The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1880-02-05

unpaid for years; yet, on inheriting a
thousand a year, he showed himself a
saving man. His necessity was that
his wife should not be unattended.
Nor are these spendthrifts exactly ex-
travagant, or rather, they are much
more. The merely extravagant man
has usually in him a high appreciation
of money, revels in the luxuries it
will bring rather than in expenditure
itself, and constantly develops, at some
turning point or other of his life, an
inclination to the gentlemanly vice of
avarice. The great majority of ex-
trayagant men, and still more of ex-
travagant women, are very greedy of
money, and ready to do things to OBJ
tain it of which prudent people, or
even ordinary Englishmen, whose
character is generally one Of prudence
shot with a disposition to occasional
extravaganza, would be heartily
ashamed. The true spendthrifts, who
arrive ultimately at the workhouse,
are very different from these. They
seem to be absolutely impatient of the
possession of money, to be eager to be
rid of it, to be without conception Of
its value, or Of its relation to the
things they want. They seem to like
cost, and would rather give a sovereign
to a cabman for a shilling ride. than
be at the trouble Of waiting till the
change was counted. They appear, in
fact, impatient Of money till it is
changed into something else, usually
perishable,-a state Of mind which, to
most men, seems impossible, but is so
frequent and so well marked that it
has added proverb to the colloquial
tongue Nothing is commoner than
to hear a man described as one
whose money burns hole in his
pocket who frets under the posses
sion Of cash till he has, in some way
or other, usually senseless way, got
rid of his resources. The impulse
even exists, and exists strong " some
times, in men who are aware OF it and
are vexed by it, as by any other weak
ness or selfshness they have detected
in themselves, and who take elaborate
and usually futile precautions against
it. There must be scores Of men, ed
ucated men, in London alone, who
habitually leave their money at home,
feeling certainty that if they keep it
about them they will be impelled, as
by a passion they cannot master, to
fling it away before they return home
One would have thought that the self
control necessary to induce the man
to leave his money at home would be
strong enough to induce him to keep
it in his possession, but it is not so
and there are spendthrifts who, while
they would fling away their last SOW
ereign, if they had it in gold, become
when it comes to drawing cheque
ordinarily prudent men, The momen-
tary check dissipates the momentary
desire.
The spendthrift passion, when il
rises to the kind of mania which, il
the Chorlton guardians story is true
must have possessed Charles Cart
wright, seems to the majority of Eng
lishmen who have sense enough to OBJ
serve, so abnormal and unaccountable
that it is regarded and treated as {
mania, and rather excused than con,
demned, on the distinct ground that
it cannot be consistent with perfect
mental health. We believe, however
that it is consistent, and that it has {
discoyerable root in very ordinary
character 1t has been the i'll luck Of
the writer to be compelled to study
the mania in several separate instan.
ces, and he has become convinced that
its cause is neither carelessness, mol
indifference to money, nor want o1
forest ght,-but uncomfortable, or a
least uncontrolled, secret wilfulness
Modern manners const1ain men tC
such a degree, at least as regards eX
ternal conduct, that we are apt to for
get how strong wilfulness in some
men is, and how liable it is to become
abnormally powerful in the few direc
tions in which it can be exercised
without discredit. The delight of tht
wilful is-to indulge the will, to fee
power, especially in small things; ant
in their expenditure they can indulge
the desire almost to the utmost Mon
ey is nothing to them but a source 0:
power, and as a source Of power they
use it, in little things as in large
senselessly or wisely, selfshly Or gen
erously, according to their dispositions
If the desire to give is in them, the.
give, without reference to their bank
er's account. If the wish is merely t.
escape trouble, they pay all they hav
with them; the object is not the pos
session of anything, as it is with th
extravagant, but the qualification mo
mentarily of the momentary will
Many spendthrifts never accumulat
possessions at all The lad of thi
kind with hundred year will spen,
half of it Oh hansoms, because his will
constantly arising, is to go quickly o
avoid fatigue; and the man with fv
thousand a year will give, or fini
away, or waste fifty thousand of hi
fortune, rather than deny himself hi
grand pleasure, which he defines t
himself as having his own way at once
He does not want to secure anything
but to do something which happens t
involve excessive cost. lie he like
trees, he must have trees, as Loui
XIV. had them, in a desert. Charlie
Cartwright probably disliked tn
workhouse as much as most men, bu
when taken out of it the dominan
wilfulness revived, and was gratife
in the only possible way, by expendi
ture, till his relatives gave him uI
The expenditure was, it is said, o.
luxuries; but he certainly was no
luxurious, or he would not have stop
ped in workhouse, living on work
house fare. He did not want luxurie
particularly, but he did want, with al
overmastering crave, to enjoy his owl
will, to go his own way, to make hi
yolition executive, even about tn