Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1853-05-04
Living Beyond our Means.

:
For the sake of appearance, to keep up dis
play and make figure in. the world, multitudes
adopt the vicious habit of spending more thanthey
earn. Pride and fashion exercise merclless de-
spotism over their purses. The rich in. their a
bundance do not feel the burden; but when th'
same thing is attempted by those In moderate ah'
humble circumstances, then "comes the tug o
war" In.,order to ape the attitudes OF wealth
they exhaust all their resources, and eveil slrali
their credit till it is perfectly threadbare..
There is rrinch in the habits and customs OF so
ciety furnishing strong temptation to this course
yet it is serious evil. 1t is not right as be
tween man and man it is an extrayagance tha
carries in its train pecuniary injustice, He wEt
lives beyond his means must supply the deficlen.
cy from the pockets of his neighbors, very OTTER
upon the strength of a deceptive credit. His very
display gives him, an appearance OF affiuence tha
misguides the judgement OF osEetsn He know.
ingy passes himself off for more than he is worth
and what is this but species Of fraud q
There is of course an end. to this habit some
where s.the commercial reputation of the individ
ual must finally be swamped by the number Of hi
unpaid indebtednesses; yet the whole process j.
one of dishonesty, even before this catastrophe re-
veaIs it. No Christian eugAt to be guilty ofit.-
He not only dsgraces himself thereby, but also
jeopards the reputation of religions anaong men.
1t is moreover vtsy uncomfortable habit. lie
who lives above his means, generally owes mre
than he can pay land the farther he goes, the
worse he makes his condition. He becomes ste.
reotyped borrower; pays one debt by contracting
another has a great manyrdebtsi to- ,naJ--little
petty, annoying bills scattarsd iaSall Objections
which he does not know how to meet. They are
constantly haunting him with their unpleasant
clamors; they sacrifice his reputation, and give
the community the just impression that he is a
poor pag-master "A II, this Fnast be source o.
great inconvenience and perplexity, far too great
to find an adequate compensation in little mean.
ingless parade. lItl wsuld be far wiser, involve
much less friction of the nerves, to shine less and
enjoy more e. 90" ="
: The temptations Of the habit are botl, numerous
and dangerous. It temptsi a. maR tx sacrifce his
sense of honor, to place light estimate upon his
word to- be easy in promising and very slow in
pass into the eStatetpfs9ecay.s His wants >bribe
him and he is likely under the plea ef necessity
to do what under other circumstances he would
not thiuk of doing. Sometimes he is led to con-
tract debts, and, then move away, leaving them
unsettled and unpaid. Perhaps he runs his credit
in one place till he runs it out and then does the
same thing in another till he finally runs himself
OUT :, '@t - - ~
,,He i. tempted to acts of neanness, not to say
dishonesty, such as dodgfng his creditors,and ma
king promises which he does not seriously expect
to fulfil. His virtue is always taxed and strained
by his pride on the one hand, and the incOnven-
fences ofhis extravaganza on the other; and be-
tween the two the path Of plain and simple hon
esty is made very difficult Sins seldom go a.
lone one form of wrong generally leads to anoth-
er; and hence he whose proud heart requires what
his lax conscience permits, is on'the highway of
temptation. What he may be led to do in GER
tain crises made BY his folly, he cannot tell. He
may be SO severely chafed and pinched as
even to be guilty ofthe crime of murder.
And then againghe who consumes all aad'tnore
than all, for the purpOseof display oscourss. has
notsa.penny;dsr the Offices Of charity; he can give
nothing ao.aid the poor, to promote the public
good, or disseminate the knowledge Of the gospel.
He is always himself too poor for this work; and
quite likely soothes his conscience and cortupts
his heart with the plea Of his own poverty. He
would be glad to do something, but he cannot-he
is so poor. Very true;. but let him inquire into
the reason of his poverty He lives hoo fast ;"he
spends too much on Himself and family he keeps
up more parade than he can support; and this is
the chief reason why he is unable to contribute to
the interests of charity and benevelence.
How much more coImendable in the sight of
earth and Heaven is that man who is economical
and frugal that he may be liberal who restraints
his own passions from excessive indulgence, that
he may devote at least portion of his substance
to the cause of God and the interests of phlanthro
py. His is a rare and valuable virtue, and when
il shall be more common in the church of Christ,
it will be less difficult to find the means for sus-
tanning and enlarging all her institutions of love-
--EralgeRst.