ON KEEPING ONE’S NOSE TO THE GRINDSTONE

Evening Star, Issue 20061, 29 December 1928, Page 2

ON KEEPING ONE’S NOSE TO THE GRINDSTONE

We do not quite know what is the origin of the above metaphor, or aphorism, or simile, or whatever it be. But it does not require much imagination to see that it must bo a very painful operation. There arc many things in life that compel us to undergo it. Probably the most common and the most commanding of these is getting into debt. For those who are already in debt it needs little to convince them of that. It is for those who have not yet been snared, that we write. Keep out of debt, and so avoid being bound with your nose against the grindstone.

Keep out of debt! It is easy said; it is extremely difficult to do. The temptations to incur obligations for which we cannot pay abound on every hand. In the trade and business world you arc invited to buy goods on the time-payment principle. Some of these invitations arc of the most extraordinary kind. For 'instance, an advertisement in a Dunedin newspaper invited buyers to send five shillings to an Auckland firm, and a bicvcle would be sent straightway, with easy time remittances till tho debt was paid. Somo merchants appeal - to have a very strong faith in the honesty of their follows. Or take again the motor car business. Very tempting offers are made to induce people to invest in a car on the time-payment svstem, and numbers have done this, with the result that they have their nose up against the grindstone, and don’t know

wdicn they will bo let off. The same thing happens in the matter of houses and dress. A wife wants a house as nice as her neighbours, or nicer if possible. She wants a fur coat, not because she needs it to keep her warm, but because Mr Smith’s wife has got one. The effort to bo in tho swim of fashion, whether tho fashion be jazz parties, motor cars, hous§c furnishing, jewellery, and dress habiliments, or what not, pervades all classes, from cook's son to duke’s son, from the lady's maid to the ladies of the manor. The result is that multitudes are held firmly with their noses to tho grindstone. * * * * And what does that mean? Uliat a,ro tho consequences of keeping the nose to the grindstone? They arc obviously of a most painful kind- That is what the metaphor implies. To begin with, debt is destructive of a man’s liberty. Ho is in bondage to another. There arc some debtors who treat this lightly. In one of his books Mr Trollope refers to the jaunty airs of the habitual debtor. He steps out airily, as if lie rather enjoyed the excitement of liis embarrassments. He never—or maybe she—seem to deny themselves. They can go to theatres and amusements of various kinds, give entertainments, dress well, all of which those who don’t owe a shilling cannot or will not afford. A\'o remember how lightly his debts and .difficulties lay upon Rawdon Crawley, which leads the author to a conclusion similar to Trollope. And the mention of Thackeray reminds us of the gonial F. Bayham, in ‘The Newcomers.’, Bayham holds out himself and Rev. Charles Honeyman as a caution to that “dear youth” Clive Newcome of tho distresses, real as we 11 as technical, that come from debt. “ Take warning by him, dear youth. By him and by me, if you like. See me—me, F. Bayham, descended from the ancient kings that long the Tuscan sceptre swayed, dodge down a street to get out of sight of a boot shop, and my colossal frame tremble if a chap puts his hand on my shoulder, as you did, Rendennis, tho other day in ' the Strand, when 1 thought a straw might have knocked me down.” Thus it comes about that a man’s freedom of movement is curtailed. Not all debtors, however, take tho matter so easily as Honeyman and F. Bayham, Esq. There arc those whoso bodily movements may be free, but they feel their spirits bound. It was ono of this sort who, as he unfolded and looked at a certain bond, muses: “What an innocent piece of parchment seemed this when I signed it; and now to my fancy it looks like the foul skin of a cannibal that has eaten man for twenty years , . .

tho man out of debt, though with a crack in his shoe or a hole in his hat is still tho son of liberty, free as the singing lark above him; but tho debtor, though clothed in the utmost bravery, what is ho but a serf set out upon a holyday, a slave to be reclaimed at any instant by his owner, tho creditor?” Keep out of debt, lor it cramps and cripples body and soul alike.

It does more. It indicates that tho debtor has lost self-control, ami when a man is in that condition ho is not to bo trusted; he is on the slip towards the abyss. A well-known American writer tells the story of a very successful man who is known all over the States. He was talking ono day with a younger man than himself who was earning a large income. Ho asked the latter how much he had saved. “Nothing” was the reply. “In fact, I owe about 20,000 dollars. But that makes no difference with such an income as mine.” The older man answered; “It makes all the difference. Talj> ray advice,” ho said, “ and get out of debt, and don’t tell any man what you have told me, ! for if you wanted him to go into any scheme with you it would frighten him off; whereas if you had money saved he would look upon you as a man able to control yourself, and therefore able to control your job and your income indefinitely.” How many there are that need that advice. How many there are who get goods or buy houses or motor cars or other things that they can’t pay for at the time. But they have a good salary, and they think they can do it later on. But it is foolish ,for a man thus not only to curtail his freedom in the present, bqt to mortgage his future, for that is what it amounts to. The. salary might be all right to-day, but nobody can tell what may happen even in twenty-four hours—disaster may come to the business in which he is employed, sickness may seize him or invade his home, a dozen things ’may occur; that

will eat up his 'salary, aijci thus ho will be crippled and perhaps broken for life. The man who acts like that displays a lack of self-control. Ho is controlled by other things outside him, as well as by admiration, by pride, by vanity, etc., within him. And thus his weakness is manifest. Ask any big employer of labour what ho thinks of the worker who is always soliciting a little money in advance. He knows that such a man is in debt. He knows he lacks brains or strength of character to manage his own affairs, and he concludes that a better worker might easily be found; at any rate, ho is not likely to give him a share in his business. Keep out of debt, for it is destruction of self-con-trol, and puts man’s character in pawn. * » * «• Many other reasons might be urged against getting into debt. ?. For instance, it is often destructive of friendships. There was shrewd wisdom in the action of a Lanarkshire laird. Being importuned by a neighbour to pub bis name “ tao a bit bill ” for £2O, at three months’ date, he was icsclute in refusal. “ Na, na, Tammas, t can mi dae that.” “It’s a sma’ affair to refuse me, laird.” “ Weel, ye see, Tammas, if J. was to pit ma name til’t yo would get the siller Iran the bank, and when the lime came round ye inightna be ready, and I wad hae to pay’t. Sae, then, you and me wad quarrel; sac wc may just as weel quarrel noo as long’s the siller’s in ma pouch.” Of course, there are times when such an attitude as that is not to bo commended. Nevertheless, as a general rule, tho advice of old P.olonius is wise:

Neither a borrower nor a tender bo, For Joan oft loses both itself and friends, And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. llightly understood that gets us to the root of tho matter. * * * » Keep out of debt. Good advice and commonplace. Gut nothing is commonplace so long as itrs truth is not transformed into duty. How can wo keep out of debt? Dr Adam Clarke was once asked how he managed to go; up so early in the morning. “Do you pray about if?” “No, 1 just get up.” That's the way to keep out of debt. Do it. Pay as you go, and don’t- go further than you can pay. If you want this or that get it if you have the money for it, if you .haven’t leave it alone. Sir George 'Trevelyan says of Lord Macaulay; “His economical maxims were of the simplest —lo treat official and literary gains as capital and to pay all bills within 'ho Iweuty-iour hours.” “I think that prompt payment is a moral duty, knowing as 1 do how painful it is to have such things deferred.” The system of credit needs to bo overhauled.' Those who pay cash have to carry tho burdens of tho debtors and the failures, and wo are inclined to agree with those who say it would bo a wise proceeding to outlaw debts for everything after a certain time, save for the necessaries ol life. This would protect weak human nature against itself as well as the trader against loss. “Owe no man anything, , but to love one another.” That is tho whole thing in a nutshell. It wo each would oidy act upon that in the future | The dominion would have the most prosperous year it has ever known, tho love to the One who has given us all things richly to enjoy. Wheti col- - was being taken up in a certain church the collector nudged a man who was sleeping comfortably. Rousing him, ho drowsily whispered: “I can’t afford anything. Pm in debt.” “ Yes,” whispered the collector, “to God.” “Ay, to be sure,” replied the sleepy one, “but He ain’t pressing me.” A reply which did not improve matters—made them worse, in fact.

So, then, seal up the avenues of ill. Pay every debt as if Clod -wrote the bill.

Let us start 1929 with the slogan: 11 Keep out of debt and so keep our noses off the grindstone.”