Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1870-06-15
The Man Who Never Expected to Own a
House,

| The Man Who Never Expected to Own
House.
One reason why working men never ac-
quire property, or become pOssessors of a
home, or have few dollars even laid up in
Savings Bank against sickness or dull
times, is the naked fact that they never ac-
quire the habit Of saciag.
In saving, where there's will there's a
way" This maxim is illustrated by a case
within the personal knowledge of the writer
In 1850 when the subject of homes for the
industrial classes was being agitated, the
writer was interested in inducing poor men
to obtain homes for themselves. Being a
mechanic with many men in his employ, he
constantly presented and pressed the sub
ject upon their attention. -Four of his men
now own and live in their own houses who
commenced saving by one, two and three
dollars per week.
One man to whom he applied, used this
argument against ecea making q trial :,
"1He to eUer o,on a home Why [ am aman
of forty years of age, have worked from my
! boyhood up, and between the landlord and
| my family | have never seen ten dollars In
my hands that | could call my own over a
Saturday night Mc own house That S
a praetica! joke -
The man was type of large class for
whom this is written-taithful, industrious,
contented 10 make Saturday night meet ;
had reared family of four children (all
workers. and had never seen ten dollars
that he could call his own over the week.
and this simply because he had never made
| the effort III earnest to SIUe dollar
Wages then (lS5O) was two dollars per day,
about equal to four dollars per day now
! US7O)
His employer, who understood men and
| why they could not save, nothing daunted
| by his workman's want of faith, insisted
| that he should make the trial. He told him
| that one hundred dollars would purchase the
| land, and three hundred dollars build the
| house, that when the land was paid for,
which could be done by simply saving two
dollars per week for one year, he could get
credit upon the building, pay for it in three
years, aud be his own landlord ever after
! Reluctantly and faithessly he allowed his
employer to keep back the two dollars per
week At the end of two weeks he carue to
| his employer 18th a smiling face, and said,
Save out three dollars per week. [ have
concluded to pinch, and the old woman and
the children are crazy at the thought of
owning home. They are on the pinch,
too, and have saved three dollars this week,
Take this three doilars-the first they have
ever saved in their lives-and add it to the
fund. am bound to have home.
They had now ten dollars ahead in the
world, with the Frightening and cheering
prospect of home to live and die in, and
| this from making commencement to save
| two dollars per week
The result of these savings was nice
| cheerful home at Mount Vernon, twelve
miles from New York city, where my hero
| lived for many years in comfort and happi-
ness, proud of his cottage, endeared to his
family; where his daughters were married,
and where his widow still resides, with q
homestead now worth, by improvements,
and the rise of property, two thousand dol
lars.
The moral of this true story is, Save.
| Make commencement now. Put by even
fifty cents or dollar a week-commence to
pinch as all must who would become inde-
pendent of circumstances. 1t you cannot
buy homestead, save to start some me-
chanical business for yourself, or what is far
better, save two hundred dollars in two
years, then ask the government to give you
one hundred and sixty acres of land in the
West for simply the asking, (your Uncle
Sam will do it cheertully and promptly,
then locate your future home on the soil,
and commence to pinch for two years, and
you will have home where the unwclcome
landlords agent comes not-where damp
easements, sky parlors, buggy bedrooms
smallpox neighborhoods, corner gin mills
filthy walls, chloride -of-lime alleys, bae
neighbors and blasphemous oaths will never
reach your ears and shorten your lives
Commence to save.