Jeffersonian Republican. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1840-1853, 1849-03-22


!. would De right 10 throw even that sum away.
But five hundred is not going to cover The cost.
Why. you and The girls would spend at least
two hundred in new clothes before thinking
yourselves in any kind of decent trim to appear
at fashionable wasering-place. know ex-
aclly how it will be. Eve though. it over and
over and over again, twenty times, and can
come within dollar of the cost"
Suppose it were 10 cost thousand dollars" !"
said Mrs. Preston. "Whal Of iha. Ii is on.
ly once in year; and it's pi,y if we cam,
enjoy, TO some small extent. the means in oor
hands. I'd rather be poor than TO suffer he
lan,alization of our presen, circumstances"
Poor. Rich! Can't make you compfe
hend, Ellen, tha, we are not rich If | were
rolling in wealth, i, would be another Thing =
But am not. Every cen, | can scrape TO-
gether need in my business and, under these
circumstances, to throw away FIVE hundred or
thousand dollars in two or three weeks for
mere pleasure would be folly ,ha, | am not
insane enough TO commit, 1t would be pleas
ant thing. indeed TO come home from Newpor,
after a months extravagance and dissipation,
and have my paper lie over immediately after"
"Oh, there's no danger Of that :" said Mrs
Preslan. impatien,ly.
beg your pardon, madam! There is dan
ger. No one who wastes his money can ex-
pect to prosper. Suppose we had gone on as
exiravagan,ly as the Ful,ons-what then 3
Why, we would have been SO poor as they are.
Prudence and industry have made me prosper
Gus to certain extent; and cannot think of
marring all by departing at the present time
from The good rule wisely adopted in the be-
ginning"
II was OF no use for Mrs. Preston to argue
the case with her husband. He held the
purse-sring, and that, TOO. with no light grasp.
If he did not feel able to afford the expense, no
matter who craved the indulgence. it had TO be
given up. So the trip TO Newport or Saratoga
was Abandoned for that season; though under
promise, which was made in order TO get the
subject postponed, of a compliance with the
wifes wishes when the next summer came
round
At the time this plea Of being too poor to bear
the expenses was so successfully urged, Mr.. Pres
ton was worth, at least, hundred thousand dol
lars, and was conducting business on a very ex-
tensive scale. But all his means were locked up
in his business otherwise invested, and he kept
himself poor by pushing his enterprise to the full
lest extent. Every hundred dollar check, drawn
for family expenses, was filed up with sigh; for
that much was lost, irrecoverably. Money ex-
pended in business; like seed sown in the ground,
produced more money; but money spent for eating,
drinking, and other things, necessary to the sup
port of life, was felt to be like so much thrown
into the sea. AS Mr.. Preston grew older and
more prosperous, this false estimate became more.
and more confirmed, and the feeling arising there
from, stronger and stronger. He never felt 9TH
erwise than poor; for he never saw clearly how
he could spare money from his business or invest
ments. in which he could have used profitably
five times as much as he really possessed.
When the daughters of Mr.. Preston arrived at
woman's age, he found an influence brought to
bear upon him that he could not resist; and mon
ey. much as the extravaganza panied him, was
spent with freedom certainly at variance with
his previous habits. Spite of all resistance on his
part, the trip to Saratoga was made in the summer
succeeding that in which he admitted that he was
able to take his wife but NOT his daughters
and, agreeably to his estimate Of expense, the
levy upon his purse orthat extra piece of " folly,
as he did not fail to pronounce 1t, exactly one
thousand dollars and this in spite of all his dis
putes with porters, cabmen, bootblacks, walters,
and hotel-keepers, the whole posse Of fwhom he
declared were in combination to swinde tray-
elers.
The wife and daughter Of Mr.. Preston having
gained decided advantage to themselves, were
not at all inclined to relinquish it The trip to
the Springs made them three or four new city ac-
quaintances, with whom visits were exchanged
soon after their return. These new acquaintan-
ces happened to be living in style that rather
shamed the ladies of Mr.. Prenton's family and
opened their eyes little in regard to what was
due to their social position. A larger house, and
newer and more elegant furniture were proposed,
and, of course, opposed. But Mr.. Prestons op-
position was not of long continuance. The odds
were entirely against him. He tried to get the
matter put off year or two to time when he
hoped to feel more able to afford the expense
but no such proposition would be listened TO. AS
for the plea of being too poor to afford an extray-
agant style Of living" it not in the least regar
ied, for it was not believed.
So very rapid was Mr.. Prenton's accumulation
Of money, that could he have kept his annual ex-