Flag of the free heart’s hope and home,
  By angel hands to valor given,
Thy stars have lit the welkin dome,
  And all thy hues were born in heaven. 
Forever float that standard sheet! 
  Where breathes the foe but falls before us,
With Freedom’s soil beneath our feet,
  And Freedom’s banner streaming o’er us?

XXI.  IRONICAL EULOGY ON DEBT. (121)

Debt is of the very highest antiquity.  The first debt in the history of man is the debt of nature, and the first instinct is to put off the payment of it to the last moment.  Many persons, it will be observed, following the natural procedure, would die before they would pay their debts.

Society is composed of two classes, debtors and creditors.  The creditor class has been erroneously supposed the more enviable.  Never was there a greater misconception; and the hold it yet maintains upon opinion is a remarkable example of the obstinacy of error, notwithstanding the plainest lessons of experience.  The debtor has the sympathies of mankind.  He is seldom spoken of but with expressions of tenderness and compassion—­“the poor debtor!”—­and “the unfortunate debtor!” On the other hand, “harsh” and “hard-hearted” are the epithets allotted to the creditor.  Who ever heard the “poor creditor,” the “unfortunate creditor” spoken of?  No, the creditor never becomes the object of pity, unless he passes into the debtor class.  A creditor may be ruined by the poor debtor, but it is not until he becomes unable to pay his own debts, that he begins to be compassionated.

A debtor is a man of mark.  Many eyes are fixed upon him; many have interest in his well-being; his movements are of concern; he can not disappear unheeded; his name is in many mouths; his name is upon many books; he is a man of note—­of promissory note; he fills the speculation of many minds; men conjecture about him, wonder about him,—­wonder and conjecture whether he will pay.  He is a man of consequence, for many are running after him.  His door is thronged with duns.  He is inquired after every hour of the day.  Judges hear of him and know him.  Every meal he swallows, every coat he puts upon his back, every dollar he borrows, appears before the country in some formal document.  Compare his notoriety with the obscure lot of the creditor,—­of the man who has nothing but claims on the world; a landlord, or fundholder, or some such disagreeable, hard character.

The man who pays his way is unknown in his neighborhood.  You ask the milkman at his door, and he can not tell his name.  You ask the butcher where Mr. Payall lives, and he tells you he knows no such name, for it is not in his books.  You shall ask the baker, and he will tell you there is no such person in the neighborhood.  People that have his money fast in their pockets, have no thought of his person or appellation.  His house only is known.  No. 31 is good pay.  No. 31 is ready money.  Not