A Significant Story

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 15, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 15.

A Significant Story.

A WEALTHY banker in one of our large cities, who is noted for his large subscriptions to charities, and for his kindly habits of private benevolence, was called on by his pastor, one evening, and asked to go with him to the help of a man who had attempted to commit suicide.

They found the man in a wretched house, in an alley, not far from the banker's dwelling. The front room was a cobbler's shop; behind it, on a miserable bed, in the kitchen, lay the poor shoemaker, with a gasping gash in his throat, while his wife and children were gathered about him.

"We have been without food for days," said the woman, when he returned. "It is not my husband's fault. He is a hard-working, sober man. But he could neither get work nor pay for that which he has done. To-day he went for the last time to collect a debt due him by a rich family; but the gentleman was not at home. My husband was weak from fasting, and seeing us starving drove him mad. So it ended that way," turning to the fainting, motionless figure on the bed.

The banker, having fed and warmed the family, hurried home, opened his desk, and took out a file of little bills. All his larger debts were promptly met, but he was apt to be careless about the accounts of milk, bread, etc., because they were so petty.

He found there a bill of Michael Goodlow's for repairing children's shoes, $10. Michael Goodlow was the suicide. It was the banker's unpaid debt which had brought these people to the verge of the grave, and driven this man to desperation, while at the same time the banker had given thousands in charity. The cobbler recovered, and will never want a friend while the banker lives, nor will a small unpaid bill ever be found on the banker's table.

No man has a right to be generous until his debts are paid; and the most efficient use of money is not alone in alms giving, but to pay liberally and promptly the people whom we employ.—Youth's Companion.