Juniata sentinel. [volume] (Mifflintown, Pa.) 1846-1873, 1873-08-27
The Dollar se don't Spend.

We have to calculate pretty close at
our house, you know; and the whole
family are called into council when any
important expenditure is to be made.
Well, the other evening we were con-
sidering the small remnant of the quar-
ters' salary, and Mrs Dobbs was trying
to reckon how it could be made to cover
everything. There was her new dress,
and new coat for me, and new carpet
for the best parlor, and new hat for
our (at presently unmarried daughter,
besides great many other things, with
which L will not occupy your valuable
space. The main point was the new
dress, and Mrs. Dobbs was thinking of
this shade, and scrutinizing that pat. er /,
wishing she could buy them all, douot-
ing If she could buy any of them; and
our faces grew longer as the salary
grew shorter. Presently, with one of
my happy inspirations, said to her:
Mrs. Dobbs, there is no dollar that
does you so much good as the one you
don't spend"
She looked at me little perplexed,
and presently she said "Whv, Doctor,
L don't understand you"
OO Sdlu ne uduuSOuleSI uIeSS Is
the one you don't buy"
"Oh, yes, that's true. The best dress
| ever had was the silk that Mrs. Ltrge-
head gave me when she came from Phila-
delphia. She bought it on Chestnut
street, and it couldn't have cost less
than"
Mrs. Dobbs," said I, interrupting
her; 'the handsomest and every way
the best dress is the one that you don't
have"
She was more puzzled than ever, and
was forced to explain.
Mrs. Dobbs, said /, "all the dresses
you ever bought have worn out, haven't
they?"
Yes" said she, very promptly, call
of them. l haven't a decent thing to my
name. There is my bombazine-"
"Wait a moment" 1 said, for / was
mortally afraid to have her get up that
topic, "and did you ever buy dress.
did you ever have dress any way, that
you didn't have some misgivings over
that you didn't see some defect in that
you didn't rather wish that you had
bought the other?'
81 believe you are right" she said,
thoughtfully.
But, said, "the dress that you don't
buy has no faults you are never tired of
it; it never grows old; never fades; never
wears out; you never wish you had chosen
some other; or if you want to change,
how easily the change is madep'
"Why, yes" said Mrs. Dobbs, 81
never thought of that before
of
never spent dollar in your life that you
didn't feel az least doubt rs to whether
you had spent it wisely. You wish you
had bought something else. But the
wish was vain; YOU couldn't make
change. The dollar that you spend you
can spend but once, but the dollar that
you don't spend you can spend hundred
times. You can buy dozen things with
it every time you go out. If you are
dissatisfied with any of your purchases,
you can go back and begin all over again.
Ana So" continued, ''the dollar that
you don't spend does you greal deal
more good than the dollar that you do
spend; and better than all, it brings
with it o regrets, no misgivings, even."
Mrs. Dobbs looked as though she
didn't know just how to answer me, but
at the same time as though she wasn't
quite convinced Presently she said:
well, Doctor, don't know that /
see through it all, but no doubt you are
right, for you are great deal wiser
than L am And so We will go on that
principle will take the dollar that we
do spend, aud you shall have the dollar
that we don't spend, which is, a. You
have showed, so much the better of the
two"