“I had not thought of that. It is a wise moral. I wish not to assume the burdens of my sister’s husband. But tell me. You loan to many. Do not the borrowers repay?”
Mathon smiled the smile of one whose soul is rich with much experience. “Could a loan be well made if the borrower cannot repay? Must not the loaner be wise and judge carefully whether his gold can perform a useful purpose to the borrower and return to him once more, or whether it will be wasted by one unable to use it wisely and leave him without his treasure, and leave the borrower with a debt he cannot repay? I will show to thee the tokens in my token chest and let them tell thee some of their stories.”
Into the room he brought a chest as long as his arm covered with red pigskin and ornamented with bronze designs. He placed it upon the floor and squatted before it, both hands upon the lid.
“From each person to whom I loan, I do exact a token for my token chest, to remain there until the loan is repaid. When they repay I give hack, but if they never repay it will always remind me of one who was not faithful to my confidence.
The safest loans, my token box tells me, are to those whose possessions are of more value than the loan they desire. They own lands or jewels, or camels, or other things which could be sold to repay the loan. Some of the tokens given to me are jewels of more value than the loan. Others are promises that if the loan be not repaid as agreed they will deliver to me certain property in settlement. On loans like those I am assured that my gold will be returned with the rental thereon, for the loan is based on property.
In another class are those who have the capacity to earn. They are such as you, who labor or serve and are paid. They have income and if they are honest and suffer no misfortune I know that they also can repay—24—
