Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1877-08-29

alone, but in the aggregate they had
e very different appearance. Z t,,..,.,s,,
sHow much shall we lay up this
Y quarter, Charles ?" kindly asked hi.
e wife as she came and leaned over hi;
r shoulder and smoothed the hair bach
a from bis brow. saaa l4.
YHow much shall we lay up ~ he
, repeated. ''Not much. Get the slate
| and let us reckon up"
He was resolved to be frank about
f the matter and let his wife know all.
} The slate was brought. First she put
r down one hundred and fifty-six dollars
| as the quarters salary. Then came the
rent, and the butcher, and the grocer
!, and the baker.
Now you put down thirteen dollars
!, for this chain, and twelve dollars for
sundries-that means tobacco, cigars
, concerts and suchthings. Now take from
| my quarters wages and see how much
remains.n
She did so, and gave fifty two dollars
as the result.
FIFTY two dollars ~ uttered Charles
:. sinking back into his chair, ssand we
/ have not bought one article Of clothing
or furniture. Fifty-two dollars with
which to pay sixty-fve. There is thir-
teen dollars short this quarter, and I
had meant to save at least thirty
dollars
s'Well, it's no use to mourn over it,"
said the wife in cheerful tone, for she
saw that her husband felt badly. ':Let
us commence again. There is. nothing
like trying, you know"
For some moments Charles remained
silent. He gazed first upon the paper
he held in his hand, and then upon the
floor. AT last he spoke
Hannah, I see where the trouble is.
and must freely admit that L have
been wrong. You were right. 1 see
it all. nov. / have not estimated the
value of money as I ought. Let me
once get up again to where I began
and l will do differently. I must
step down to the store this evening
and pay a part Of the bill and the rest
as soon as get it,
THAT matter is easily settled.' she
replied, for have money by me that
l had when was married.
He protested most earnestly against
taking his wife's money, but she INSIST
ed on giving him the money 1t was
her will. and he must submit. So he
went down and paid the grocery Dill,
,-s--s,=.ioIlle he sold his gold
anu thirteen dollars. He felt hap
and was ready to commence
prs st quarter.
next Monday morning the
!. g toni into the meat store to
4 piece of beef for dinner.
much will you have?' the
Fhree OF louF-
Charles got thus far and then he
stopped. He had always been in the
habit Of ordering an indefinite quantity
and leaving the butcher to cut off the
highest figure and charge the highest
price and then he remembered how
much was usually wanted.
"Letme have two pounds" he said.
He stopped and saw it weighed and
then paid for it.
When he went home at noon he found
that his two pounds of beef was enough
for good dinner. The next morning
he went to the store. Mr.. Waldron had
some nice figs, just come in, which he
showed. They were twenty-five cents
pound. For moment Charles hesi-
tated, but as he remembered that he
had got to pay for all he bought he con-
Guided not to take them.s He found
that things were not so euticing as when
the payment could be postponed. He
paid for what he bought and went his
way and thus things went on through
the week. When it came Saturday
night he knew all the money in his
pocket was his own, after deducti1g the
rent. That evening he went over to
the market with Wilkins, and
bought as much vegetables and meat as
he thought would last through the week.
He found he had made a saving Of at
least twenty per cent, and when the
opportunity offered he made the same
saving in other matters.
At the end of that quarter Charles
Mathews did not have to get slate
He paid his house rent and then found
he had thirty-fve dollars left in his
pocket. That was his-he did not owe
a penny of it.
ssAh, Hannah, !" said he,as he held the
money in his hand and looked it over
s'now I see how easy it is for a man to
be wrong and his wife right. ms mo-
ney all comes of paying as I go along.
1t is very easy and simple to cry ''Just
charge It," and a man can easily buy
things under such circumstances, but
when the day Of reckoning comes these
simple words that sound so innocent
when spoken are found to be costly
things. 1 did not believe it until tried
it. 1 could not have believed that a
man would purchase so many useless
articles simply because he could have
them charged. But 1 see it now, and
if 1 refused to follow your advice at first
1 have gained experience enough to
j follow it more implicitly now."
i Charles Mathews never allowed HIM
self to be led away by the credit system,
but has followed the cash rule aud the
consequence has been that he could buy
produce, coal, etc., at cheap prices, and