News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1886-05-27
A MANS INCOME.
What He Can Live ON and what He Cau.
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| lrhom me christian Union.I
Inc standards that people make de-
clue the question of whether their in.
come Is sufficient or not for their SUP.
port. Ii the family compelled to live on
a thousand dollars a wear makes an
eleven hundred dollar standard of living
they are always 500 behind: if tbeg
make nine hundred dollars year the
standard, they are always 500 ahead.
1t IS possible for family to live on
81 day and pay all expenses. but if
takes intelligence to do it.
The writer, about three Years apo.
visited among some tenement-house in.
mates In Now York Among the number
was the family of a day laborer who
scarcely averaged dollar a day. There
were five little children-the title s'baby',
would Shave been given to any of them
if they had been in homes of Injury
The wife was comely, happy, the chill
dren specimens of healthy, happy child
hood, the hCme as clean and orderly as
could be desired-a direct contrast. with
its inmates, to the other family rooms
visited. Why was it different? Because
the wife and mother knew how to get
the most out of a dollar: because She
knew how to use time and make it save
money. If it were not for her intelli-
gence and practical knowledge sh.
would have lived as did her neighbo1s
In dirt, disorder, and unhappiness.
If wife whose husband earns but So
per day insists on raw silk and plush
suit of furniture for her parlor, because,
according to her standard, that is the
proper thing to have, irrespective of
what her husband earns or his prospects,
she adopts a scale of living that involves
expenses that need double their income
to support.
If girl earning her own living makes
it her highest ambition to dress with the
nearest appearance to wealth, she simply
ties stone to true happiness, and
browns it in the pool of her own foolish
vanity. Her foolishness is always APP
parent. Recently large, rather coarse
looking girl was noticed among a num-
Der of girls who met weekly; she dress
ed in the most elaborate manner, entirely
out of keeping with her looks and DO
sltlon. The girl was missed for q couple
of evenings; on enquiring, it was learn
ed that she was i'll. When visited, she
was found lying on a mattress in room
that was at once parlor, sleeping-room,
and kitchen. She was without suitable
clothing for sickness, and was glad to
accept financial assistance. Her stand
ards of living were q silk dress and an
opportunity to wear it. No amount of
income within the reach of labor would
save that girl from suffering.
A young man who tries to look like a
capitalist on clerks salary will always
suffer, not because his salary is so small,
but because his wants are so large.
A women comes to you telling pitt
full tale of woe; she must have work or
starve. You rack Your brains think
finally of something that she may do,
propose it, are met with an expression
of mingled indignation, injured dignity,
and conscious superiority. The work
will yield an income that will
enable her to support herself honestly
and BEAUTIFULLY, but she demands in
come that would promise to support her
in accordance with her ideas. And these
are apt to be widely apart from all pos
sible earnings Result unhappiness, ]
unrest, indifference to work, discharge, |
weeks of agonizing suspense, but prob
ably no lesson learned from experience.
Such girl marries, and carries into her
double life the weakness that crippled |
her single life, and two or more must
suffer.
The standards, the ambitions, of the
family or the individual decide alto
gether the question of the chow to i've.
f there must be Brussels carpet where
ngrain is most suitable to pocketbook
md position; if there must be plush
Jack and silk dress where there should
De plain cloth suit; if there must be
Prince Albert coat, with corresponding
rous rs and vest, etc, where there
should be a serviceable business suit,
there is suffering for lack of
real essentials for body, mind, and spirit.
But the choice is made in harmony with
greatest desires of those most con-
;erned.