me,
or can sell it again to advantage. But they would not buy at present,
if it cost them cash, from their pockets. The mischief is that when the
day of payment is distant, the cost seems more trifling than it really
is. Franklin's advice is in point; 'Buy what thou hast no need of, and
ere long thou shalt sell thy necessaries;'--and such persons would do
well to remember it.

The difference between credit and ready money is very great.
Innumerable things are not bought at all with ready money, which would
be bought in case of trust; so much easier, is it, to _order_ a thing
than to _pay_ for it. A future day, a day of payment must come, to be
sure; but that is little thought of at the time. But if the money were
to be drawn out the moment the thing was received or offered, these
questions would arise; Can I not do without it? Is it indispensable?
And if I do not buy it, shall I suffer a loss or injury greater in
amount than the cost of the thing? If these questions were put, every
time we make a purchase, we should seldom hear of those suicides which
disgrace this country, and the old world still more.

I am aware that it will be said, and very truly, that the concerns of
merchants, the purchasing of great estates, and various other large
transactions, cannot be carried on in this manner; but these are rare
exceptions to the rule. And even in these cases, there might be much
less of bills and bonds, and all the sources of litigation, than there
now is. But in the every day business of life, in transactions with the
butcher, the baker, the tailor, the shoemaker, what excuse can there be
for pleading the example of the merchant, who carries on his work by
ships and exchanges?

A certain young man, on being requested to keep an account of all he
received and expended, answered that his business was not to keep
account books: that he was sure not to make a mistake as to his income;
and that as to his expenditure, the purse that held his money, would be
an infallible guide, for he never bought any thing that he did not
immediately pay for. I do not mean to recommend to young men not to
keep written accounts, for as the world is, I deem it indispensable.

Few, it is believed, will deny that they generally pay, for the same
article, a fourth part more, in the case of trust, than in that of
ready money. Suppose now, the baker, butcher, tailor, and shoemaker,
receive from you $400 a year. Now, if you multiply the $100 you l