Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes Co., O. [Ohio]) 1870-1895, 1873-06-26
Farm and Household.
The Dollars that We DOM
Spend.
BY REV. LEVI pHILErUs DoBBs, D. D.

We have to calculate pretty
close at our house, you know;
and the whole family are called
into council when any impor-
tant expenditure is to be made.
Well, the other evening we were
considering the small remnant OF
the quarters salary, and MIR.
Dobbs was trying to reckon how
it could be made to cover every
thing. y There was her'new dress
and new coat for me, and a
new carpet for the best parlor,
and new hat for our( present)
unmarried daughter, besides a !
great many other things, with
which l will not occupy your
valuable space. The main point
lwas the new dress; and Mrs.
Dobbs was thinking of this shade,
and scrutlnizing that pattern,
and wishing she could buy them
all, doubling if she could buy any
of them; and our faces grew Ion
ger 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 that you don't spend" She
looked at me a little perplexed,
and presently she said: "Why,
doctor, / don't understand you"
So said: "The handsomest dress
is the. one that you don't buy"
"Oh yes that's true" The best
dress ] ever had was the silk
that Mrs. Largedead gave me
when she came from Philadel-
phia. She bought it at Homer q
Colladay's it couldn't have cost
less than--n sTMrs. Dobbs,"
said l, interrupting her; "the
hadsomest and every way the
best dress is the one that you
don't have.p She was more puz-
zled than ever, and | was forced
to explain. eMrs. DObbs," said l
eall the dresses you ever bought
have worn out, haven't theyg"
EYES," said she, very promptly:
sail of them. l haven't decent
thing to my name. There is my
bombazineA." wait moment,'
l said, for | was mortal afraid to
have her get upon that topic;
ssand did you ever buy a dress,
did you ever have a dress auy-
way, that You didn't have some
misgivings over; that you didn't
see some defects in; that you
didn't rather wish that you had
bought, the othergn
~ believe you are right" said
she, thoughtfully.
@But,n ! said, 1the dress that
you didn't buy has no faults;
you never are tired of it; it nev
er fades; never wears out; you
never wish you had che sen some
other; or if you want to change
how easily the change is madem
"Why, yes" says Mrs. Dobbs,
81 never thought OF that before" !"
"And So" said / "of your dol,
lar. You never spent a dollar
in your lite that you did-not feel
at least a doubt as to whether
you had spent it wisely. You
wished you had bought some
thing else. But the wish was
vain; you couldn't make a change.
The dollar that you spend you
can spend but once; but the dol
lar that you don'tspend, you can
spend hundred times. You can
buy a dozen things with it every
time you go out. If you are dis
satisfied with any of your pur-
chases, you can go back and be-
gin all over again."
aAnd so" continued, "the dol
lar that you don't spend does
you great deal more good than
the dollar that you do spend; and
better than all, it brings with it
no regrets, no misgiving, even."
"Mrs. Dobbs looked as though
she didn't know just how to an
swer me; but at the same time,
as though she wasn't quite con-
vinced. Presently she said,
"Well, doctor, l don't know that
see through it all, but no doubt
you are right, foryou are a great
deal wiser than / am. And so,
We will go on that principle. l
will 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.-Nataonal
Baptist.