The Jeffersonian Democrat. [volume] (Chardon, Ohio) 1854-1865, 1859-04-15
WHOLE NO., 4S3.
Living Beyond Ones Means.

Ape Ioiio"lng artlclo, though taken from
the "money column of tho Indcpendeu,.
contains just as good morality and sound
religion as If it had appeared under the
regular editorial head
I'VE have once or twice, recently, alluded
to practice prevalent among business men
oTHping bcyond hrir me0ns-and bring upon
themselves failure which was no fault of
their mode of living. 1t is not safe to look
only at a mans store TO know his standing
in business you must also look at his
house. His splendid profits may entirely
merge themselves in his splendid dwelling,
so that, If he should suddenly fail his assets
would be found to consist chiefly Of carpets,
mirrors, frescoes. pictures, marbles, furni-
ture, and variety of similar articles, all
belonging to the inside of brown stone
front. Now, If what is poured into the top
of pitcher runs out through hole in the
bottom, it will take continual pouring to
keep it full sudden stoppage, will leave
it empty and dry. We need hardly say it
| takes largo business to support fine
house; and when the fine house taxes the
business to Its utmost, small reverse, which
otherwise man would hardly feel, may
now occasion his ruin. A foundation of q
mans fortune is laid on two corner stones
QUO in his store, the other in his house.
| If be builds too heavily on either Of these,
ho will have the whole roof down upon
him. Many a man who has been known
as the architect of his own fortune, has
/ built unwisely pom one or the other of these
foundations, and has at last been surprised
| with a worse fall than the Bling of tho
State Arsenal
at Is true, the line of difference botwecr
living within oues means and living beyond
| thom, may sometimes bo difficult to draw,
so as to give the greatest limit TO expendi-
ture. For instance, q man may be able to
keep horse and buggy aud live within bis
means. who, if he were to keep two horses
and carriage he would be living beyond
them. man may keep fine house in
the city, and be able to afford II, who, as
soon as no builds another in the country, is
going farther than his money will allow. A
man may give an lco.cream party and not
feel it, who, when he gives a fancy dress
ball will suffer for it month afterwards. A
man may pick his teeth on the steps of the
ST Nicholas, and be living frugally within
his means, who i! he were once to pay for
his dinner at the hotel would not have
cent left for his supper When a man is
conscious that he is strainng point for =
splendid house, or a fast horse, or o grand
soiree, or an eXtravagant table, he may bo
sure that he is the man who is living beyond
his means
The temptations oe such extravaganza,
in such city as this are very great. In
this respect, the improved architectural
taste exhibited in our modern dwelling
houses has exerted favorable and also an
unfavorable influence on the community
favorable, SO far as the progress of art and
tho culture of the people are concerned;
| but unfivOrnble in having melted desire
for ambitious display in which men seek
to indulge themseles beyond their means.
What would have been called an elegant
residence twenty years ago, is now re-
garded as a mere common throe story
house. Compare old, aristocratic Bleeker
street with now, aristocratic Fifth Avenue!
The best houses in Blocker street which
we're tho finest that our fathers or elder
brothers ever thought of building. are now
mere respectable brick fronts, nothing more.
But the least pretentious houses in Fifth
Avenue are all solid brown stone, or solid
, white marble, nothing less. This change is,
on the whole an Improvement, in the in
creased beauty of the city; yct it cannot be
denied that the rage for luxurious and os-
tontatious living, melted and tostered by
the introduction of this new element into
our private architecture, has never been so
great as now In fact, nine out of every
ten opinions given in accounting for the
commercial Crisis, alleged this extravaganza
as the cause of the revulson. When one
third of the merchants of q great city hang
one. third of their fortunes upon the man
ties of their wives, merely to make a glitter
by gas. light, at grand soree, 1t is not at
oil surprising that the ghCst OF a mercan-
! tile crisis. should be seen stalking behind
the guests after they leave in the dead
IF ha pi0hf Tho Of vali.
9 dressed wife or daughter, in tho simple ar
: tce of jewelry, for single evening, is often
D times as much as would have bought the en-
0 tire island OF Manhattan, before the time OF
y Potter Stuvvesaut When the little bills
= for these trifies are sent in and paid, the
. crisis may be imagined as bringing up the
rear. like Banquos Ghost.
I'VE wri,e 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, enammeled furniture,
, and glded cornices, or in poarl necklaces.
topaz brooches and diamond rings"
PUNISHED FOR HARBoRISG HIS OWN SoN.--
: A free colored man in Washington 10 tho
husband of q slave woman, by whom be has
had several children. The master of tho
woman permits the father to take care Of
: his children until they are ten years of age.
and then seizes aud sells them, not even
paying the bereaved parent for the expense
, of rearing these candidates for Slavery
One of his sons, after being sold, returned
! to bis father. who concealed him from his
prrsuors. For this act of affection, he be-
comes liable to punishment for harboriDg
= siaves--aud has actually been convicted BY
% Washingtonjury
a A GOLDEN THOUGHT SET IN PEARLS In
:, speaking of marriage, or marriages for
Q money, Miss Muloch, the eminent writer,
l. observes, and we think very justly "Mar-
f riage should always be a question, not OF
r necessity, but choice. Every girl ought to
be taught that a !oveless union stamps
upon her as foul dishonor as one of those
: connections which omit the legal ceremony
5 altogether-and that, however pale, dreary.
Q and lonesome single life may be, unhappy
married life muss be ton fold worse, an