The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1885-09-16
How NoT 10 ltvg cArApLY.
Ths system Of UAdsrfsealnr-h sl4ra
Economy . Coed Thinrs
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Economy Coed Thlnrf
philadelphia Preg.l
The leading French aud English Jour.
mails have given lAtely several articles
on The art Of living. OF, rather, the art
Of living cheaply. They are addressed,
Of course, TO the poorest elaSses Ger
tain examples are held up for imitation.
I ~ Rousseau, for instance, working Gle.
maker, receiving about 40 cents per
day, spends 10 cents for food,
and 50 limits bis expenses for
clothes, rent, ETC., as 70 save
nearly $3.50 in three month"; Instan.
ces Of admirable managers among the
wives Of English laborers are cited who
hare reduced their EXPENSE for food 70
the lowest amount Of pennies on which
q human being could subsist. The les.
son which all these articles enforce Is
that the poor should study how 10 do
! without meat, and other sayory morsels
in their daily food, to live on oatmeal,
milk, soup, etc, and that the rich
should combine TO enforce this lesson,
and 80 ''help the poor to help them.
selves, instead Of giving blankets,
Christmas dolls and grants 70 sick
women and children.
The tone and animus Of these reform.
atory articles agree precisely with those
which appear every six months In the
American papers, and which are aimed
at the woes Of laboriHg men. They are
told that the average American menage
u the most e,trayagant In the world;
that two French families would subsist
on the waste In one Of our kitchens,
ETC., etc. The remedy Is invariably q
system Of economy in food; 10 or IS
cent dinners, compounded chle'y Of
leans and bones, soups made Of high
tlayors and much water.
Now We do not advocate the waste Of
a crust. But We do question the wis
dom OF stinginess In providing food for
family. The man anil woman who use
their bodies for hard manual labor must
nourish them. Let economy begin
somewhere else. Let the rooms 20
without carpets and dresses without
trimming, but let the meals DO substan.
tial and solid.
Practically the system OF underieed.
ing never has answered. II man does
not get the amount Of nntriment which
his lody requires he will take stimulant
instead. Vino makes up TO JAG ues for
his soupe maigre and whisky TO Sandy
for his oatmeal. The nervous Ameri.
can, with his aurtuating extremes Of
climate, re uirCs q variety Of food, and
nature has provided it for him. The
economical housekeepsr, whose praise Is
in all the papers, WHO saves out Of her
market money enough TO buy looks and
magazines, Is committing a fatal error,
10 which half the female retormers
thoughtlesSly egg her on.
1t Is worth our Will, too, to look
sluarely at this question Of economy.
all English speaking people believe
Though they may not practice II that
strict economy is the chief practical yir.
ture-a good and helpful thing to a
man anil a family. The Scotch taught
this faith TO Graf Britain an the l'uri.
tans TO America II was true TO them
both in their hard struggle with poy.
erty and niggardly soil.
Eut Is 1t always true Is stern, pinch
ing economy good thing Is 1t q help.
full thingl Does not the child become a
more liberal, generous, happier man,
healthier in body and mind, who has
not from his birth been nagged and
rasped by petty economies, by the per.
petual gnawing Of stomach and brain
for food that was denied theml Has
not the penny wise system pushed 10
extremes produced in individuals and
races morose and gloomy temper, in
tolerance, narrow, bigoted habits Of
thought and action? Would the Amer.
lean have his characteristic large, care.
less good nature, bis sweet, tolerant
charity for all men and creeds IL be had
been systematically starved aud stintei
in material goods in his childhood
Again the American or English eco.
nomist, who, sitting in his own luxu.
rious home after u comfortable meal,
plans how the workingman must first Of
all be taught how to live on so many
pennies per diem for food, so many for
Goals, SO many for clothes, etc., the
whole representing the Q tremest con
ditions Of poverty, forgets that no hu.
man being ever did or could run this
hard, unVarying round Of work and
bare necessity, month alter month, year
after year. There must be an outlet
the amusement, the excitement,
tho extravaganza - the step be.
yond bodily necessity, which
makes live worth living. Man
cannot Ii Q by bread alone, even when
bis bread Is Of the finest. 1t Is among
the latoring class in ngland and Scot.
land who arc forcel down 10 their
barest, hardest conditions OF work and
pay that there is the most gin drunk,
that iutemperance and unrhastlty are
most common. Human nature will and
does break over somewhere. Cheap,
wholesome amuSementS provided for
toe poor are the most effective, health.
tul form Of modern benevolence. They
are beginning to supply in England and
In this country what the Frenchman
or Italian finds for himself in his dances
and frequent fetes.