Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 December 1889 — THE CURSE OF DEBT. [ARTICLE]

THE CURSE OF DEBT.

The Pitiful Picture Presented by the Wilful Debt-Maker. How can a man eat, sleep and be jolly under the pressure of debt? How om earth can he walk forth well appareled and appointed, and face ths man whose unpaid-for trousers he i« wearing? How dare he smile at his butcher, pr his grocer, who are at that minute SSO apiece poorer for his past dinners and teas? How dare he pat his children on the head when he knows that if he should die that night, their future is wholly uncared for? How on earth can he enjoy any luxury, trusting only to his dodging instincts if the day of pecuniary reckoning should suddenly come! How can he face the rascally reflection of himself in the looking-glass long enough to tie the cravat which ought to be choking him?

How can he have the impudence to go among honest, upright people and expect cordial recognition, or any recognition at all. How dare the brazen thief, in his fine clothes, look into the frank, honest face of the swarthy, red-shirted mechanic, who has proved himself a man by that day’s hard labor? How can he pass a station house or a policeman without asking that summary justice may be meted out to him, rather than to the poor, friend-, less, ragged wretches whom adverse circumstances seem sometimes to have so hedged about that God himself cannot help them? I look upon such men with a wonder that never abates, says a writer in the N. Y. Ledger. Men did I say? Satin grins at the misnomer. Au artist should be specially employed to collect their prortraits for ‘ ‘The Rogues’ Gallery.” Imagine the horror with which their dainty originals would contemplate such a possibility! and yet I am not sure that it would not be a capital idea for every creditor to immortalize his own well-dressed scamps in this manner; or at least have a framed collection of them in his own place of business for the inspection of the curious. Perhaps one Of the meanest of thesedainty fellows’ tricks is to victimize a friend who may be supposed to have scruples about refusing monetary compliance, or about reminding the creditor of his protracted forgetfulness of the sum due. Yes—there is one lower depth of meanness yet, and that is, when the “friend” is a woman, who, if she be not too smart, may be generally conveniently put off with well framed excuses, or at all events be supposed be too “refined” and “delicate” to press so unromantic a theme. Fortunately, all women are not “fools.” Fortunately, a woman may know her “rights,” and defend them, too, without stamping about the country in brogans armed with a horsewhip. It is comforting when such a one, without compromising her womanly dignity, handsomely compels, as a man might and would do, immediate restitution, or the alternative penalty.