The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-09-05

ssStS&sg1 sions-of keeping books.
70 garments, gifts, melnen-
tos and all things which belong to them,
in fact-and carefully preserving them
from year to year.
10 certain extent this habit is
good ono and embodies the old saying,
Waste not, want not" But instead of
teaching child to save everything l
think it would be wiser to teach it to
waste nothing. There is no economy in
saving everything. Indeed / am con-
vinced by observation that the habit car
ried beyond certain limit is n foe to
progress. To save everything old, have
observed, means to accumulate little
that is new.
| have an acquaintance who never
wears out or gives away garment. She
keeps all her dresses, hats, wraps, bits
of lace, braid and trimmings. When a
dress is out of fashion, she hangs it away
in clothespress or folds it into an old
trunk. Having followed this custom
for years and being lady of means, her
clothespresses and trunks are overflow
ing with old silks, satins, velvets and
laces.
garments arrived she brought out and
ripped up dozen old gowns and then
purchased a new panel for one, new
waist for another, q bit of trimming to
refurbish an old jacket and new jacket
on which to use some old trimmings.
The result when completed was not graf
flying in beauty or economy. Among
the six or eight suits produced by this
melange of old and new not one was
fresh or becoming, while the expendi-
ture had been greater than the cost of
three brand new costumes would have
been.
l have observed that the people who
save old garments in this manner never
present II fresh or attractive appearance,
and they expend more money ON their
wardrobes than others who buy new.
1t is the same III the matter of house
hold possessions. visited an old house
some time ago where everything wore n
look of decay and ruin. Having occa-
sion to go into the garnet with member
of the family, l discovered an immense
pile of rubbish, composed of broken old
chairs. frames of broken mirrors, dilapi
dated washstands, ragged bed quilts,
which had been carefully washed and
laid away. and q rusty and useless stove.
chest in one corner was filled with
torn books, which had neither beginning
nor end. photographs from which the
heads had been torn. broken backed
and dogeared album, half sheets of
music and pasteboard boxes, some with
out covers. and other covers without
boxes.
For what i'll the world are you saw
ing all this rubbish?" queried "Why
don't you sell the rusty stove for old
IRON. and the bed quilts to the rag,nan.
and make a bonfire of the contents of
this chest:"
The lady lifted her hands in protesta.
ton. "Oh, you destructive creatures"
she cried. "All these things may come
handy some day. | always believed in
saving everything. These pasteboard
boxes. for instance, are handy in case
you want to send away photograph
and the old bed quilts would be lust the
thing to smother flames with in case of
fire. There is nothing like economy, YOU
know"
But this is not economy" insisted.
''Were you to sell all this rubbish to the
raglnan and the old iron man, it would
bring you money enough to buy all the
photograph envelopes you desire, with
ready made pasteboard backs, and hand
grenades with which to extinguish fire."
81 never heard of those things" she
said
No" replied. People who have q
mania for accommodating old truck never
do keep up with the times"
If the mown hay were left to cumber
the field, no new grass could grow-and
the houses which are numbered with old
rubbish seem never to be refurnished
and decorated. The mind which is bent
on saving q lot of useless and shabby old
things becomes shabby and useless itself.
1t becomes incapacitated from earning
and procuring the new and useful.
l once heard a housekeeper of q coun-
try home complain that she had no room
in the pantry to properly place her pans
and dishes. remarked to her that the
two upper shelves were loaded with old
medicine bottles, empty pillboxes, bro
ken fiatirons and noseless teapots, and
that she had better dig a hole in the
ground and bury the whole mess, leaving
room for her necessary articles. But she
declared herself to be too Saving" to
perform such an act. Empty bottles
often are handy" she said, land intend
TO have the fatirons and teapots mended
some day."
"But you never WILL" said. "Peo-
pie who get in the habito of saving broken
trash never get it mended. And you will
never need more than two bottles out
of that score. You would be able to
think moro clearly. and vonr mind