The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1854-12-27
Jf(1sfellaneoas.
THE TIMES.

It is the very perfection of philoso-
ply to extract from the evils that como
upon us, such lsssons and comforts as
shall conduce to our Improvement and
ultimate advantage In season of uni
versal prosperity, there generally may
be found the elements of many evils,
which in due time ripen into disagree
able, if not disastrous results; and such
tendencies need to be checked her
wise our prosperity might lead to ruin.
The hard times, of which all classes COM
plain, may not be so bad, after all Ger
tainly they viii de us geod. if We learn to
practice rigid economy. The follow
ing from the New York Evening Posi-,
shows that in that great focus of extraY-
agance, a contraction of the currency is
producing some benifciai effects:
Hard times, hard times, is the uni
versal. cry. Wherever you go there is
the same compl aint Everything ex-
cept the necessaries Of life have depre-
Gated; labor IS reduced; shoals of un-.
employed workmen and servants are,
like Micawber, Z" waiting for something
to turn up" Hotels are dubious some
threatening to break before the end of
cold weather. We find ON inquiry that
the keepers of the crowded eating and
drinking houses in the lower part of our
city confess reduction of at least one
half in their business. At one of them,
where an average offs 900 is usually re
ceixed every day, the clerk remarked
that large part of its business consisted
of its dealings with merchants and drum
mers, who, taking their customers to dine
in prospectus times spent four or five
dollars apiece; but that now the receipts
from such customers do not aEerrge more
than four or FIVE shilliugs.
Credit is contracted, and no loans are
procurable on what are admitted to be
unexcaptional securities. Real estate
has deprecated on anaverage from thir-
ty to fifty per cent. It was only the
other day that we noticed the sale of
handsome freestone house, on foreclos-
ure of mortgage, for Sl2, 600; which not
a year ago, was considered cheap $40,
600, depreciation of forty per cent.
There is, however, one hilarious fea-
ture in the gloomy state of affairs
The theatres and places of amusement
are full in fact, they do better busi-
ness than in times of less depression j
ssWhen man gets poor,'' says Sam
uef Weller, biest if he don't go to eat
ing oysters I'' When New Yorker
feels desperate, he rushes tothe theatre,
where he forgets his troubles In the world
of his imagination, and draws a supply
of happiness which may, in some meas
ure. protect him from the evils of the
morrow.
In recounting the melancholy signs
of the times, we find, after all, that one
of the most suggestive was omitted,
namely: their effects upor the ladies'
A gentleman-an assiduous church goer
of many years standing-tells us that 1T
this period, when women are arraying
themselves in gay colors for the winter,
he never saw so many old 6onnctS about.
While we are about it, it may be as
well to mention that the pressure of the
money market has even invaded the pre-
cincts of the grave. During the year
now nearly past here have been fewer
expensive monuments erected to the
memory of the dead than in any preVi-
Gus year since the rage for such things
fairly commenced in this country. We
have the statement of one of the largest
marble dealers in the country, that
while in former times he has been ac-
customed to receive annually orders for
ranging from 81 600 to s5,-
900 in value; during the last eleven
he has not had one. The demand,
however, for modest, expensive monu-
ments has greatly increased, showing
that the remembrance of the departed
has not declined with the means to make
an ostentatious display of it.