make feasts, and wise men eat them.'

"Here you are all got together at this sale of fineries and
knick-knacks. You call them _goods_; but if you do not take care, they
will prove _evils_ to some of you. You expect they will be sold cheap,
and perhaps they may, for less than they cost; but if you have no
occasion for them, they must be dear to you. Remember what Poor
Richard says: 'Buy what thou hast no need of, and ere long thou shalt
sell thy necessaries.' And again, 'At a great pennyworth pause a
while.' He means that perhaps the cheapness is apparent only and not
real; or the bargain, by straitening thee in thy business, may do thee
more harm than good. For in another place he says, 'Many have been
ruined by buying good pennyworths.' Again, 'It is foolish to lay out
money in a purchase of repentance;' and yet this folly is practiced
every day at auctions, for want of minding the Almanack. Many a one,
for the sake of finery on the back, have gone with a hungry belly and
half starved their families. 'Silks and satins, scarlet and velvets,
put out the kitchen fire,' as Poor Richard says.

"These are not the necessaries of life; they can scarcely be called
the conveniences: and yet, only because they look pretty, how many
want to have them! By these and other extravagances the genteel are
reduced to poverty, and forced to borrow of those whom they formerly
despised, but who through industry and frugality have maintained their
standing; in which case it appears plainly that 'A plowman on his legs
is higher than a gentleman on his knees,' as poor Richard says.
Perhaps they have had a small estate left them, which they knew not
the getting of; they think, 'It is day, and will never be night;' that
a little to be spent out of so much is not worth minding; but 'Always
taking out of the meal-tub and never putting in, soon comes to the
bottom,' as Poor Richard says; and then, 'When the well is dry, they
know the worth of water.' But this they might have known before, if
they had taken his advice. 'If you would know the value of money, go
and try to borrow some: for he that goes a-borrowing goes
a-sorrowing,' as Poor Richard says; and indeed, so does he that lends
to such people, when he goes to get it in again. Poor Dick further
advises and says:--

'Fond pride of dress is sure a very curse;
Ere fancy you consult, consult your purse.'

And again, 'Pride is as loud a beggar as Want, and a great deal more
saucy.' When y