The letter dropped from the tailor's hand; he was overcome with
emotion. His wife, when she understood its purport, burst into tears.
The merchant's sleep was sweeter that night than it had been for some
time, and so was the sleep of the poor debtor.
The next day Mr. Moale called to see Mr. Petron, to whom, at the
instance of the latter, he gave a full detail of his actual
circumstances. The merchant was touched by his story, and prompted by
true benevolence to aid him in his struggles. He saw most of the
tailor's old creditors, and induced those who had not been paid in full
to voluntarily relinquish their claims, and some of those who had
received money since the poor man's misfortunes, to restore it as
belonging of right to his family. There was not one of these creditors
who did not feel happier by their act of generosity; and no one can
doubt that both the tailor and his family were also happier. John and
Henry were not compelled to leave their home until they were older and
better prepared to endure the privations that usually attend the boy's
first entrance into the world; and help for the mother in her arduous
duties could now be afforded.
No one doubts that the creditor, whose money is not paid to him, has
rights. But too few think of the rights of the poor debtor, who sinks
into obscurity, and often privations, while his heart is oppressed with
a sense of obligations utterly beyond his power to cancel.