The Continental Monthly, Vol 2, No 6, December 1862: Devoted to Literature and National PolicyVarious
History
The Continental Monthly, Vol 2, No 6, December 1862: Devoted to Literature and National Policy
Various
Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; United States -- Politics and government -- 19th century -- Periodicals
regulations are to be violated at pleasure. Thus, from term to term,
debt is added to debt, until the student is preparing to leave the
university. Then the tradesman becomes eager for a settlement. The
student endeavors to put him off with promises. The tradesman hurries to
a lawyer. A writ is issued, judgment is delivered, and the student has
to fly from the university without taking his degree, in order to escape
a prison. Or, if he is in his minority, proceedings are commenced
against his father, who, if he is a proud man, will rather pay the bill
than contest it, though the entire amount will seriously impair the
fortunes of his other children. Or he may deny his liability, plead that
his son is a minor, and that the articles furnished were not
necessaries. In this way, it has been argued by barristers on the
plaintiff's side that wine, cigars, jewels, and hired horses were
necessaries of life, and the presiding judge has sometimes ruled on one
side that they were, and sometimes on the other, that they were not.
Hundreds of young men have had their prospects in life blasted by this
system, and yet, no cure has been found. I heard of one instance, and it
was only one of many nearly similar, where an undergraduate had
contracted debts amounting to upward of $10,000 beyond his ability to
pay. Of this sum, I recollect some of the items: $1,000 was for cigars,
$3,000 for wine, $2,500 for the hire of horses, $1,900 for rings, pins,
and other trinkets, and only $200 for books. He had attained his
majority, and was sent to prison, his father resolutely refusing to pay
his debts. He languished in prison for two years, and died there.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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