The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1916-11-19
TALKS ON THRIFT
The Art of Doing Without

AS time goes by the virtue of self denial
is more and more apparent, and the art
of doing without more needed. The So
cial destinations of today, the craze for
dress, amusements, recreation, AUTOMOBILE
ing-all the glitter and attractions Of a
materialistic age-call loudly for self con-
troll, self denial and careful living And
those who try to keep pace with the
crowd set a pace that kills.
No man ever succeeds who does not
learn to do without. The very basis OF
religion, of good conduct, or good char
acter lies in the virtue of self control.
1t is the highest evidence of self mas
terry and the foundation of all social and
business success.
Did you ever stop to watch a crowd
around street fakir selling some article
OF household use-a potato peeler, for in
stance? How he persuaded the men that
their wives could not peel potatoes with
out it, found ready purchasers who laid
down their quarters, marched home and
presented the article with pride and
righteous feeling of helping wife in her
daily labor only to find her peeling po-
tatoes the same old way the next day?
We listen to argument. We persuade
ourselves. We are easily convinced that
we need, in fact must have, many things
that we might well do without. We see
things in the shop windows that appeal
We read alluring ads until our resisting
power breaks down. We go bargain hunt
ing until we are loaded down with things
we cannot use. IL like to go shopping"
said woman one day, Il see so many
things I do not need And that is a finer
art than buying a lot of things you will
be sorry for.
Doing without may be difficult at times,
but it gets you somewhere. All successful
careers are built upon it. Saving money
and doing without is a painful process,
but the results are mighty pleasant Sac
rifice was never easy and self denial
never popular. But you can't have the
big things Of life if you insist upon hav-
ing thousands of little things all the time
The boy who wants bicycle must do
without candy and soda and the like, but
he knows his wheel will give him lasting
pleasures that overbalance the little sac
rifices. Saving for a purpose is not diff
ficult, andsself denial for larger pleasures
becomes joy. 1t is easy to follow the
line of least resistance-to do the easy
thing, to follow the crowd. But follow
ing crowds brings you to no desirable
goal
1t is splendid achievement-this doing
without and few learn it. But the struc-
ture it builds is lasting one and beau
tiful. And the pitiful fact is that if you
do not learn to do without now. there
may come a time when you have to do
without. and then it will be too late. That
is the lesson of the poorhouse and the
bread line. And as sure as you practice
the sin of self qualification and ignore
the virtue of self control. listen to the
lure of the shop window. the amusement
column, the appeal that is on every hand
to spend. and let yourself go, you too
will join crowd that is sliding down
hill to nowhere, only to get hard bump
at the bottom, when it is too late to
amend and wake up to vain regrets Get
the thrift habit now-and thrift Is just
doing without until doing without be-
comes a habit that has untold blessings in
store for those who practice it.