George William Curtis exhibited an unusual honesty. Not only had
he a fine sense of obligation where there was no legal or moral
responsibility, but he considered himself bound by obligations
made by others, in which he had no part. Upon his father’s
death, Curtis assumed his liabilities, amounting to $20,000,
which took many years of personal deprivation for him to pay;
and later, upon the failure of a firm in which he was merely
a special partner for only a small amount, and having no part
in the management, he refused the immunity allowed under the
law, and gave up almost his entire fortune to pay the firm’s
indebtedness.--JAMES T. WHITE, “Character Lessons.”
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