Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1883-11-11
vrRsr cArCu YsvR Hare.

II Az KUN LAHuy pCoP3c VI lfDltHo
means the question Of ownirg or rent
ing bouse presents itself for consider.
alton with the beginning of each new
year, and 1t Is one which should in ever
case receive very careful attention.
There is good deal OF nonsense talked
upon the subject, both in print and else
where, and many lives have been made
sad BY sentimental mistakes in deciding
the question.
In a general way there are many ad-
vantaees resulting from the ownership
Of home-advantages which have been
% deliberately set forth in print as to
need no detailed mention here. But.
with all these in view, and with full
appreciation of them all, We have no
hesitation IN saying that there are very
many people to whom there could be no
sorer disaster than the purchase Of q
dwelling place.
We have all laughed over the old re-
cipe for cooking hare. which began
with the injunction, first catch your
hare" and yet there could be nothing
more emirently sensible. The very first
requisite to the proper cooking Of hare
is the catching of the animal. and is is
very much the same with other under
takings. and especially so with this one
of owning home. Every family ought
to live in house of its own, If 1t can
afford to do so; but there are many peo-
pie doing this who cannot afford il.
Nay, we have known people 10 live for
years in an attic because they had first
lived in house Of their own instead of
renting one from other people.
Debt is essentially a bad thing. II
worries and wears the man on whose
shoulders it sits like nightmare, and
units him for his work. 1t may, in ex-
csptional cases, act as spur to industry
and economy, but Is much more fire.
Quently has an influence OF a precisely
opposite character. 1t is hard TO deny
ones self and ones family needed COM
forts for the sake of saving. with the
full consciousness that, after all, the
savings will be swept away in the pay
nlent of debts. The chances are that
the young man who has home with a
heavy mortgage upon it will keep that
mortgage there, and ultimately leave his
wife and children with the burden to
carry or to sink under, as the case
may be. Even when this would not
otherwise he true, the man may die
and leave the wife with a debt which.
he might have net easily, hal he
lived, bat which she is wholly unable
to carry.
We happen to know a very marked
case of this kind. A man with an ill.,
come of three or four thousand dollars
q year bought home for twelve thou
sand dollars, paying two Thousand in
cash and giving mortgage for the re-
msinder. He expended COED Zeal in
fitting the place up-as who would not?
and felt no uneasiness as to the debt,
wpich was to be met by easy monthly
payments, with interest added. To him
the problem was a simple one, as he
knew he could meet every payment out
of his income without difficulty. In
however, he died suddenly,
and at time when money happened to
be "tiRht," as Wall street phrases it.
His income died with him, and his wife
could barely make food and clothes for
herself and her little ones; and, failing
to meet the. payments, she lost all that
her husband had spent upon the prop
erty-a total Of about five thousand
dollars.
As a rule, we should say, FIRST catch
your hare. In other words, postpone the
purchase of hnse until you are able
to pay for it, either with cash already
in hand or with secured resources which
are not dependent upon any persons
life. II you must buy house with say
inRs, make the savings first. 1t is quite
~ easy to save with a view to future
purchase of this sort as it is to save the
money necessary TO meet payments un-
der mortgage; aud in the event of failure,
which may come in any case, far lees
harm will be done when there is no debt
1t often happens, too, that q young
man has the money with which to make |
q purchase, but he needs it in his bust |
ness; and as he must depend upon the |
of his business for all his
success in life. be Gel tainly cannot afford
10 withdraw from it any capital neces- |
sary to its healthful and vigorous pros
even for the sake of buying a
homo, which he can do without. There |
Is NO commoner mistake than this one of
buying q home with money needed in
business. and il has ruined many career
and wrecked many life.
It is pleasant, as matter of course,
10 live in ones own house, where every |
little added beauty is ones own, AID
where strong local attachments may
take root freely; but this, like all other |
good things, is one which many of Us
cannot afford; and there il no greater
folly than the indulgence of any taste,
however excellent it may be in itself.
which il beyond the safe limits of our