ng but sickness induce you to spend more than nine
shillings; if you have one dollar a day, do not spend but seventy-five
cents; if you have half a dollar a day, be satisfied to spend forty
cents.
To associate with influential and genteel people with an appearance of
equality, unquestionably has its advantages; particularly where there
is a family of sons and daughters just coming upon the theatre of
life; but, like all other external advantages, these have their proper
price, and may be bought too dearly. They who never reserve a cent
of their income, with which to meet any unforeseen calamity, 'pay too
dear for the whistle,' whatever temporary benefits they may derive
from society. Self-denial, in proportion to the narrowness of your
income, will eventually be the happiest and most respectable course
for you and yours. If you are prosperous, perseverance and industry
will not fail to place you in such a situation as your ambition
covets; and if you are not prosperous, it will be well for your
children that they have not been educated to higher hopes than they
will ever realize.
If you are about to furnish a house, do not spend all your money,
be it much or little. Do not let the beauty of this thing, and the
cheapness of that, tempt you to buy unnecessary articles. Doctor
Franklin's maxim was a wise one, 'Nothing is cheap that we do not
want.' Buy merely enough to get along with at first. It is only by
experience that you can tell what will be the wants of your family. If
you spend all your money, you will find you have purchased many things
you do not want, and have no means left to get many things which you
do want. If you have enough, and more than enough, to get everything
suitable to your situation, do not think you must spend it all, merely
because you happen to have it. Begin humbly. As riches increase, it
is easy and pleasant to increase in hospitality and splendour; but
it is always painful and inconvenient to decrease. After all, these
things are viewed in their proper light by the truly judicious and
respectable. Neatness, tastefulness, and good sense, may be shown in
the management of a small household, and the arrangement of a little
furniture, as well as upon a larger scale; and these qualities are
always praised, and always treated with respect and attention. The
consideration which many purchase by living beyond their income, and
of course living upon others, is not worth the trouble it costs.
The
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