Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1859-04-13
LIVING BEYOND ONES MEANS.

LIVING BEYOND ONES MEANS.
The following article, though taken from the
money column" Of the Independent, contains
just as good morality and sound religion as il
1t had appeared under the regular editorial
head: a.r 10 ......-s
I'VE have once or twice, recently, alluded
10 practice prevalent among business men of
HrtNg beyOHd their means-and thus brin ngins
upon themselves . failure which was no fsuit
OF their mode of business, but only of their
manner Of living. Ii is not safe to look only at
mans store to know his standing in business:
You must look also at his house His splendid
prohts may entirely merge themselves in his
spiendld dwellings, that if he should sud-
denly fail, his assets would be found 10 consist
eniehy OF carpets, mirrors, frescoes, pictures,
marbles, furnsture, and q variety of similar ar
tcles all belonging to the inside of a brown
stone front Now, If what is poured into the
top OF a pitcher runs out through a hole i'm the
bottom, it will take continual pouring 10 keen
II full-a sudden stOppage will leave il empty
and dry We need hardly say that it takes a
large business To support q fine house: and
when the line house taxes the business to its
utmost, small reverse, which otherwise a man
would not have felt, may now occasion his
ruin. The foundation Of u mans fortune is laid
on two eorner-stones-One in his store, the
other IN his house. If he builds too heavily on
either OF these, he will have tho whole roof
down upon him. Many a man who has been
known As the architect of his own fortune, :
has built unwisoly upon one or other of these
foundations, and has at last been surprised
Arsenal,
1t is true the line Of difference between
living within ones means and living beyond
them may sometimes be difficult to draw so as
10 give the greatest proper limit to free expen-
dlture. For instaDce, man may be able TO
keep n horse and buggy and live within his
means, who, If he were to keep two horses and
carriage. would be living beyond them. A
man may keep fine house in the city and be
able 10 afford NJ, who, as soon rs ne builds an
other in the country, is going farther than his
money will follow. A man may give an ice
cream party and not feel il, who. when he gives
fancy dress ball, will suffer for il month af-
terWards. man may pick his teeth on the
steps Of the st. Nicholas and be living frugally
within his means who, If he were once to nav
for his dinner at the hotel. would not have a
cent left for his supper. When n man is con-
s,ious that he Is straining point for splendid
house, OF fast horse, or grand soirec, or an
extraYdgant table, ne may be sure that he is
the man who is living beyond his means
= The temptations to such extravaganza in
such city as this, are very great. In this re-
spect, the improved architectural taste exhib-
ited in our modern dwelling houses has exerted
favorable and also unfavorable influence
on the cOmmunity-fayorable, so far as the
progress OF art and the culture of the people
are concerned but unfavorabIe in having in
cited desire for ambitious display, in which
men seek to indulge themselves beyond their
means. What would have been called an ele-
CANT residence twenty years ago, il now re-
garded as a mere common three-story house
Compare old, aristocratic Bleeker street with
new. aristocratic Fifth avenue, The best
houses in Blocker street-which were tn a finest
that our fathers orelder brothers ever thought
OF buildlng-are now mere respectable brick
fronts-nOthing more! But the least preten-
tiOus houses in Fifth avenue are solid brown
stone, or solid white matchmaking less
This change If, on the whole, an improvement
In the increased beauty Of the city; vet il can-
not be denied that the rage for luxurious and
ostentatiOus living, melted and fostered by the
Introduction of this new element into our pri-
vate architecture, has never before been 80
great as now! In fact, nine out of every ten
opinions given in accounting for the late COM
mereial crisis, alleged this general extraya-
gance as the cause Of the reyuision
When one third Of the merchants of A great
city hang one-third of their fortunes upon the
lace mantles Of their wives, merely to make a
glitter by gas-light at grand soiree, it is not
at all surprising that the ghost Of a mercantile
crisis should be seen stalking behind the guests
after they leave in the dead hours Of the night !,
The expense of a well-dressed wife or dauqb
',.N'S VI Jo"ehyJ ioT u
single evening. is oftentimes as much as would
originally have bought the entire island of
Manhattan, before the times of Peter Stuyye-
SAINT. Whom the q little bills for these tribes
are sent in and paid, the crisis may be inn
ngined as bringing up the rear, like BanquO' s
Ghost
We write true epitaph when we say that
many mans failure has resulted, not from
losses in his business, but from losses To which
he Is blind because they are hidden in parlOr
carpets, enameled furniture and gilded cor
niees, or in pearl necklaces, topaz brooches,
and dismoad rings"