Apparently on December 31, 1854, he writes: “Not knowing the precise condition of my business I have been unable to charge up the percentages heretofore. I now find that my net income for the year ending, say, August, 1854, was about $1,800, besides my living. This, situated as I was, did not amount to more than $200 for self and wife. Calling the year in round numbers $2,000 I must charge myself with one fifteenth of the whole amount, which is $133.33.... I thought I was wonderfully liberal all along through these sixteen months, and yet the figures bring me in debt $75! I can never be sufficiently thankful that God put it into my heart to begin this account, for I have found that the majority of my opportunities for giving have occurred when, from exterior circumstances, I have ‘felt poor’, and but for the consciousness that I owed, fairly, justly and honestly owed, according to a bargain of my own making, a large balance to the Lord’s work in general, and perchance—who could know—to the very case in hand in particular, I should not have given even the little I have.” By December 31, 1856, he had exceeded the limit for giving established by his scale to the extent of over 32 per cent. He debates with himself as to whether he should charge his pew rent in this account, but finally concludes to do so. In 1857 he notes that his income is about $2,000 “and my family has been increased by a Father, Mother and Sister-in-Law, making me six mouths to fill instead of three....” “I must now record one of those eras that will happen in men’s lives when they are not content to let well enough alone:— “In April, 1857, I abandoned a prosperous business, mounted a hobby and galloped headlong into an enterprise that has sunk every cent I had in the world and plunged me very deeply in debt besides, so that I will have to work for years to extricate myself. “I have now—July, 1858—as the result of my folly, no offering of money to make to the Lord’s cause.” Then follows his account brought forward which, in spite of the fact that only one dollar is credited “By Missionary Subscription”, is still somewhat ahead of his limit. “Many months have gone by since the foregoing was written—months of varied experience. “In January, 1859, I relinquished my school enterprise, a loser, probably, of $13,000 and about $7,000 ‘worse than nothing’.... Providentially I was not permitted to remain idle a day. January 1st I was engaged with the Ætna Insurance Company at $1,500 per annum.... “It has been a matter of much debate in my mind whether it was proper for me while so deeply involved in debt to ‘give away’ anything. It has seemed like assuming to disburse the money that belongs to others without their knowledge or consent.