uccess.

#63. Providence.# It is most deeply to be regretted that the
working-people of England will not, for the most part, see the necessity
of saving a portion of their wages in order to have something to live
upon when trade is bad, or when ill-health and misfortune come upon
them. Too many working-men's families spend all that is earned while
trade is brisk, and when employment fails they are as badly off as ever.
#There are several distinct reasons why every man or woman should save
up some property when possible#:--

(1) It forms a provision in case of ill-health, accident, want of
employment, or other misfortune; it is also wanted for support in old
age, or for the helpless widow and orphans of a workman who dies
early.

(2) It yields interest, and adds to a workman's income.

(3) It enables a man to go into trade, to buy good tools, and to
enjoy good credit in case he sees an opportunity of setting up
business on his own account.

No man and no woman, who is in the prime of life and earning fair wages,
should spend the whole. Even an unmarried person will generally reach a
time of life when, through ill health, old age, or other unavoidable
causes, it is no longer possible to get a living. By that time enough
ought to have been saved to avoid the need of charity or the degradation
of the poor-house. When there is a wife and young family, the need of
saving is evidently greater still. Every great storm, colliery
explosion, or other great accident leaves a number of helpless children
to be brought up by a struggling widow, or to go on the parish. No doubt
people may meet with disasters so unexpected and so great that they
cannot be blamed for not providing against them. A man who is blinded,
or crippled, or otherwise disabled in early life, is a proper object of
charity, but there would be plenty of benevolent institutions to provide
for such exceptional cases, if those who are more fortunate would
provide properly for themselves.

It is often said that working men really cannot save out of the small
wages they receive; the expenses of living are too great. We cannot deny
that there are labourers, especially agricultural labourers in the South
of England, whose wages will not do more than barely provide necessary
food and clothing for their families. The weekly earnings of a family in
some parts are not more than 12 or 15 shillings on the average of the
year, and sometimes even less. Such people ca