(after stating the facts). The main reliance of counsel for the defendant for a reversal of the decree is, that a preponderance of the evidence shows that the real transaction between the parties was that Best should remain in the employment of Sims as manager of his saw mill until Sims paid his indebtedness to the Bond & Mortgage Company and that the written contract for the sale of the land was executed pursuant to that agreement; and that the agreement of Best to remain in the employment of Sims at his saw mill was a part of the consideration for the execution of. the written contract for the sale of the lands. Their argument is based on the rule of permitting oral evidence to be introduced to show the true consideration of a deed or other written contract in opposition to that recited; or, where only part of the contract is reduced to writing, to prove the portion which the parties have allowed to rest in parol.
An illustration of the first kind of case is Magill Lumber Co. v. Lane-White Lumber Co., 90 Ark. 426, and an illustration of the second, is St. Louis & North Arkansas Railroad Co. v. Crandell, 75 Ark. 89. A clear statement (and one much referred to) explaining the rule of permitting oral evidence to be introduced to show the true consideration of a written instrument as well as the limitation of the rule, is given by Judge Robertson in Gully v. Grubbs, 1 J. J. Marsh. 387. A brief and correct condensed statement of his reasoning is given in the ease of Baum v. Lynn (Miss.), 30 L. R. A. 441. It is as follows :
“Wherever, in a deed, the consideration, or an admission of its receipt, is stated merely as a fact, that part of the deed is viewed as a receipt would be, and the statement is subject to be varied, modified, and explained; but, if the stated consideration is in the nature of a contract — that is, if by it a right is vested, created, or extinguished — the terms of the contract thereby evidenced may not be varied by parol proof, but the writing is its own sole exponent.”
In discussing the question .in Gully v. Grubbs, supra, Judge Robertson, in part, said:
“Another principle, and one more universal than the former in its application, is, that wherever a right is vested, or created, or extinguished, by contract or otherwise, and writing is employed for that purpose, parol testimony is inadmissible, to alter or contradict the legal and common sense construction of the instrument. But that any writing, which neither by contract, the operation of law, nor otherwise vests or passes or extinguishes any right, but is only used as evidence of a fact, and not as evidence of a contract or right, may he susceptible of explanation by extrinsic circumstances or facts. Thus a will, a deed or a covenant in writing, so far as they transfer or are intended to he evidence of rights, can not be contradicted or opposed in their legal construction, by facts ‘aliunde.’ But receipts and other writings, which only acknowledge the existence of a simple fact, such as the payment of money for example, may be susceptible of explanation, and liable to contradiction by witnesses.”
Neither can it be said that the agreement offered in proof is collateral to the bond for title and for that reason admissible under tbe doctrine that where the contract is oral and only a part of it is reduced to writing it is permissible to prove that part which the parties have allowed to rest in parol. The alleged parol agreement was made at the same time the bond for title was executed and was made between the same parties. The parties failed to incorporate it in their written agreement, or to make any reference whatever to it. The offered evidence had no purpose except to change the terms of the bond for title, and as such it was not admissible. The parties have reduced their contract to writing and the instrument is free from ambiguity or uncertainty. It would be dangerous to purchasers of land if parol evidence should be permitted to vary or contradict a writing complete in itself.