The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-05-13
EVENING CHAT
By RUTH CAMERON.

Two young women in my acquaintance
are earning about the same salaries, but
they use their money in very different
ways.
One of them spends as little as possible
on her daily needs. She walks to save
car fares; she eats at cheap places; she
denies herself any amusement which
costs anything; she thinks twice before
she spends a quarter; she is always say
ing she cannot afford this or that little
thing, and she relig1ously jots down every
penny in her account book. With tie
buys very expensive big things-a hand
some set OF furs, a costly vacation trip, a
mahogany dresser for her room, etc.
People are always saying: What a lot
Mabel does get out of her money!
The other girl always has plenty of
money for little things. She goes to the
theater or to some lecture almost every
week; she gratifies her love for pleasant
surroundings by eating in one of me
most attractive restaurants in town, de-
spite her friends Mortified protest that
everything costs five ten cents more
there. She never thinks about car fare or
any of the little expenses, and she de-
never has big things like her friend. She
has only enough to help her family, have a
reasonable amount and buy fairly present
able clothes. The people who praise her
friend are always saying: Isn't it
strange that Lucy doesn't have more to
show for her money with the godd salary
she has?''
Now this point of view is so familiar as
to be truism but there are times when
quarrel with it. May 1 call to your mind
sentence which which 1 think 1 have
quoted before THE right use of money
is to accomplish what you wish with it,
Z Presumably both these girls want the
largest amount of happiness possible for
their money. The question is: Which gets
it? The first girl is always tied down 20
thoughts of money. Spending a quarter
bothers her. She scrimpS herself and de-
MES herself to save a dime. She gets big
things for her money and is proud of it
and boasts of it, but is it worth while? If
some of the money which she put into
that mahogany dresser-She scrimped for
it six months-had been distributed over
that six months as oil to make the ma
chinery of her daily living run more
smoothly. wouldn't she have been happier
on the whole?
The second girl never thinks of money.
She allows herself plenty to oil the ma
chinery of daily life and she gets as much
as she can out of the rest, and is content.
To be sure, she has an oak bureau in her
room instead O mahogany dresser, but
wonder IL her peace of mind and her free
dom from money worry do not make the
balance pretty nearly even
Now please do not think am advising
you to spend all your money on little
things. Pm not advising any extreme.
I'm just trying to get the opposite point
of view from the conventional one. sTa-E-i
1t is good to get the full value of your
hard earned money, but in trying to do
that do not forget that peace OF mind
and freedom from money worry are some
of the precious things of life, well as
costly furs and mahogany dresses.
Remember that there is such a thing
as thinking too constantly of saving
money and consequently claiming yourself
down to continuous thoughts of money. TO
my mind, nothing but duty or necessity
can make that worth while.