I. O. U.

Northern Advocate, 12 June 1929, Page 8

I. O. U.

ADDRESS TO ROTAEIANS. The Rev. Bawden Harris was the speaker at the Rotary Club’s luncheon yesterday: He chose as his subject “1.0. U.,” and in the course of an address which was listened to with wrapt attention, spoke as follows:

1 used to think —simple soul as 1 was!—that what everybody said must be true. Everybody said that it was very wicked to borrow, I therefore resolved, in the guilelessness of my soul, that, as long as I lived, I would never be guilty of such an offence, I need scarcely say that I have not kept that too heroic resolution. I have become an incorrigible borrower, 1 scarcely meet a man in the street but the sight of his face sets me calculating how much 1 owe him. L borrow whenever I get the chance. I begin as soon as I rise in the morning, and keep it up until the last thing at night. 1 began it before I got into my cradle; I shall continue it after I get out of my grave. I never pay for anything 1 purchase; I only pay a. part, and get credit for tho rest. When I really must pay, 1 pay, if it be at all possible, as Mr Micawber paid—with an 1.0. U. Everybody knows tho story. Mr Micawber was leaving London but he owed Mr Traddles £4l 10s llsd. So he prepared a document, which he considered accomplished the desired object. Prior to leaving he handed to his friend, Mr Thomas Traddles, his 1.0. U. for £4O 10s Hid, and said “I am happy to recover my moral dignity, and to know that I can once more walk erect before my fellow men. ” Mr Micawber walked so erect before his

follow men, on the strength of this virtuous action, that his chest looked half as broad again when he lighted us down the stairs. ” I take my stand this day not only as Mr Macawber’s defender, but as his disciple, I am a convinced believer in the virtue of the 1.0. U. For since I first heard tho statement that it is very wrong to borrow, I have knocked about the world a little, and, in the process, have made several discoveries. I have discovered that, when -everybody says a thing, and when everybody says it as confidently as if it were one of the Ten Commandments, everybody is generally talking nonsense! I have discovered that everybody else borrows pretty much as I do, and that those who are loudest in their denunciation of the habit are often the most addicted to it. I have discovered that, whether 1 borrow from other people or not, they will insist on borrowing from me; and, in sheer desperation and self-protec-tion, 1 am driven to a policy of retaliation! And to come still nearer to the point, I have discovered that I must borrow or die, and as dying has no immediate attraction for me, T

prefer to borrow. I have referred to as a !i>bit. *A habit it certainly is. It is wonderful how it grows upon you. 1 sometimes even catch myself, as I shall presently explain, borrowing things that I do not. want —things for which I have no earthly use! And now T have told the humiliating story. If it bo true, as everybody says, that open confession is good for the soul,

then my soul ought to enter upon, a new lease of life as a result of my having thus made a clean breast of ° \ things! I began borrowing early. When I was making my plans for invading this planet, I came to the eone elusion that my equipment would be a very incomplete unless I brought a t body with me. A body was the one . thing I did not happen to possess. A I body is composed, I was given to understand, of certain chemical substances. It consists of so much iron, f so much phosphate, salt, soda, and so *• on. Now here was a dilemma in which 3 to be placed at the very start! I could 3 not begin without a body; a body reT quired all these substances, and I did * not chance to have any of them about me! What was I to do? I could only borrow! But from whom? It is begging the issue to say that I borrowed fom my parents.' They no more ! possessed those chemicals in their own ' right than I did- If they had them, it was because they too had borrowed 1 them; I merely borrowed what they ■ had already borrowed. iron, phosphate, salt, and all these chemicals belong to the earth beneath my feet, and, strictly speaking, it was from her that I borrtfwed my body. The Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground. From the earth, then. I borrowed my body. It was distinctly a loan, and not a gift. I had to faithfully promise that, as soon as I have .finished with it, I will return it to the earth again, “Ashes, etc. ” The chemicals that I borrowed from the earth. Nature makes her advances only on the best security. She holds the mortgage in a very firm grip, and will exact, to the uttermost farthing, all that she lias lent. Now, thinking over what I have said, I notice that I have made a pair of statements for ! which you may certainly take me to task. Lot mo, therefore, fortify them in anticipation of the inevitable as eault. My declaration was that, so persistent does the borrowing habit become, it frequently leads me to borrow what I really do not want. That is an absolute fact. Instead of con-

tenting myself with the worries on today, do T not very often 'borrow tin* •burdens of tomorrow? I found myself the other evening staggering along under a load heavy enough to crush half a dozen strong men. Out of sheer exhaustion 1 put it down and had a good look at it. I found that it was all borrowed! Part of it- belonged to the following day, part to the following week, part to the following year: and here was 1 borrowing it that it might crush me now! It is a very stupid, but a very ancient blunder. This borrowing business must be done on very sane lines, or it leads to disaster. ] know a man who borrows every Saturday all Sunday’s energy; and on Sunday he is bankrupt. He would not dream of going to a. picnic on Sunday afternoon, or of attending a picture-show on (Sunday night. But he so exhausts himself on his picnics and his picture shows on Saturday, that It takes all day (Sunday to got over it. Our forefathers —the cotter of Burns’ great poem and the rest—used to store up Saturday’s energies so that

they might be at their best on the Sunday. On the whole, I prefer their way of arranging the matter. IVhou good old Dr. Johnson called himself to

account, before entering on his 50th year, and set himself to live henceforth more devoutly, he wrote dorm, as the first step towards that high end, “I resolve henceforth to go to sleep early on Saturday night.” But I made another statement that may be challenged, I said that I never pay for anything I purchase, but only pay a part of the price and get credit for the rest. That is quite true, and, as a consequence, I am in debt to all the world. What of the soldier who hazards his life in my defence? Bo I dispose of my obligation to him when I pay my taxes? What of the miner who dares the perils of the mine? Bo I square accounts with him when I pay my coal bill? .And 'willat of the toilers who obtain for me my food? Although we have our purses continually in our hand, the bettor part of service still goes unrewarded. Said I not truly that I never pay for anything I purchase, but only a part and get credit for the rest? Let me make? no mistake. Unless I give back to the world something that costs me blood and agony and tears, I shall when I quit the planet at last, be in the position of the ni'an who leaves the neigh- , bourhood without first discharging his just and honourable debts. I sot out, be it noted, to justify borrowing: I

have nothing to say in defence of theft. I knew a man once who thought it very wicked to borrow. ‘‘My dear fellow, '’ I said, “you can* not get through life without it. ’ ’ “011,“ he answered, visibly shocked, “but docs not the Bible exhort us to owe no man anything? '’ “No,“ I replied, “the Bible says nothing of the kind! The Bible says ‘Owe no man anything, but— ’ ”, and that exception is the greatest exception to a general principle that has over boon stated in human language. “Owe no man anything, but to love one another. “ And since then he has been struggling bravely to discharge that tremendous obligation. At the conclusion of his address Mr Harris was heartily applauded and accorded a vote of thanks.