294 THE PRINCIPLES OF SELF-MASTERY
It was all very lovely and I was glad to be their host. In fact,
I was very happy over it. I never stopped to think how rapidly I
was piling up debts. The day came when they began to bother
me a lot. I had entertained so many guests at the golf club one
month, paying for luncheons, cigars, and greens fees, that my bill
was four hundred and fifty dollars. This attracted the attention
of the directors of the club, who were all good friends of mine
and very much interested in my welfare. They made it their busi-
ness to tell me that I was spending entirely too much money,
and they wished for my sake that I could check my expenses.
This gave me a bit of a jolt. It made me think seriously long
enough to get rid of my horses and traps-at a big sacrifice,
of course. I gave up our home and moved back to the city; but
I did not leave any unpaid bills in Montclair. I borrowed the
money to pay them. It was always easy for me to get all the
money I wanted, despite my well-known financial shortcomings.
Here are two sidelights on my experience during my "flar-
ing forties:'
Besides spending money foolishly and perhaps recklessly,
I loaned it with equal abandon. In cleaning out my desk at
home before moving to the city I looked over a package of due
bills, the total of which was over forty thousand dollars. That
was money handed out to just anybody who came along. I tore
them all up; but I realized that if I had that money in hand I
wouldn't owe a dollar.
One of the prosperous businessmen I had entertained many
times and who in turn had entertained me, said to me: "Billy,
I've got to stop going on outings with you. You spend entirely
too much money for me. I can't keep up with you:'
Think of that coming from a man who was making more
money than I was! It should have struck home, but it didn't. I
went on spending just the same, and foolishly thinking that I