it is the plan that hath made my success. It hath enabled me to pay all my debts and to jingle both gold and silver in my purse. I do commend it to all who wish to get ahead. For truly if it will enable an ex-slave to pay his debts and have gold in his purse, will it not aid any man to find independence? Nor am I, myself, finished with it, for I am convinced that if I follow it further it will make me rich among men.
St. Swithin’s College
Nottingham University
Newark-on-Trent
Nottingham
Professor Franklin Caldwell,
Care of British Scientific Expedition,
Hillah, Mesopotamia.
November 7th, 1936.
My dear professor:
If, in your further digging into those ruins of Babylon, you encounter the ghost of a former resident, an old camel trader named Dabasir, do me a favor. Tell him that his scribbling upon those clay tablets, so long ago, has earned for him the lifelong gratitude of a couple of college folks back here in England.
You will possibly remember my writing a year ago that Mrs. Shrewsbury and myself intended to try his plan for getting out of debt and at the same time having gold to jingle. You may have guessed, even though we tried to keep it from our friends, our desperate straits.
We were frightfully humiliated for years by a lot of old debts and worried sick for fear some of the tradespeople might start a scandal that would force me out of the college. We paid and paid — every shilling we could squeeze out of income — but it was hardly enough to hold things even. Besides we were forced to do all our buying where we could get further credit regardless of higher costs.
It developed into one of those vicious circles that grow worse instead of better. Our struggles were getting hopeless. We could not move to less costly rooms because we owed the landlord. There did not appear to be anything we could do to improve our situation.
Then, here comes your acquaintance, the old camel trader from Babylon, with a plan to do just what we wished to accomplish. He jolly well stirred us up to follow his system. We made a list of all our debts and I took it around and showed it to everyone we owed.
I explained how it was simply impossible for me to ever pay them the way things were going along. They could readily see this themselves from the figures. Then I explained that the only way I saw to pay in full was to set aside twenty percent of my income each month to be divided pro rata, which would pay them in full in a little over two years. That, in the meantime, we would go on a cash basis and give them the further benefit of our cash purchases.
They were really quite decent. Our greengrocer, a wise old chap, put it in a way that helped to bring around the rest. “If you pay for all you buy and then pay some on what you owe, that is better than you have done, for ye ain’t paid down the account none in three years.”
Finally I secured all their names to an agreement binding them not to molest us as long as the twenty percent of income was paid regularly. Then we began scheming on how to live upon seventy percent. We were determined to keep that extra ten percent to jingle. The thought of silver and possibly gold was most alluring.
It was like having an adventure to make the change. We enjoyed figuring this way and that, to live comfortably upon that remaining seventy percent. We started with rent and managed to secure a fair reduction. Next we put our favorite brands of tea and such under suspicion and were agreeably surprised how often we could purchase superior qualities at less cost.
It is too long a story for a letter but anyhow it did not prove difficult. We managed and right cheerfully at that. What a relief it proved to have our affairs in such a shape we were no longer persecuted by past due accounts.
I must not neglect, however, to tell you about that extra ten percent we were supposed to jingle. Well, we did jingle it for some time. Now don’t laugh too soon. You see, that is the sporty part. It is the real fun, to start accumulating money that you do not want to spend. There is more pleasure in running up such a surplus than there could be in spending it.
After we had jingled to our hearts’ content, we found a more profitable use for it. We took up an investment upon which we could pay that ten percent each month. This is proving to be the most satisfying part of our regeneration. It is the first thing we pay out of my check.
There is a most gratifying sense of security to know our investment is growing steadily. By the time my teaching days are over it should be a snug sum, large enough so the income will take care of us from then on.
All this out of my same old check. Difficult to believe, yet absolutely true. All our debts being gradually paid and at the same time our investment increasing. Besides we get along, financially, even better than before. Who would believe there could be such a difference in results between following a financial plan and just drifting along.
At the end of the next year, when all our old bills shall have been paid, we will have more to pay upon our investment besides some extra for travel.
We are determined never again to permit our living expenses to exceed seventy percent of our income. Now you can understand why we would like to extend our personal thanks to that old chap whose plan saved us from our “Hell on Earth.”
He knew. He had been through it all. He wanted others to benefit from his own bitter experiences. That is why he spent tedious hours carving his message upon the clay. He had a real message for fellow sufferers, a message so important that after five thousand years it has risen out of the ruins of Babylon, just as true and just as vital as the day it was buried.
Yours sincerely,
Alfred H. Shrewsbury,
Department of Archaeology.
The Luckiest Man in Babylon
At the head of his caravan, proudly rode Sharru Nada, the merchant prince of Babylon. He liked fine cloth and wore rich and becoming robes. He liked fine animals and sat easily upon his spirited Arabian stallion. To look at him one would hardly have guessed his advanced years. Certainly they would not have suspected that he was inwardly troubled.
The journey from Damascus is long and the hardships of the desert many. These he minded not. The Arab tribes are fierce and eager to loot rich caravans. These he feared not for his many fleet mounted guards were a safe protection.
About the youth at his side, whom he was bringing from Damascus, was he disturbed. This was Hadan Gula, the grandson of his partner of other years, Arad Gula, to whom he felt he owed a debt of gratitude which could never be repaid. He would like to do something for this grandson, but the more he considered this, the more difficult it seemed because of the youth himself.
Eyeing the young man’s rings and earrings, he thought to himself, “He thinks jewels are for men, still he has his grandfather’s strong face. But his grandfather wore no such gaudy robes. Yet, I sought him to come, hoping I might help him get a start for himself and get away from the wreck his father has made of their inheritance.”
Hadan Gula broke in upon his thoughts, “Why dost thou work so hard, riding always with thy caravan upon its long journeys? Dost thou never take time to enjoy life?”
Sharru
