The San Francisco call., 1910-07-18
g A LITTLE more taffy during life

L
~ is better than any amount OF
Aepitaphy after DEATH" said
would be wit in the long ago, ana IN
the saying he struck a keynote that
will find a response in nearly every
human heart. For after all the praise
we often hold back. the every day
pleasures we fail to enjoy, the good
things we are saving for tomorrow
ought to be ours today. What is the
use of waiting for the enjoyment or
thing until next year? Next year,
when you may find, like the disap-
pointed little girl. whose one imported
baby dress was saved for "an occa-
sion,'' that you may have outgroWn
it? Or, worse still, that by some un-
looked for turn of fate, you may have
irrevocably lost it?
Have you ever met the saving women
who put away their best clothes In
blue tissue paper and lavender. or cam
phor balls. until they get old fash
ioned? The women who spend as much
money in the end having them made
up to date as would cover the cost
of new dresses?
And have you ever heard of the
people who hoard up their gold and
eke out a miserable existence, to
leave behind them $4,000 or $4,000 to
their next of kin? The world would
call them misers.
"Misers? We all are misers, more
or less" said an attractive little French
woman the other day. 1--WE are always
storing things up as squirrels store
nuts for winter use, with the differ
ence that with us the winter never
comes. We are most of US content to
know we have pretty things under lock
and key without ever using them And
after all what is the use of having
them then? I am outgrowing my miserly
tendencies as fast as 1 can.
do you know where L learned my
lesson? A week before the earthquake
my double damask table linen with
my monogram two inches high arrived
from France 1 put it carefully away
with my imported china that 1 only
paid and the linen was mine-but L
never had the satisfaction OF using it
once 1t was burnt up along with all
the other priceless things 1 treasured
and never used.
Now / have adopted new tactic.
When 1 furnished my new home 1 de-
cided it was no use saving things
for the next earthquake or fire or
flood, so L just use them-yes, my best
china and table linen and bed linen.
and I wear my f1uffiest dresses besides.
and | find my home and home life just
twice as attractive-don't you think
I'm right?''
The question is not such an easy one
to answer in general terms. although
for people in her more than comfort
able circumstances, when broken things
can be easily replaced, her view seems
a broad and practical one. There are
no children any more in her we'll or
dered home to destroy things, and her
servants have been with her for years
therefore, under the circumstances, why
should she not enjoy her dainty cut
glass. and silver and Dresden china to
the full?
I'm only going to live once" she
explains in self justification to her more
careful friends, the feeling of pity she
entertains for her wealthier neighbors
who never know the thorough en-
ioyment of their wealth, being as
amusing as ii is genuine. And is not
her logic pretty good? Why not? Why
eternally save up things in safety de-
posit vaults for the next generation
to enjoy?
We have all heard of the prominent
young matron who had the entire sill
yer service. from tea set to- dinner
plates, that she received as wedding
presents. exactly duplicated in plated
ware. The genuine has been kept ever
since down town in safety deposit
vault and the plated used every day,
even for her elaborate state functions
Her friends, when wined and dined at
her table, have looked with recog-
nizing eye on their wedding gifts, lit
tie realizing they were merely the imi-
tations.
Her excuse is that she is afraid OF
burglars However, the world at large
or those who indulge in burglary as a
profession, may be blissfully unaware