The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1891-03-06
CONCERNING ECONOMY.
A Virtue Which is Thoroughly DistastefuI
TO Most People.

A Virtue Which is Thoroughly DistasSeful
TO Most People.
Why is economy so Objectionable, so
thoroughly distasteful to most people?
Frugality is not meanness. Discretely
practiced, it may increase the comforts
OF life, for what says the sage: Econ
omy is wealth." and wealth can procure
luxuries. What can be the cause but
human natures objection to personal
inconvenience? Economy becomes easy,
nay, pleasant, when one economises on
some article not important to comfort
Paterfamilias 'meditates in his office:
81 must economi2e. | won't say any
thing about it at home; it would worry
Mary; I'll save on cigars" At the end of
week-if not before-paterfamilia an
nounces at home that it is absolutely
necessary to retrench; that they must
do without a servant. Mary acquiesces,
and Pater finds that economy is not so
hard after all. Really he hardly notices
it. Materfamilias' opinion is withheld.
Many people sympathize with Harold
Skimpole, in BLEAK House," and think
if they refrain from making purchase
about which they care little, they have
economical sufficiently, are SO much in
pocket, and may spend that amount on
some luxury.
Economy is hated when it interferes
with personal convenience; tits admired
because human nature wonders at and
1 respects what it finds difficult Of per-
Torrance. That it is and ought to be
practiced in one way or another by
every one should help to make it popu-
lar.
Hardly Sunday paper but gives sug-
gestions in economy, from frugal
methods of cooking to the inexpensive
preparation of trosseau. But there
are economies that do not touch the
pocketbook that are equally as neces-
sary. Economy of time may double the
amount of work person may do. Econ
omy of physical strength is of the same
Importance, and economy of nerve force
may keep at bay that foe of American
people, nervous prostration.
One form of saving is suggested in the
Book of Proverbs. "He that hath
knowledge spareth his words, gives a
good recipe for obtaining an appearance
of wisdom.
In all these kinds people have their
pet economies. One saves horsecar fares
by walking under all practicable cir
cumstances. Another cherishes stray
pins, and feels wicked il she does not
buy cheap writing paper. A third stints
himself in trifes, whose loss is to hin
real inconvenience and serious piece
of self-denial, and spends dollars in
stead of cents on some luxury. A lady
by no means frugal in other respects
has a fancy that was, perhaps, con
tracted during the childhood of hel
large family of boys, to preserve stock
ings in an approach to their early form
They must be darned and redarned
patched and repatched, until the origi
nal material is in n painful minority
and when her family at last rebel, al
extra layer of patch is applied and they
are given to any tramps who may apply
Some people economic their church
going and giving; others are sparing o
good temper; others still are SO thrifty il
their use of common sense that it NIGH
be thought that they had none. Sucf
economies do not lead to wealth OR t.
plofit Of any kind.
TO sum up, economy OF money, time
and health is wise. Economy of com
mon sense and the virtues is worse thar
waste, for by it shall thy poverty come
as one that traveleth, and thy want as
an armed man. ''-Boston Globe.