Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1874-02-07
Waste.

Waste is one of the great curses
of the American people. 1t is mani |
fest everywhere and in everything
in our dress, in our house, in our gay |
furniture, in our cooking, at our Ia
bles, in all we buy and consume.
Everything we have must be OF the
best, and it must be a little better
than that of our neighbors. We
must have as many bay windows up
on our houses as our neighbors, and
if possible we must excel them IN the
number of mortgages with which
they are plastered; our wives must
dress as elegantly as the wealthiest
ladies,,in in the land; and our tables
must be as well supplied as those of
the richest, and with the choicest VI
ands. That's extravaganza, and eX-
travagance leads to wastefulness, and
wastefulness to shiftlessness, and
shiftlessness to bankruptcy and suf 1
fering. s ..l
We are just now experiencing
some of the results of wastefulness
and extravaganza. The whole eoun-
try is more or less affected, and pay
ing the penalty of this national vice.
The waste that is going on in our
kitchen daily is enormous. 1t Itmight
not pay off our national debt in a
year, but it would go a good way to-
ward it. Servants are expensive lux
uries, though we cannot very well
get along without them. Even the
best are apt to be wasteful; and with
these, if the frugal housewife should
herself go into the kitchen and pru-
IDENTIFY manage affairs for a week, she
would be surprised at the saving
which had been accomplished. The
'leaving' from many table that
are now thrown away would make a
good meal for poor family; many
nice bone that ia Europe would
serve for the next days soup is now
given to the dogs or goes into the
garbage-box, and is forever lost.
There is scarcely an article of con
sumption that more or less of 1t is
not wasted. The bread and meat
that are thrown away in a large fam
lily, and which might be saved and
prepared into good and wholesome
dishes, would quite maintain the
family of peasant in Earope. We
buy great deal more than is needed,
if it were, only properly cooked, and
the remnants of the first meal cared
for and made palatable for another
meal. We indulge too much, also,
in rich food and prepared delicaeies,
and not enough in the simple dishes
of our fathers. The ''fat of the land"
alone allures our appetites, and waste
must always sit a sort of welcome
guest at our tables.
1t is the same story of extrava-
gance in reference to what we wear.
How many have overhauled their
wardrobe lately, and observed the
piles of cast-off garments that are
there slowed away. Just take them
down, brush off the dust that covers
them, and be prepared to make the
confession that they are great deal
better than you supposed them to be.
Array yourself in them, and decide
whether after all they will not serve
a very useful purpose for a good
while yet. The young man possess
ed of half dozen coats, still larg-
er number of pantaloons, and at least
twenty-five neckties, is not rarity.
The number of neckties to one
young man is common enough. We
have heard our American youth
boast of much larger ownership in
that line, representing stunning va
riety and wealth Of colors. To wear
the same tie on two successive days
is to lose cast in genteel society.
Our young ladies are equally extrav-
agant. They toll not, neither do
they spin; yet Solomon IN all his glo-
ry was not arrayed like one of them.
Solomon was wiser in his generation,
probably; economy was then a neces-
sity, and waste and prodigality were
not common. We confess to an ad-
miration of the ladies as they appear
in morning costumes, street dress and
evening toilette-all varied with the
days of the week-but after all it is
expensive business, wasteful and lux
urious, and good sense and individu-
al and national prosperity and happi
ness all cry out against it, We beg
them to "reform it altogether" Our
late troubles ought to teach us the
lesson of prudence and economy.
We have only had little touch of
ahard times" but we experienced
enough to show us the folly and the
very great evil of extravaganza and
waste. We all see the sin, and should
try to guard against it. A "wasteful
person" should be considered no bet
ter than a slattern, and all of US
would drive such person out Of our