The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1890-03-13
ON BUYING TRASH.

No one would deliberately set out
for the purpose of buying trash. vet
few escape the folly of bringing home
from a shopping expedition things
which have tempted away our money,
without satisfying any real or aesthetic
need. We voluntarily surround our
selves with trashy knick-knacks from
the shops. which, after the excitement
of the purchase is over seem anything
but desirable. Such investments are
only too familiar: the vase, fine neither
in form nor color. but, only thirty-tive
cents; japanese fans, so cheap that we
indulge in several, since each costs so
little; the tiny teapot -of some choice
ware, marked down because of a
broken handle for which our purse is
the dollar lighter; the ribbon how to
conceal the defect in the teapot ham
die. for which we part with another
little sum in order to place a most in
appropriate decoration on china; do
we bring home joys forever in such
purchases rs these?
If only we might have realized be-
fore parting with our money, that the
ribbon-bedecked, broken piece of china
could not satisfy the real desire of our
heart for a pretty teapot! and that,
with the amount expended on the
tasteless vase. superfluous fans, hand
less teapot and the misplaced ribbon,
we might have possessed little tea
pot of real value instead of trash.
The true pleasures of buying can
not be realized by those who indulge
in trash, they lose the happy choosing
of that which is to crafty some long
felt want; of that which it is to be the
tangible result of thoughtful delibera-
ton, and abstinence for anything in
the nature of trash. Such pleasure
Ella describes as shared by Cousin
Bridget of the ESSAYS and himself in
the purchase of rare books and 1.-The
old print after Leonardo" in the days
when purchase used to be triumph"
for them.
With people of limited means the
frittering away of dimes, quarters and
half dollars on this, that. and the other
thing, that we should often be better
off without is serious matter, and
until taught by long experience to
value money properly, many women
are sad wasterS in this direction.
Seeming luxuries, longed for with a
reasonable longing, are not to be
thought of seriously until their phan-
tom ship comes in;" while little pack
ages return from days shopping con-
tanning cheap gloves, fussy fancy-work,
or materials purchased in the name of
Art by one who has not learned to
draw.
In the home of the wise shopper we
shall find no trash; in its place, are
well-chosen objects, few it may be,
but each good of its kind. New books
of worth we shall find there, and artis-
tic needlework; bright bits of pottery
or delicate porcelain, and photographs
of some of the treasures of the old
world galleries, all gathered together
slowly and fondly with the saved-up
small change that by the thoughtless
buyer might have been exchanged for
trash.
Things of worth and beauty are not
alone for those to whom "a purchase
is not purchase" since they ''have
money enough and to spare" A share
of the beautiful may come to each of
us who will wisely plan and wait for it,
instead of snatching up trash. A good
sized photograph of some favorite pic
ture (of a Madonna, perhaps, with
sweet uplifting face), may be had for
one dollar and a half, and the same
amount will glaze and frame the pic
ture.
A simple bamboo fraue for cabi-
net photograph, of neatest construc-
ton, and pretty withal, was lately
found in a japanese store for one of
those dimes that SO easily slip from
our grasp on the ten cent counter
Knowing the better things our pru-
dent holder of the slender purse can
pass, untempted, the crowded counters
loaded with crude wares of various
kinds. For, looking at those wares as
the result of poor workmanship, and
poorer taste, she sees them in their
true light, and finds them only trash.--
Good HOusekeeDiR1