FRANKLIN'S LOAN.
We often learn by sad experience that it is a very unwise plan to give money to the poor. It is much wiser either to loan or to require some slight return in work. This plan tends to raise the respect of the recipient, rather than to form the easily acquired habit of begging. In an old English magazine we find the following letter from Dr. Franklin to some unknown beggar; it is amusing as well as instructive:
"April 22, 1784.
"I send you herewith a bill for ten Louis-d'or. I do not pretend to give such a sum; I only lend it to you. When you shall return to your country you cannot fail of getting into some business that will in time enable you to pay all your debts. In that case, when you meet with another honest man in similar distress, you must pay me by lending this sum to him, enjoining him to discharge the debt by like operation when he shall be able, and shall meet with such another opportunity. I hope it may thus go through many hands before it meets with a knave to stop its progress. This is a trick of mine for doing a deal of good with a little money. I am not rich enough to afford much in good work, and so am obliged to be earning and make the most of a little."
If your Majesty will kindly
Stop your funning for a while,
I will make a portrait of you
In the very best of style.
But if you keep on jesting,
I am very much afraid
Instead of as the king, you'll as
The joker be portrayed.