Lessons in Life, For All Who Will Read Them | Page 8

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.