en school and the wedding-day, divided
into three parts, given in order to a home life, to self-support, and to
travel.

It is often said that a girl ought actually to support herself before
she can be fitted to do so in case of an emergency. I remember the
daughter of a wealthy man who went into a counting-room and worked
several years for this reason. Her father said that as soon as she could
live on the income she earned he thought the experiment would have
succeeded and she might return home. At first it seemed as if it never
would succeed. She was a good accountant and earned a fair salary. But
she had been accustomed to spend more than most girls can earn, and she
was loth to reduce her expenses just when she was working for money. By
the end of the second year, however, she began to be tired of her work,
so she rigorously kept within her salary for the third year, and then
retired. Her experiment had been infinitely easier than if she had been
obliged to make it without having other resources, but she had learned
valuable lessons.

It seems to me that if a girl who need not work for money does so she
will do well to live on what she earns, at least for a time. To earn an
extra silk dress does not seem an adequate object. I think if our
accountant had gone on many years as she began she would not only have
taken the place needed by some one else, but she would have made other
accountants discontented because they could not dress as she did. She
would have raised the standard of luxury among them without adding
anything to their power to reach it.

I knew a young lady with a narrow income who for that reason chose to
teach in a large school where several other teachers were employed at
the same salary, namely, six hundred dollars. Everybody praised her
judgment and taste, for she appeared to be able to do so much more than
the rest with her money. Everybody said that six hundred dollars was a
fine salary for anybody who had the wit to use it. Some thought a
general reduction of salaries would not be amiss. Nobody knew of her
reserve. The other teachers tried their best to do as well, but they
grew discouraged and envious. Of course she was not to blame, but I
think that in general the common welfare is best served when the
wage-workers live on what they earn, at least while they are earning it.
The surplus can be laid aside for the time when they are at leisure.

But although I do not think that all girls sho