Republican vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1857, 1854-01-09
ornlla lusion
MONDAY, JANUARY 8, 1854.
Euy Only What you WANT.

BUY Oaly what Y Oh want.
To buy nothing you do not want is
maxim as old almost as society itself. B'
il is also one that is continually slippin
out Of mind, and which cannot, therefor
be brought forward again too frequentl,
Spending money in fact, is vice com
mon to human nature. Where one ma
degrades himself by being a miser, tie
run constant peril of running themselves b
extravaganza. 1t is so fine to have ele
CANT furniture, TO live IN handsome house
or to dress one wife and children in ricl
apparel, that it requires an unusual degIe,
of frmness, especially in this prosperou
age, to resist the temptation. If every
body was compelled 10 pay cash for sucl
qualifications. there would be some Sigh
check OH this tendency to useless ex pendi
ture. But credit is so easily obtained il
this country, and buyers are so sanguin,
of being ready when settling day comes
that thousands Of families are induced an.
nually to cripple their future comforts
by i...ddnlging in present iolies. Hall the
men who reach old age impoverished, and
perhaps even greater number, owe their
dependent condition, at that saaAest of all
times to be beggared, to early extrava-
gance.
If we were all to buy only what we
wanted, this would not be. We are. far
from recommending a niggardy parsimo-
ny for one of the purposes of wealth is
that il should be distributed in encouraging
trade aud the arts. But still even the
weaithiest, with few exceptions, frequent
~ buy what they do not want; while
those less favored necessarily violate this
golden rule. The preacher. lawyer or
physician, attracted by some new and cost
y book, persuades himself that his pro-
fession requires he should have it, and
spends or it a sum that he often needs for
more necessary purposes before the yesr is
over. The wife, charmed by new style
of dress, lavishes away her money, is de-
lighted for while, but lives to repent it,
if she is a woman of sense. The father,
proud of his daughter thinks no expense
too great to crafty her whims. The Dung
man, fond of horses, does not stop to count
the cost when coveting famous trotter.-;
The fashionable couple, who like to be
surrounded with mirrors, pictures and fine
furniture generally, squander money dis
proportionately on such costly gew-gaws.
Yet all learn, sooner or later. to regret
what they have done, since they find they
have added nothing to taeir happiness, as
tens Of thousands have discovered before,
alter buying what they did not really
want.
Frankhn's homely story about the whis-
tie would be well to be remembered by us
all. 1t is not enough that purchase graf
flies us at the time. To be judicious ex.
aeaai.gre. It should be such a one as we
can recar 20 Afterwards with satisfaction.
II Mrs. A. when she moves into her new
house, spends SO much money Oh furniture
that her husbands dinners suffer by it, is
he not paying too dear for his whistle -
Il Mrs. B. gives so elegant party to her
friends that the housekeeping is stinted all
the rest OF the winter ii Mrs. c., by go
ing to Cape May with her daughters,
makes such an inroad Oh her husband 5
salary, that his old coat has to last another
winter if Mrs. DIS piano for that pro3i-
gy, ''Our Marianne" takes The earnings
of whole weeks--what is all this but pay
ing too dear for the whistle Whenever
we buy what we don't want, we deprive
ourselves of things we really require. TO
be WISE is to err, if anything, Oh the other
side II we deny ourselves a little, il we
learn to buy nothing until we ars ,ws we
want it. we shall both avoid its perls and
extravaganza aud discipline our characters.
Amid the hurry and temptations of tins
prosperous age, it is well to recall occasion
ally these old maxims of prudence and
wisdom. Time thus spent is not wasted
Ledger.