The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1873-11-15
Dobbs' Dollar.

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 consid-
cring the small remnant Of the quarters salary.
and Mrs. Dobbs was trying to reckon how it could
be made to cover everything. There was her new
dress, and 4 new coat for me, and a new carpet
for the best parlor, and a new hat for our lat pres
ent) unmarried daughter. besides n great many
other things, with which 1 will not occupy your
valuable space. The main point was the new
dress, and Mrs. Dobbs was thinking Of this shade.
and scrutinizing that PATTERN. wishing she could
buy any of them and our faces grew longer as
the salary grew shorter. Presently. with one Of
my happy inspirations, l said to her:
Mrs. DObbs, there is no dollar that does Won
so much good as the one that you don't SPEND
She looked at me a little Tcrplexed, and pres
emily she said: why, Doctor, I don't under
stand you"
So ] said: The h~andsomest dress is the one
you don't buy"
ooh. YES. that's true. The best dress | ever
had was the silk that Mrs. Largehead gave NE
when she came from Philadelphia. She bought
it at Homer & Calladay's; it couldn't have cost
less than -
Mrs. Dobbs,' said I, intcrrupting her. " the
handsomest and every way the best dress is the
one you don't have"
She was more puzzled than ever. and I was
forced to explain.
"Mrs. Dobbs,' said l, "all the dresses YOU
ever bought have Worn out, haven't they?'
Yes" said she, promptly, "aI of them. l
haven't q decent thing TO my name. There is my
bombazine -
..Wait a moment - l said. for l was mortallv
afraid to have her get up that topic; 'and did
you ever buy a dress, did you ever have q 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?"
q believe you are right she said thought
fully.
but" 1 said, . the dress that you didn't buy
has no faults; you never are tired of it: 1t never
grows old: never fades; never wears out: you
never wish you had chosen some other: or. if you
want to change. how easy the change is made ="
"Why. yes said Mrs. Dobbs. Il never
thought of that before
And So said l., d" Of your dollar. You never
spent 4 dollar in your life that you didn't feel at
least n doubt as TO whether you had spent it
wisely. You wish you had bought something else.
But the wish was vain; you couldn't make q
change. The dollar that you spend you can spend
butonce, but the dollar that you DON tspend you can
spend a hundred times. You can buy dozen things
with II every time you go out. If you are dissat-
isfed with any of your purchases. you can 20 and
begin all over again. And so" l continued.
- the dollar that you don't spend does ven a deal
more good than the dollar that you do spend:
and, better than all. ii brings with it no regrets.
no misgivings, even
Mrs. Dobbs looked as though she didn't know
how TO answer me, but at the same time as though
she wasn't quite convinced. Presently she said
"Well, Doctor. l don't know that see through
II all, but no doubt you are right, for you are 4
great deal wiser than | am. And so we will GO
on that principle. l viii take the dollar that we
DO spend, and you shall have the dollar that we
don't spend. which is. as you have showed. so
much the better Of the two. '-ET-