Page:The Fraternity and the College (1915).pdf/106

 one can tell that an obligation is absolutely worthless until the one who made it is dead. Even in this seemingly hopeless situation one can never be quite sure, for occasionally relatives may have a greater sense of obligation than did the man himself when alive, and may come to the financial rescue. Every once in a while a man pays, whom I have considered for years as hopeless, so that for me in this experience "Hope springs eternal." So far in the two cases in which the notes were given to raise money to meet a debt already contracted I have been successful in collecting in one case little more than fifty per cent and in the other about seventy-five. In the case of the notes to help build a chapter house I think I have already collected about eighty per cent of the amounts due and may ultimately bring the percentage up to ninety. In this case the unexpected is always happening. The man comes back and sees the house, or his younger brother or his wife's cousin is starting to college, and, wanting to make good with the active chapter, he liquidates. Maybe he meets an old pal who stirs up his recollections of other days, or he strikes it lucky and has an unusually generous feeling. In any case something happens that makes him send in the ten or the twenty that gives me a sudden shock of surprise. It may be if I live long enough and study the problem hard enough I shall be able to collect it all.