Books: Lessons in Life, For All Who Will Read Them
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T.S. Arthur >> Lessons in Life, For All Who Will Read Them
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"There's where you and I differ, Mr. Layton," replied Grasper,
rudely. "The account has been standing nearly a year, and I have
dunned you for it until I am sick and tired."
"I know you have waited a long time for your money," returned the
debtor, humbly, "but not, I assure you, because I felt indifferent
about paying i the bill. I am most anxious to settle it, and would
do so this hour, if I had the ability."
"I can't lie out of my money in this way, Mr. Layton. If everybody
kept me out of my just dues as long as you have, where do you think
I would be? Not in this store, doing as good a business as any one
in the street, (Grasper drew himself up with an air of consequence,)
but coming out at the little end of the horn, as some of my
neighbours are. _I_ pay every man his just dues, and it is but right
that every man should pay me."
"Where there is a willingness, without present ability, some
allowances should be made."
"Humph! I consider a willingness to pay me my own, a very poor
substitute for the money."
There was an insulting rudeness in the way Grasper uttered this last
sentence, that made the honest blood boil in the veins of his
unfortunate debtor. He was tempted to utter a keen rebuke in reply,
but restrained himself, and simply made answer:
"Good intentions, I know, are not money. Still, they should be
considered as some extenuation in a debtor, and at least exempt him
from unnecessarily harsh treatment. No man can tell how it may be
with him in the course of a few years, and that, if nothing else,
should make every one as lenient towards the unfortunate as
possible."
"If you mean to insinuate by that," replied Grasper, in a quick
voice, "that I am likely to be in your situation in a few years, I
must beg leave to say that I consider your remarks as little better
than an insult. It's enough, let me tell you, for you to owe me and
not pay me, without coming into my store to insult me. If you have
nothing better to say, I see no use in our talking any longer." And
Grasper made a motion to turn from his debtor. But the case of
Layton was too urgent to let him act as his indignant feelings
prompted.
"I meant no offence, I assure you, Mr. Grasper," he said,
earnestly,--"I only urged one among many reasons that I could urge,
why you should spare a man in my situation."
"While I have as many to urge why I shall not spare you," was
angrily retorted. "Your account is sued out, and must take its
course, unless you can pay it, or give the required security under
the law."
"Won't you take my notes at three, six, nine, and twelve months, for
the whole amount I owe you? I am very confident that I can pay you
in that time; if not, you may take any steps you please, and I will
not say a single word."
"Yes, if you will give me a good endorser."
Layton sighed, and stood silent for some time.
"Will that suit you?" said Grasper.
"I am afraid not. I have never asked for an endorser in my life, and
do not know any one who would be willing to go on my paper."
"Well, just as you like. I shall not give up the certainty of a
present legal process, for bits of paper with your name on them, you
may depend upon it."
The poor debtor sighed again, and more heavily than before.
"If you go on with your suit against me, Mr. Grasper, you will
entirely break me up," said he, anxiously.
"That's your look-out, not mine. I want nothing but justice--what
the law gives to every man. You have property enough to pay my
claim; the law will adjudge it to me, and I will take it. Have you
any right to complain?"
"Others will have, if I have not. If you seize upon my goods, and
force a sale of them for one-fourth of what they are worth, you
injure the interests of my other creditors. They have rights, as
well as yourself."
"Let them look after them, then, as I am looking after mine. It is
as much as I can do to see to my own interests. But it's no use for
you to talk. If you can pay the money or give security, well--if I
not, things will have to take their course."
"On this you are resolved?"
"I am."
"Even with the certainty of entirely breaking me up?"
"That, I have before told you, is your own look-out, not mine."
"All I have to say, then, is," remarked Layton, as he turned away,
"that I sincerely hope you may, never be placed in my situation; or,
if so unfortunate, that you may have a more humane man to deal with
than I have."
"Thank you!" was cuttingly replied, "but you needn't waste sympathy
on me in advance. I never expect to be in your position. I would
sell the shirt off of my back before I would allow a man to ask me
for a dollar justly his due, without promptly paying him."
Finding that all his appeals were in vain, Layton retired from the
store of his unfeeling creditor. It was too late, now, to make a
confession of judgment to some other creditor, who would save, by an
amicable sale, the property from sacrifice, and thus secure it for
the benefit of all. Grasper had already obtained a judgment and
taken out an execution, under which a levy had been made by the
sheriff, and a sale was ordered to take place in a week. Nothing
could now hinder the onward progress of affairs to a disastrous
crisis, but the payment of the debt, or its security. As neither the
one nor the other was possible, the sale was advertised, the store
of Layton closed, and the sacrifice made. Goods that cost four times
the amount of Grasper's claim were sold for just enough to cover it,
and the residue of the stock left for the other creditors. These
were immediately called together, and all that the ruined debtor
possessed in the world given up to them.
"Take my furniture and all," said he. "Even after that is added to
this poor remnant, your claims will be very far from satisfied. Had
I dreamed that Grasper was so selfish a man as to disregard every
one's interests in the eager pursuit of his own, I would, long
before he had me in his power, have made a general assignment for
the benefit of the whole. But it is too late now for regrets; they
avail nothing. I still have health, and an unbroken spirit. I am
ready to try again, and, it may be, that success will crown my
efforts. If so, you have the pledge of an honest man, that every
dollar of present deficit shall be made up. Can I say more?"
Fortunately for Layton, there was no Grasper among the unsatisfied
portion of his creditors. He was pitied more than censured. Every
man said "no" to the proposition to surrender up his household
furniture.
"Let that remain untouched. We will not visit your misfortunes upon
your family."
After all his goods had been sold off to the best advantage, a
little over sixty cents on the dollar was paid. The loss to all
parties would have been light, had Grasper not sacrificed so much to
secure his own debt.
Regarding Layton as an honest man, and pitying his condition, with a
large family on his hands to provide for, a few of his creditors had
a conference on the subject of his affairs, which resulted in a
determination to make an effort to put him on his feet again. The
first thing done was to get all parties to sign a permanent release
of obligations still held against him, thus making him free from all
legal responsibilities for past transactions. The next thing was to
furnish him with a small, saleable stock of goods, on a liberal
credit.
On this basis, Layton started again in the world, with a confident
spirit. The old store was given up, and a new one taken at about
half the rent. It so happened, that this store was next to the one
occupied by Grasper, who, now that he had got his own, and had been
made sensible of the indignation of the other creditors for what he
had done, felt rather ashamed to look his neighbour in the face.
"Who has taken your store?" he asked of the owner of the property
next to his own, seeing him taking down the bill that had been up
for a few days.
"Your old friend Layton," replied the man, who was familiar with the
story of Layton's recent failure.
"You are not in earnest?" said Grasper, looking serious.
Yes--I have rented it to Layton."
"He has just been broken up root and branch, and can't get credit
for a dollar. How can he go into business?"
"Some friends have assisted him."
"Indeed! I didn't suppose a man in his condition had many friends."
"Oh, yes. An honest man always has friends. Layton is an honest man,
and I would trust him now as freely as before. He has learned wisdom
by experience, and, if ever he gets into difficulties again, will
take good care that no one man gets an undue preference over
another. His recent failure, I am told, was caused by one of his
creditors, who, in the eager desire to get his own, sacrificed a
large amount of property, to the injury of the other creditors."
Grasper did not venture to make any reply to this, lest he should
betray, by his manner, the fact that he was the individual to whom
allusion was made. He need not have been careful on this point, as
the person with whom he was conversing knew very well who was the
grasping creditor.
A day or two afterwards, Layton took possession of his new store,
and commenced arranging his goods. Grasper felt uneasy when he saw
the doors and windows open, and the goods arriving. He did not wish
to meet Layton. But this could not now be avoided. Much as he loved
money, and much as he had congratulated himself for the promptness
by which he had secured his debt, he now more than half wished that
he had been less stringent in his proceedings.
It was the custom of Grasper to come frequently to his door, and
stand with his thumbs in the arm-holes of his waistcoat, and look
forth with a self-satisfied air. But not once did he venture thus to
stand upon his own threshold on the day Layton commenced receiving
his goods. When business called him out, he was careful to step into
the street, so much turned away from the adjoining store, that he
could not see the face of any one who might be standing in the
entrance. On returning, he would glide along close to the houses,
and enter quickly his own door. By this carefulness to avoid meeting
his old debtor, Grasper managed not to come into direct contact with
him for some time. But this was not always to be the case. One day,
just as he was about entering his store, Layton came out of his own
door, and they met face to face.
"Ah! How are you, friend Layton?" he said, with an air of forced
cordiality, extending his hand as he spoke. "So you have become my
next-door neighbour?"
"Yes," was the quiet reply, made in a pleasant manner, and without
the least appearance of resentment for the past.
"I am really glad to find you are on your feet again," said Grasper,
affecting an interest which he did not feel. "For the misfortunes
you have suffered, I always felt grieved, although, perhaps, I was a
little to blame for hastening the crisis in your affairs. But I had
waited a long time for my money, you know."
"Yes, and others will now have to wait a great deal longer, in
consequence of your hasty action," replied Layton, speaking
seriously, but not in a way to offend.
"I am very sorry, but it can't be helped now," said Grasper, looking
a little confused. "I only took the ordinary method of securing my
own. If I had not taken care of myself, somebody would have come in
and swept the whole. You know you couldn't possibly have stood it
much longer."
"If you think it right, Mr. Grasper, I have nothing now to say,"
returned Layton.
"You certainly could not call it wrong for a man to sue another who
has the means, and yet refuses to pay what he owes him?"
"I think it wrong, Mr. Grasper," replied Layton, "for any man to
injure others in his over-eagerness to get his own, and this you
did. You seized four, times as many goods as would have paid your
claim if they had been fairly sold, and had them sacrificed for
one-fourth of their value, thus wronging my other creditors out of
some three thousand dollars in the present, and taxing my future
efforts to make good what was no better than thrown into the sea.
You had no moral right to do this, although you had the power. This
is my opinion of the matter, Mr. Grasper; and I freely express it,
in the hope that, if ever another man is so unfortunate as to get in
your debt without the means of present payment, that you will be
less exacting with him than you were with me."
Grasper writhed in spirit under this cutting rebuke of Layton, which
was given seriously, but not in anger. He tried to make a great many
excuses, to none of which Layton made any reply. He had said all he
wished to say on the subject. After this, the two met
frequently--more frequently than Grasper cared about meeting the man
he had injured. Several times he alluded, indirectly, to the past,
in an apologetic way, but Layton never appeared to understand the
allusion. This was worse to Grasper than if he had come out and said
over and over again just what he thought of the other's conduct.
Five years from the day Layton commenced business anew, he made his
last dividend upon the deficit that stood against him at the time
his creditors generously released him and set him once more upon his
feet. He was doing a very good business, and had a credit much more
extensive than he cared about using. No one was more ready to sell
him than Grasper, who frequently importuned him to make bills at his
store. This he sometimes did, but made it a point never to give his
note for the purchase, always paying the cash and receiving a
discount.
"I'd as lief have your note as your money," Grasper would sometimes
say.
"I always prefer paying the cash while I have it," was generally the
answer. "In this way, I make a double profit on my sales."
The true reason why he would not give his note to Grasper, was his
determination never to be in debt to any man who, in an extremity,
would oppress him. This reason was more than suspected by Grasper
and it worried him exceedingly. If Layton had refused to buy from
him at all, he would have felt less annoyance.
Year after year passed on, and Layton's business gradually enlarged,
until he was doing at least four times as much as Grasper, who now
found himself much oftener the buyer from, than the seller to,
Layton. At first, in making bills with Layton, he always made it a
point to cash them. But this soon became inconvenient, and he was
forced to say, in making a pretty heavy purchase--
"I shall have to give my note for this."
"Just as you please, Mr. Grasper, it is all the same to me," replied
Layton, indifferently. "I had as lief have your note as your money."
Grasper felt his cheek burn. For the hundredth time, he repented of
one act in his life.
A few months after this, Grasper found himself very hard pressed to
meet his payments. He had been on the borrowing list for a good
while, and had drawn so often and so largely upon business friends,
that he had almost worn out his welcome. For one of his heavy days
he had been endeavouring to make provision in advance, but had not
succeeded in obtaining all the money needed, when the day arrived.
In his extremity, and as a last resort, yet with a most
heart-sinking reluctance, he called in to see Layton.
"Have you seven hundred dollars more than you want to-day?" he
asked, in a tone that betrayed his unwillingness to ask the favour,
although he strove to appear indifferent.
"I have, and it's at your service," was promptly and cheerfully
replied. "Shall I fill you a check?"
"If you please," said Grasper; "I have a very heavy payment to make
to-day, and find money tighter than usual. When do you with me to
return it to you?" he asked, as he took the check.
"Oh! in three or four days. Will that do?"
"It will suit me exactly. I am very much obliged to you, indeed."
"You are very welcome. I shall always be happy to accommodate you in
a similar way. I generally have something over."
When Grasper returned to his own store, his cheek burned, his heart
beat quicker, and his breathing was oppressed. He felt humbled in
his own eyes. To the man whom he once so cruelly wronged he had been
compelled to go for a favour, and that man had generously returned
him good for evil. He was unhappy until he could replace the money
he had borrowed, which was in a day or two, and even then he still
felt very uncomfortable.
After this, Grasper of course was frequently driven to the necessity
of getting temporary loans from Layton, which were always made in a
way which showed that it gave his neighbour real pleasure to
accommodate him.
Gradually, difficulties gathered around Grasper so thickly, that he
found it almost impossible to keep his head above water. Two thirds
of his time were spent in efforts to raise money to meet his
payments, and the other third in brooding sadly and inactively over
the embarrassed condition of his affairs. This being the case, his
business suffered inevitably. Instead of going on and making
handsome profits, as he had once done, he was actually losing money,
and that, too, rapidly; for, when he bought, he often made imprudent
purchases, and when he sold, he made three bad debts where he
formerly made one.
At last, a crisis came in his affairs, as come it must, sooner or
later, under such a system. A stoppage and ruin he saw to be
inevitable. He owed more borrowed money than he could possibly
return within the time for which he had obtained it, and had,
besides, large payments to make in bank within the period. Any
effort to get through, he saw would be hopeless, and he determined
to give up; not, however, without securing something for himself.
"Twenty cents less in the dollar for my creditors," he argued, "will
not kill them, and that difference will be quite important to me.
When the storm blows over, it will give me the means of hoisting
sail again."
At this time, Grasper owed Layton two thousand dollars borrowed
money, and two thousand dollars in notes of hand, given for goods
purchased of him.
"It won't do," he said to himself, "to let _him_ lose any thing. I
should never be able to look him in the face again, after what has
happened between us. No--no--I must see _him_ safe."
On the next day, Grasper called in to see Layton. His face was
serious.
"Can I say a word to you alone?" he asked.
"Certainly," and the two men retired to a private part of the store.
Grasper had never felt so wretched in all his life. After two or
three efforts to speak, he at last found voice enough to say--
"Mr. Layton, I have very bad news to tell you. It is impossible for
me to go on any longer. I shall stop to-morrow, inevitably. I owe
you two thousand dollars in borrowed money and two thousand in
notes, making, in all, four thousand dollars. I don't wish _you_ to
lose any thing by me, and, to secure your borrowed money, I have
brought you good notes for two thousand dollars, which is the best I
can possibly do. For the other two thousand dollars, I want you to
come into my store, and take your choice of any thing there, which I
will sell you, and take my own notes back in payment. That is the
best I can possibly do for you, Mr. Layton, and it will be far
better, I fear, than I shall be able to do for any one else."
Layton was taken entirely by surprise.
"What you say astonishes me, Mr. Grasper; I thought you were doing a
very flourishing business?"
"And so I would have been, had I not ventured a little beyond my
depth, and got cramped for money to meet my payments. A neglect of
my business was the inevitable consequence; for, when all my time
was taken up in raising money, I had none left to see after my
business in a proper manner. Bad debts have been one of the
consequences, and profitless operations another, until I am involved
beyond the power of extrication, and must see every thing fall in
ruins about my head."
"It really grieves me to hear you say this," replied Layton, not
offering to take the notes which Grasper was still holding out for
his acceptance. "But, perhaps, you magnify your difficulties. Don't
you think some temporary relief would help you over your present
embarrassments?"
"No: nothing temporary would be of any avail."
"Have you any objection to letting me see a full statement of your
affairs? Perhaps I can suggest something better than a failure,
which is almost always the very worst thing that can be done."
"Most gladly will I do so, Mr. Layton," returned Grasper; "and if
you can point out any way by which I can get over my present
difficulties, I shall be for ever under obligation to you."
An examination into Grasper's business satisfied Layton that a few
thousand dollars would save it.
"You need not fail," he said, cheerfully, to the unhappy man, as
soon as he fully comprehended the state of his affairs.
"What is to prevent it?" eagerly asked the embarrassed merchant.
"You want more money," said Layton.
"I know that. Seven or eight thousand dollars would relieve me, if I
had the use of it for one or two years, so that I could devote all
my time to business. I have enough to do. All that is wanted is to
do it well."
"Yes, I see that clearly enough."
"But the money, where is that to come from?"
"It can be raised, I think. In fact, if you will secure me against
loss, I will take your notes and raise it for you."
"I will secure you upon every thing that I possess," was instantly
replied.
"Very well. That will do. How much money must you have to-morrow?"
"Two thousand dollars."
"That can be managed easily enough. I will see that it is raised. In
the mean time, get all arrangements for the security in progress, so
that I can take your notes and pass them through bank as fast as you
need to have money."
Grasper was overpowered. He could hardly believe that he heard
aright. This was the man who had been driven by his grasping spirit
into bankruptcy, and utterly ruined. The thought again flashed
through his mind, and sent the blood burning to his face. Pride for
a moment tempted him to refuse the offered kindness; but there was
too much at stake--he could not do it. While the act of Layton
heaped coals of fire upon his head, he had no alternative but to
submit to a thing only less painful than utter ruin. From ruin he
was saved; but he was an altered and an humbled man. Many times
since have unfortunate debtors been in his power, and, although he
has not acted towards them with much liberality, (for it was not in
him to do so,) he has not oppressed them.
A NEW PLEASURE.
THE whole purpose of Mr. Bolton's life had been the accumulation of
property, with an end to his own gratification. To part with a
dollar was therefore ever felt as the giving up of a prospective
good; and it acted as the abridgment of present happiness. Appeals
to Mr. Bolton's benevolence had never been very successful; and, in
giving, he had not experienced the blessing which belongs of right
to good deeds. The absolute selfishness of his feelings wronged him
of what was justly his due.
Thus passed the life of Mr. Bolton. Dollar was added to dollar,
house to house, and field to field. Yet he was never satisfied with
gaining; for the little he had, looked so small compared with the
wealth of the world, after the whole of which his heart really
panted, as to appear at times actually insignificant. Thus, as he
grew older, he set a value upon what he had, as the means of gaining
more, and in his parting with money, did so at the expense of a
daily increasing reluctance.
In the beginning of life, Mr. Bolton possessed a few generous
feelings, the remains of early and innocent states stored up in
childhood. His mother, a true woman, perceiving the strong selfish
and accumulative bent of his character, had sought in every possible
way to implant in his mind feelings of benevolence and regard for
others. One mode of doing this had been to introduce him into scenes
that appealed to his sympathies. She often took him with her to see
poor or sick persons, and so interested him in them as to create a
desire in his mind to afford relief. So soon as she perceived this
desire awakened, she devised some mode of bringing it into activity,
so that he might feel the delights which spring from a consciousness
of having done good to another.
But so strong was the lad's hereditary love of self, that she ever
found difficulty in inducing him to sacrifice what he already
considered his own, in the effort to procure blessings for others,
no matter how greatly they stood in need. If urged to spend a
sixpence of his own for such a purpose, he would generally reply:
"But you've got a great many more sixpences than I have, mother: why
don't you spend them?"
To this, Mrs. Bolton would answer as appropriately as possible; but
she found but poor success in her efforts, which were never relaxed.
In early manhood, as Mr. Bolton began to come in actual contact with
the world, the remains of early states of innocence and sympathy
with others came back, as we have intimated, upon him, and he acted,
in many instances, with a generous disregard of self. But as he bent
his mind more and more earnestly to the accumulation of money, these
feelings had less and less influence over him. And as dollar after
dollar was added to his store, his interest in the welfare of others
grew less and less active. Early friendships were gradually
forgotten, and the first natural desire to see early friends
prosperous like himself, gradually died out. "Every man for
himself," became the leading principle of his life; and he acted
upon it on all occasions. In taking a pew in church and regularly
attending worship every Sabbath, he was governed by the idea that it
was respectable to do so, and gave a man a standing in society, that
reacted favourably upon his worldly interests. In putting his name
to a subscription paper, a thing not always to be avoided, even by
him, a business view of the matter was invariably taken, and the
satisfaction of mind experienced on the occasion arose from the
reflection that the act would benefit him in the long run. As to the
minor charities, in the doing of which the left hand has no
acquaintance with the deeds of the right hand, Mr. Bolton never
indulged in them. If his left hand had known the doings of his right
hand in matters of this kind, said hand would not have been much
wiser for the knowledge.
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