The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1901-01-01

Thrift is so essential to happiness
in this world hat the failure to prac-
tice it is, to me, incOmprehensible.
It is such an easy, simple thing, and
it means so much. 1t is the fOunda-
ton of success in business, of con
tentment in the home, of standing
in society. It stimulates industry.
1 never yet heard of a thrifty man
who was lazy. 1t begets indepen-
dence and self-confidence. 1t makes
a man of the individual who prac-
tees it.
Think the greatest fault that char
~acterizes our education of the young
to day is the failure to teach thrift
in the schools. From the very out
set a child ought to understand the
value of saving. In some schools, l
understand, penny savings funds
are nov established. Out of these
funds, if they are administered with
practical commOn-sense, will grow
more sound teaching than out of any
thing else in the curriculum. I mean
teaching that will make for success ;
and that, after all, is what the
mother hopes for her child and a
nation for its citizens.
Failure in the world is impossible
if a young man will start out right.
If society will take hold of the mat
ter in the proper spirit, every young
man will start out right. Of course,
even under the most favorable con-
ditions there will be exceptions to
this rule. But there are exceptions
to every rule. Of them we can take
nc account. But the great body of
young men would go right if they
were taught the road at the outset.
You may not be able to make good
morals by legislation, but you can
make a successful man by proper
teaching and example.
As matters stand now, all that the
average child ever hears in school of
the value of saving is contained in
some dry text book OF essay. There
is nothing living, vital or fOrcible in
such material as this. 1t is of very
much greater importance that a
child or young man should know
how to proceed on the road to sue
cess IN the world than it Is
that he should know the involved
principles of the higher sciences.
RESOLVE THAT YOU WILL NOT Be HARD UP.
This is a tremendously practical
world, and that man is going to get
the most out of it who is not ham
pered by a constant want of money.
1t is absurd to suppose that great
riches always bring happiness, or
even that the accumulation of great
riches is essential to success. The
of moderate means is, on the
whole, perhaps happier than the ex
tremely rich man, and he who makes
for himself a safe place in any field
can be set down as being quite as
successful as the man who accumu-
lates millions. But the man who is
p~6rp6tual1y hard up cannot under
any circumstances be happy, no mat
ter what the foolish in the world
may say and no man can win a safe
place in the world if he is hampered
with debts. Helpless poverty is the
most crushing affection that can
come to a family, and is the attic
ton most easily avoided. The man
who starts out right will never be
poor in the extreme sense, no mat
ter how limited his income, or how
circumscribed his opportunities.
Let him lay down the rule for him
self that he will invariably spend
less than he makes then he is safe.
No nan can be happy in this life
for any length of time if he does not
live up to this principle, no matter
how d~azzlingly he starts out, or
what his prospects are. If he de
viates from this rule he will sooner
or later come to grief. He must
save to succeed. He must succeed
in something to be happy. That man
surely faces acute misery who at