The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1918-01-01
SAVE THE MONEY
TO SAVE YOURSELF
(By Geraldine Bonner of The vigilantes)

(By Geraldine Bonner of The Vigiantes
We have been a spendthrift people anO
we were proud of it. We were proud o
our reputation as a nation who was FIRE,
with its cash, easy on the purse strings
generous spenders When we went t.
Europe we took pleasure in surprising
our thrifty neighbors across the seas
We liked their amazement at our prodi
gality, liked to shock them by our ex
travagance open handedness" we called
it. We did things on the grand scale
scattered our dollars with lavish hand
and staggered under the attendant ap.
plause.
At home we performed in the same
way. To practice small economies was
to run the risk of being called mean, and
besides there was always money To be
made. So we squandered, educating our
selves in habits of extravaganza. Pur-
veyors of luXuries egged us on, the new
rich set standard that the conservative
hastened to follow We multiplied ways
| OF spending, outgrew comfort and de
manded luxury. Our houses were not
| good enough; il became the custom to
refurnish them. The French and English
furnish for a life time, repairing and re-
placing when the need arises. But at
ever shortening intervals we turn out the
old things and install new: "having the
house done over" is one of the popular
American pastimes.
And it is not confined to the homes of
the rich. What the top layer of society
does is copied by the lower layers. They
too refurnish and discard, keep up their
end by spending what they ought to save
and buying what they don't need. To
all sorts of little people, edging along
on, small incomes, there comes a day when
the brass bed is supplanted by'a ma
hogany four poster and the paror must
have a black rug.
In the matter of elothes~women' s.
this national weakness reaches it's high
est expression Our extravaganza in
dress is by-word and a reproach among
the nations. The girl of moderate means
tries to emulate the millionaire's daugh
ter, the saleswoman her rich customer,
the factory hand the painted beauties
that she sees on her Sunday promenade,
French and English women buy their
clothes to last. the American to wear
for season and throw away She still
TtGdids Lnt tpNNl iHES VI iti bhhS %
purely ornamental. articles of decoration
and display for which her fathers or
her husbands or her own dollars must 90
as to vital necessity.
And so it travels down the line till you
come to the spending money-the money |
in your purse, In the purses of most of
us this means a small sum-a few bills,
a little loose silver. Where does it 90 !
to? For that it goes, vanishing with the |
agility of quick silver, is the general ex-
perience. At the end of the month add |
it up and see what you have for it-gen.
orally nothing, and yet it was not such
A contemplate amount. 1t sweeps away
like stream into sand, futile output |
that has no results.
With women and children a good deal
goes on candy If in the year a wellto-
10 New York girl saved what she spent
IN candy, at the end of the time she
would have enough to take over several
French orphans. A good deal goes on
mall adornments- things bought at bar
galn sales because they are cheap, things
hat look pretty in shop windows. Some
,oes on food taken idly to pass an idle
FOUR, on the manicuTe-50 cents a week
mounts up in II months--on the hair
Iresser, on cards. 1t would be interest
ng if the card playing ladies in our
own would make public what they lost
n a season at bridge.
In a humber walk of life when the
Money in the purse is counted by pennies,
he same lack of thought shows behind
he outlay. The salesgir' buys the shod
v, perishable article that happens to be
he moments mode. The money saved
or her new shoes is spent on white
air with high heels. The French midi
cite satisfies her craving for adornment
V ribbon at her neck tied with dan-
V grace, by tasteful dressing of her
air disposed in neat and glossy coils
he has learned how to make the most
{ her looks without drawing on her
oarded pennies. She knows the value
the sou too well to waste it on white
cots. She comes from a race which is
riled in economy. has it in the blood.
II is up to each and all of us to call
alt in this habit of Needless spending.
re have played pitch and toss with our
nall change long enough, it is time for
to learn its value, time to face round
a new direction and start in on a new
me- Let us begin, not with penny