St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1898-05-25
WISE ECONOMY.
An Interesting Paper by, Former St. Johr

Miss Charlotte Morrill,, principal ofAdel-
phi Academy, Brooklyn, N. Y, at the
meeting of the New York League OF Uni
tartan Women recently held in Brooklyn:
An unwise Frenchman chided his wife
for her extravaganza. With many tears
and gestures she answered him that she
had nothing but what she absolutely
needed. He ventured to ask if she could
not take an omnibus instead of a car
rage. 1t had never occurred to her, but
she was entirely willing. Soon after she
called, "Jane, get me carriage. l want
to 90 to the corner to take an omnibus"
The word economy has come to mean
almost nothing but economy OF money
and everybody knows that economy that
economies is one thing and economy
that wastes is another. l shall not
waste time in talking Of this lowest kind
of economy. Electricians say that they
make and sell electricity but do not know
what it is. A real economist is as rare
as real genius and he can hardly tell
what economy is. He knows and we
know that it is sometimes an outward
and visible sign Of an inward and spirit
ual grace, and that sometimes it is not.
Statesmen talk of economy and settle
nothing. Even the college valedictorian
does not altogether explain it. Every
new administration pirates loudly OF it at
the start and iorgets it after the first
milestoneis passed. What fabulous dis
tance to the first milestone in this blessed
year Of the benign, polished and reform
atory reign of his Highness the Tiger!
We all have some petty thrift dear to
ourhearts. some one direction in which
love to scrimp. We worship our partic-
ular system as il it had been handed
down from Mt. Sinai on tablets of stone.
Finely selected frugalities, half sheets of
paper, postage stamps, evaded custom
house duties, these have distinct ethical
value of their own and keep us in har-
mony with ourselves. The great Duke
of Marlborough, the first OF English
speaking generals, looked out with great.
est care for candle ends. He walked miles
to save sixpence. The saved sixpences at
his death amounted to 10000 0pounds.
In that part OF the heavenly system called
New England. woman darns, meuds
and makes over what had far better be
thrown away. Families even boast that
they have breakfast and prayers before
sunrise. Can such prayers be acceptable!
That which learned of economy in my
youth was all false. In those tender
days was told that penny saved was
a penny earned" Alas, l know now
that nearly all the pennies saved are pen
MES lost. Banks freighted with the saved
pennies collapse and disappear. Co
operative stores do not cooperate. Stock
companies have so complete and salts
factory an organization they furnish milk
and honey to the large stockholders and
have a never failing supply of water
wherein the small stockholders may be
drowned at any time. counsel wise
economy on the use of red tape. l yield
its necessity, but there are other necessi'
ties, many of which are strangled in the
sinuous folds of the red-tape fend. 1t
is a matter of history that the king o.
CASTLE was burned to death in his own
palace only because there was no courtieI
present of sufficient rank to permit him
1 to approach or to tend the unfortunate
monarch. Red tape has burned out Other
lives than those of kings and scattered
y desolation in every country OF the globe
respectfully and iearfully urge atten
n ton to wise economy in school matters
4 Agassiz said that if a Swiss naturalist
discovered a rare plant he sent note tt
n two or three naturalists. They CAM
\ together at once and examined the flower
a But if an American naturalist fount
q a rare flower printed circular would e
I to naturalisls. They will meet, form {
society, elect a president, secretary ant
3 treasurer and appoint committee tt
4 adopt constitution. Meanwhile tn
81 flower would die. have great conf
81 dence in the work of one intelligent, de
termined woman. am utterly skeptica
of committee work, whether of men o
women, particularly the latter. Ibeliev
# that if the building Of Noah's ark ha,
~ been left to committee the human rae
would have become extinct. l exhor
n you mothers not to call mothers meet
3 ing in Y. M. c. A. or Y. w. c. A. o
any other alphabetical hall to conside
n the subject of education. urge you, m
y sisters, to 60 individually to the school
room where your children sit. ask yo,
" uOllCe LHt cCOIOuly VI alt, W ioOh Il
n the rows of little anxious faces mostl
adorned with spectacles, tormented be
fore their time. Notice the nervous con
dition of the teacher who must keep al
eye constantly on the clock that she ma
not miss any Ology or any modern edu
4 cational device of the enemy. Possibl
she may be irritable and possibly yo
8 may be touched with new and grea
compassion. There is royal road t.
learning. 1t is the road royal teache
treads. That road is the farthest fror
it which puts the child through a Who'll
circle OF studies with railroad speed, stoT
ping FIVE minutes here and there 10
science hash, or to catch a sip from som
fountain Of csthetics with literary pri7
candy and moral sandwiches irequeutl
offered. The Germans have sayin
Nothing is so fruitful as little we
learned" Are we forgetting the goo
German sense and getting gres
amount half learnedl The breezy Ga
Hamilton said, II was reared in a Gel
fury from which the traditions of Il
great teachers had not departed. Mar
Lyon, Miss Grant, Emma Willard, Mr.
C!owles, all but one gone over to the mi
Jority; that one resting from her labol
In the serene evening OF her brilliant lit
IS still brave enough to chase thousar
school boards. Two like her would pl
thousand to fight. When they cou
selled it was as if one had inquired oftl