hment, without having
had either instruction or experience in one of the most important duties
of their station!

The second general principle of economy, is, that, in apportioning an
income, among various objects, the most important should receive the
largest supply, and that all retrenchments be made in matters of less
importance. In a previous chapter, some general principles have been
presented, to guide in this duty. Some additional hints will here be
added, on the same topic.

In regard to dress and furniture, much want of judgement and good taste
is often seen, in purchasing some expensive article, which is not at all
in keeping with the other articles connected with it. Thus, a large
sideboard, or elegant mirror, or sofa, which would be suitable only for
a large establishment, with other rich furniture, is crowded into too
small a room, with coarse and cheap articles around it. So, also,
sometimes a parlor, and company-chamber, will be furnished in a style
suitable only for the wealthy, while the table will be supplied with
shabby linen, and imperfect crockery, and every other part of the house
will look, in comparison with these fine rooms, mean and niggardly. It
is not at all uncommon, to find very showy and expensive articles in the
part of the house visible to strangers, when the children's rooms,
kitchen, and other back portions, are on an entirely different scale.

So in regard to dress, a lady will sometimes purchase an elegant and
expensive article, which, instead of attracting admiration from the eye
of taste, will merely serve as a decoy to the painful contrast of all
other parts of the dress. A woman of real good taste and discretion,
will strive to maintain a relative consistency between all departments,
and not, in one quarter, live on a scale fitted only to the rich, and in
another, on one appropriate only to the poor.

Another mistake in economy, is often made, by some of the best-educated
and most intelligent of mothers. Such will often be found spending day
after day at needlework, when, with a comparatively small sum, this
labor could be obtained of those who need the money, which such work
would procure for them. Meantime, the daughters of the family, whom the
mother is qualified to educate, or so nearly qualified, that she could
readily keep ahead of her children, are sent to expensive
boarding-schools, where their delicate frames, their pliant minds, and
their moral and religious interes