“Don’t you think that you are just the kind of a man that a good woman like your wife would be justified in running away from?”
“I do.”
The secretary asked who told him that his wife was going to run away; and he answered that it was a friend.
PLAN OF $1400 HOUSES.
The secretary then addressed him as follows:—
“When your wife comes to the society, I have noticed that her hands were sometimes split and bleeding from hard work, and I know that she is saving this money to keep you and the children from the almshouse. In the first place, you should give up drinking and keep away from the people who have been talking against your wife; and then I would advise you to go home at once and tell all to your wife, and get down on your knees before her and ask her pardon.”
To the utter surprise of the secretary the man shook hands with him and emphatically gave his word that he would act on the advice given.
Not the strangest part of the incident is that the advice was exactly followed. From that time until now the man has abstained from drink. As soon as he got work he took shares in the society, and in a few years three of his children had subscribed for shares. Only recently two of the children withdrew shares to buy homes of their own. This is the kind of practical work done by every building society in every State in the Union, and the State as well as the entire country is the gainer by it.
Of course it goes without saying that the building society knows no secret plan for the payment of dues and interest greater than the borrower can afford. It does, however, point out a way for every man to gain a home of his own, but the price of the house must be in keeping with his income. If this rule is not observed the result is almost always failure to gain the desired object. It is an old saying that it is almost wise to go in debt for a home, but it is decidedly unwise to contract for a home that requires every dollar of income to keep it up.