creature--the thing of
shreds and patches--with false hair, false colour, false eyebrows,
false everything. "Some of nature's journeymen have made them, and not
made them well, they imitate humanity so abominably."

The evil does not stop with the moneyed classes. It descends to those
who have nothing but their salary to live upon. It descends to the wives
of clerks and shopmen. They, too, dress for respectability. They live
beyond their means. They must live in gimcrack suburban villas, and
"give parties." They must see what is going on at the theatres. Every
farthing is spent so soon as earned,--sometimes before. The husband does
not insure his life, and the wife runs into debt. If the man died
to-morrow, he would leave his wife and children paupers. The money he
ought to have saved during his life of toil, is spent on
"respectability;" and if he leaves a few pounds behind him, they are
usually spent in giving the thriftless husband a respectable funeral.

"Is that dress paid for?" asked a husband. "No." "Then you are allowing
yourself to be clothed at another man's expense!" No woman is justified
in running into debt for a dress, without her husband's knowledge and
consent. If she do so, she is clothing herself at the expense of the
draper. This is one of the things that worry a man who is trying to keep
his head above water; and it is often sufficient to turn his heart
against his wife and her extravagances. It is in this way that incomes
are muddled away, and that life is rendered the scene of bitterness and
discontent. This is especially the case when both husband and wife are
alike spendthrifts.

By running into debt yourself, or by your allowing your wife to run into
debt, you give another person power over your liberty. You cannot
venture to look your creditor in the face. A double knock at the door
frightens you: the postman may be delivering a lawyer's letter demanding
the amount you owe. You are unable to pay it, and make a sneaking
excuse. You invent some pretence for not paying. At length you are
driven to downright lying. For "lying rides on debt's back."

What madness it is to run in debt for superfluities! We buy fine
articles--finer than we can pay for. We are offered six months'--twelve
months' credit! It is the shopkeeper's temptation; and we fall before
it. We are too spiritless to live upon our own earnings; but must
meanwhile live upon others'. The Romans regarded their servants as their
enemi