The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1876-09-01
Every Day Luxuries.

In an article upon Every Day Lux I!
uries" the Liberal Repisu publihes the
following: 1t is in,ere tting TO
watch the processes through which
passes man who rises from the state
of privation to that of luxury. Per
haps, in the first instance, he is in the
habit of dining at low chop p-house.
As he has been accustomed to nothing
better, the dishes which he there procures
are all that is necessary to satisfy his
palate, and for time he eats them con-
tentedly. By and by, however, his
means improve, and he is inveigled in
to a more pretentious dining place than
the low chop-house, and partakes Of
viands which TO him appear little short
of perfection, and for which he pays q
price that startles him. In due course,
however. he comes to think lightly of
the good things that are set before him,
and ceases to feel qualms of conscience
when he pays his score. If his thoughts
wander to the low chop-house, he is
filled with wonder how hs managed to
endure its various denominations, at the
thought OF which he shuddera, and he
feels that, come what may, he will never
be able to go back there again. If he
continues prosperous, the chances are
that in the matter of dining he rises
from stage to stage, all of which awe
him when he first enters upon them, but
are afterwards looked upon with con-
tempt and disgust until he arrives at
that in which he is called upon TO spend
as much upon his dinner as would suf-
fee to keep a laborer for nearly a week.
When he has reached this pitch he may
pause and survey the past with wonder.
, The changes which have been effected
, and can be seen clearly and sharply de-
fined, have ali been brought about so
quietly, and with such an avoidance o.
, precipitancy, tina. while they have been
taking place they have not been
q noticed. The tremendous gap which
they have placed between the pEesen,
and the past is one, however, which il
. is very difficult to bridge over. And i
q is precisely the same with regard tc
; changes which have been made in othel
ways. Yet the time often arrives wher
the attempt to bridge over the gaps tina
have been created has to be made. Now
there is no more melancholy sight thai
that of a person, forced by the stern logi
of circumstances, making an attemp
u to bridge over one Of these gaps afte
: having been hurled from position @
o comparative affiuenca to one of poverty
- 1t, therefore, behooves prudent peopl
: to he very chary of accustoming them
l. selves to luxuries unless their position
are so assured that there is no probahil
ity of their ever having to renounc
: them. 1.-THE presen, time, unfortunate
y ly, the tendency of too many persons
to indulge themselves to the limit @
- their resources; and the consequence
IL that they find their expenditures quit
ie equal to their income. This is dan
u, gerous state of things at the best {
ID times, but it is particularly 80 whe
+ middle class people, whose means {
- livelihood fiuctuate more or less, are
~ question. Prudence should urge pee
'S pie to husband their resources, for tn
ne man who does so is less likely to /
re exposed TO absolute privation durin
~ the eouFse of his life than is the ind
ne vidual who devotes himself to col
: STRUNG the word luxury to mean nece
- sary.