eeps them under our control, compels them to
render all the service there is in them, and insures our lasting
independence.

THE REWARD.

+The savings of early and middle life support old age in honorable rest,
and give to children a fair start in life.+--All men are liable to
misfortune and accident. The improvident man is crushed by them; for
they find him without reserved force to meet them.

The economical man has in his savings a balance wheel whose momentum
carries him by hard places. His position is independent and his
prosperity is permanent. For it depends not on the fortunes of the day,
which are uncertain and variable; but on the fixed habits and principles
of a life-time, which are changeless and reliable.

THE TEMPTATION.

+Living beyond one's income: running in debt.+--Income is limited; while
the things we would like to have are infinite. We must draw the line
somewhere. Duty says, draw it well inside of income. Temptation says,
draw it at income, or a trifle outside of income. Yield to this
temptation, and our earnings are gone before we know it, and debt stares
us in the face. Debts are easy to contract, but hard to pay. The debt
must be paid sometime with accumulated interest. And when the day of
reckoning comes it invariably costs more inconvenience and trouble to
pay it than it would have cost to have gone without the thing for the
sake of which we ran in debt.

Never, on any account, get in debt. Never spend your whole income. These
are rules we are constantly tempted to break. But the man who yields to
this temptation is on the high road to financial ruin.

THE VICE OF DEFECT.

+Wastefulness.+--The wasteful man buys things he does not need; spends
his money as fast as he can get it; lives beyond his means; throws
things away which are capable of further service; runs in debt; and is
forever behindhand. He lives from hand to mouth; is dependent upon his
neighbors for things which with a little economy he might own himself;
makes no provision for the future, and when sickness or old age comes
upon him, he is without resources.

THE VICE OF EXCESS.

+Miserliness.+--Economy saves for the sake of future expenditure.
Miserliness saves for the sake of saving. The spendthrift sacrifices the
future to present enjoyment. The miser sacrifices present enjoyment to
an imaginary future which never comes; and so misses enjoyment
altogether. The prudent man harmonizes present with future enjoy