place of the wheell)aiTow. ten 

 dollars' worth of meat or ten dollars' worth 

 of groceries. When you l)Ought the meat 

 or groceries, you asked to be accoumiodated 

 until Saturday night. Saturday night came, 

 and you could not pay it. The longer you 

 put it off, the more inconvenient it seemed 

 to be to pay it ; and finally, because you are 



owing this little bill, you trade at some other 

 grocery or butcher shop, where they do not 

 trust at all. Is the case so very much better 

 than with the wheelbarrow V Your neigh- 

 bor finally asks if you can not pay interest. 

 You tell him you think if he gets the prin- 

 cipal he ought to be satisfied, and yet you 

 have had the use of the money all these 

 years ; in fact, he could not keep you from 

 liaving the use of it, liecause you" said you 

 could not get around to pay it. " 



Sometimes discussions come up as to what 

 interest should l)e paid. The butcher or the 

 baker has borrowed money at the bank to go 

 on Avitli l)iisinpss, and has been obliged to 

 pay eight per cent. May be he has paid this 

 interest, or more, during all the years your 

 account has been running; but yet if he 

 should think you ought to pay himthe same 

 interest he liiis pai(l on tliemoney he had 

 borrowed, you would call him hard names; 

 and yet very likely his family has Ijeen sick 

 too, as well as yours. 



I believe it is usually considered that 

 j every man has the privilege of charging what 

 I he thinks proper for Avhat he has to sell. If 

 he charges too much, people won't trade 

 with him, and he is the loser. If we do. not 

 like what people ask for things, we don't 

 buy of them. If we do buy of them', ought 

 Ave not to pay their prices V If it is really 

 out of our power to pay money we owe, 

 ought we not, out of courtesy to the kind 

 friend who has furnished it for us, be willing 

 to accede to any thing he may ask, and thank 

 him even then V Have we any more right to 

 take any one's money and keep it when he 

 Avants it than we have to take his wheel- 

 barrow aud keep it when he wants it ? The 

 wheelbarrow could be sent back under al- 

 most any circumstances one can imagine ; 

 that is, you could carry your wood, or wdiat- 

 ever else you had to move, instead of wheel- 

 ing it, after some fashion or other, and you 

 could not get along without the money. 

 Well, friends, I admit there are circumstances 

 under which one can not get along witliout 

 money. There is sickness in your family, 

 and you must have the doctor's services. A 

 man" who wouldn't go for the doctor because 

 he had not the money to pay him, Avould be 

 i almost guilty of murder ; therefore you must 

 go in del)t. It is right to go in debt; but 

 granting this, have you any right to say that 

 it is the doctor's business to furnisli the 

 medicine and advice without pay, l)ecause 

 you hadn't the money and couldn't get it? 



Perhaps Avhat I am going to say noAv seems 

 hard ; but after the troubles I liaA^e seen, 

 and among Christian people too, in regard 

 to this matter of debt and credit, it seems to 

 me Ave need^^a pretty vigorous stirring-up, if 

 any thing can stir iis up. If it is not the 

 doctor's business to lose, Avho should lose it V 

 My friend, if you are doing the liest you can, 

 and can not support yourself and family, you 

 have no right ^to ask the doctor to support 

 you, nor the grocer, nor the l)utcher. The 

 "plain, obvious thing to do, as it seems to me, 

 is to divide it around among your toAvns- 

 people ; in other Avords, state your circum- 

 stances plainly, and let the expense be borne 

 equally, instead of thrown all upon one per- 

 son. Many difficulties come up in business, 



