The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-12-25
$4,000 A YEAR TO SPEND.
A Young Bachelor of Fashion Who
Thinks it is Not Too Much.
From The Washington S'dr

other night.
But, Tommy" replied one of the other
men in the group, 1--WE all notice that you
manage to keep up appearances pretty
well, and yet it is not supposed that you
have more than half that income.
You mean that | dress extensively.
keep man, live 10 rather decent bachelor
quarters, have two or three horses, and
throw away good deal of money ON all
sorts OF foolishness."
ut has always seemed to me that you
lived like a lord, )" said another member OF
the party dryly. "But, Of course, 1 have
locked upon your butterfly existence with
the jealous eye of one who has to grub for
his bread and butter"
PRIvATIoN ON $4,000 A YEAR.
"Demmit, Billings, you're forever chaff-
ing. I've not the slightest doubt that you
make quite as large an income as ] have,
| though you prefer to spend it in different
| and more mysterious ways. However,
though | may live like lord, as you say,
It's grim fact that have TIE utmost DIFF
hculty IN scraping along, financially speak
| ing. l don't mind saying 50 frankly since
| it's matter of public notoriety that Pm
head over ears in debt. he mamny of a
rather pretty girl to whom | have paid
some very mild attentions of late was kind
enough tosinform gossiping old relative of
mine the other day that she would not re-
| gard me as a desirable parti for her daugh-
| ter, lnasmuch as the father-iu-law pre-
sumptive would doubtless be expected to
settle my financial obligations incidentally
to the matrimonial arrangement. Consider
ing the fact that had never for a moment
thought Of marrying the young woman |
may be excused for thinking this a little
tough: But, as | was going to remark, l
| should be perfectly satisfied il | possessed
| sufficient means to comfortably support nv
present scale of living without consideration
OF pennies, without running into debt, and
without
without extravaganza.
WHAT EXTRAvAGANCE REALLY is.
Precisely. For extravaganza, in the
proper sense of the word, is simply expendi-
| ture beyond ones means. Not approving
Of extravaganza mys IF, on the ground that
1t produces unhappines5 and is therefore
immoral, l wish that my means were
greater, so that my expenditure might fall
within them. If | had the wealth of w. K.
or Cornelius Valderbilt-say as much as is
piled up In Lhe big silver vault under the
| treasury-my present scale of living would
be plnchlng economy. AS it is on $4,000
year, must plead guilty of extravaganza,
| because my expenditure exceeds that
amount. l can't live Oh it, somehow, and
| yet am far from being a spendthrift. On
| uiO Sbuli al - dlIl COulpelleu TO look atLer
my dollars pretty sharply. You see, a man
who has all his time on his hands
is obliged to find occupation in
amusement, and it is surprising to observe
| how much it costs to amuse ones self during
sixteen waking hours at stretch. No
matter, what the distraction is it costs
money. That is one advantage in having q
| business pursult-you can't very we'll spend
money during business hours Anyhow, the
| fact is that | have to economics severely.
| which Is painful, and l have accumulated
| debts which occasion me constant annoy
auce. If | had $40. 600 year | could live
as do now, without extravaganza, without
debts, and without having to give serious
| consideration to my expenses. For this
| reason | say that $50, 900 is not a penny
more per annum than is essential to the
| comfort of young man in my position.
| GU must remember that | have no vices
| worth mentioning"
"You are certainly model of virtue ;.
Tommy" said fourth of the group.
VIRTUE Is SOMETIMES MERELY PRUDENCE.
81 defy you to prove otherwise I don't
| pretend that Pm virtuous because Pm good
| but for the reason that | haven't natural
taste for vice in any shape. My notion of
| happiness is not getting fuddled with wine.
| L do not enjoy the companionship of women
who are not ladies, and the peculiar devel-
| opment of the passion avarice, called gam
Ibling, is to me unpleasant. AS for the last
| polnt-partlcularly as regards poker-I
| have noticed that two or three men in n
club invariably win all the money in the
| long run through superior skill at the game,
| while the others simply contrib ute. | find
| no qualification myself in being a source of
| income In this way to gentlemen of my ac-
| quaintance. That is the way this fell
low Berry Wall, who earned brief
1 M piafx hrr. lv
| manner to attract attention, got away with
a good deal OF his cash. | met the man at
| one of the Philadelphia assembly balls
| about seven years ago. when he had Just
come into his money, perhaps 100000
| which his father had earned by making
| ropes and shaving notes. He wore an ex-
! traordlnary stud, made of diamond and
| two big pearls, i'll the middle of his shirt.
| ana almost the first remark he made to me
was that he had lost $500 the night before
at poker-all the cash he had brought with
| him from New York-but he Supposed his
check was good for any amount He lost
thousands of dollars at baccarat in q sort
OF sporting club in New York, wasted
more thousands on turf betting and threw
away an additional pile in Wall street; so
| his check isn't good for penny to-day.
| However, as | was saying, am not gifted
| with any inclination TO pursue thes forms
OF amusement. For man who INDUCES
fancy for them no income whatever will
sufficen
perhaps you will tell us what a through
| ~ vlrtuous and pious youth may do with
| S20 goo year?n
HOW TO SQUANDER JUDICIoUSLY.
81 didn't say 1 was pious, Billings; no
| one has ever accused me of that. As for
| the reasonable expenditure of $50, 900 a year
| by young bachelor in my position, it is
easy enough, as you yourself must be aware.
In the first place, suppose you put down-for
| see you have your pencil and note book
ready-$l, 500 for rooms pay that much,
and | know that you can't get really swell
apartment in just the proper spot for less
| money. You want a living room, dress
! ing room, two bedrooms, aud third for
your man, and a bath room. Well suppose
! that you already have $4,000 or 50, coo worth
| of furnishings and that YOU ara at no ex-
| penss in that way. You take your meals
mostly at the club when you are not away
or dining out and your grub, together with
| dues little stag suppers and other unavoid-
| able club expenses, will cost you 81, 500
more. Then you must have horses, two or
three, dogcart and coupe. You don't
keep an equipage yourself, and dare say
you don't know what that sort of thing
mounts up to. New harness and other
| equipments Of all sorts have continually to
be bought, the horses go lame, and the
! coupe and dogcart have to be changed for
| later styles from one season to another A
horse is as expensive to keep as man, or
| 60 md Won