Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1876-07-01
q CHARTESTOWN JEFFERSON COUNTY W Va SAI0RDAY Jul
Saving Against Starving.

street moncyei institutions, applied to one OF
our distinguished merchants, who is director
and asked him for his influence to get his sal
ary raised.
The merchant 81 id to him: Glow much is
your salary now?" Twelve hundred dol
lars" was the answer.
Question. How much DO you save ayear
Answer. Not one dollar; with a.wile and
two children I can only just make both ends
meet.
0. What CON. save anything? i. No,
sir; can but inst exist
O. make it rule TO assist no one who
does not save something every year. NO
matter how small his pay, something should
be saved. How many cigars do you smoke
and their COST a. Well, some three day /;
costing together, about twenty cents.
@. Do you so to the theatres, and how
often; and how many persons with your
A. l go some half dozen times during the
Winter with my wife aud sister, costing, in-
cluding railroad fare, say $50.
Do you drink ardeut spirits, wine, beer,
etc? A. I generally take two glasses Of
whskey daily, and sometimes glass OF ale
with my wife at the gardens in the evening.
Q. Do you say you cannot save any ;hiug !?
while your unnecessary yearly expenses for
cigars, drinks, and amueelDerts, bysSyour own
showing, cannot cost less than 5000? Until
you begin to save raising your salary would
do you no good. Begin to-day to save, II
only five cents a day. Try saving for six
months and report to me the result.
At tho end of the time the young man
brought the merchant his expense book, show
Jog a clear saving Of $lO42O. This induced
the merchant to take him cordially hy the
hand down to the institution and urge the
president to increase his salary from $1,000
TO $1,000. In another six months his savings
amounted to almost $500, the merchant on
this showing said to him, Young man, you
are now on the road 10 wealth and position.
Go down to my brokers' and ask them TO buy
$50 coo worth of such and such stocks, and
will pay for them and give you the profits"
This young man is now worth somo 10000
all due to the saving Of the first 500. The
merchant, 10 doubt, is now daily made happy
every time be sees the institution by the de-
lightful reflection Of having saved this man
as well as his family.
There are now hundreds Of families in this
city who are highly cultivated who do not
know where their next meal is coming from.
Could they have had the advice Of this old
merchant, and followed it, they would now
be in afuence, not bcggary. Only yesterday
highly respectable lady, with three young
daughters, applied for immediate assistance to
buy bread. Her husband had recently died,
after enjoying salary for some twenty years
Of g. 500 to $4,000, without having saved
anything. The practical result Of this case
is that this lady, for twenty years, has secured
every luxury within her reach, while am in
debted for all | now have to the denial Of lux
uries for myself aud family, and am DOW
asked to help to support her, out of my saw
ings, such as she would not make for herself.
With her present views of economy she sees
how she could have lived on half his salary
Had she done so, it would amount to some
fifty thousand dollars, the interest Of which
would have made her and her children inde-
pendent for life. Suth cases do not warmly
commend themselves to my charity; such
people must be taugh; by natural laws, that
they must save or be liable TO starvc.
Another case occurs TO me. A young man
recently married, has put up his carriage
with livery, on salary Of $4,000 year
One of three things will soon probably fol-
low. The carriage will be laid down, or de-
falca.ion viii come next, aud ruin and beggary
follow. All this reminds me of the old max
i'm shat nineteen persons out Of every twenty
who are now respectable would DO. be so il
they could get the means 10 make themselves
otherwise. This man with his carriage on
1000 is one of tic nineteen.