Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-05-02

might have uuarreled in the jungle
over a cocoanut shell drinking cup,
or cudgel to belabor an enemy, they
are throwing away something that
money cannot buy.
= Love, trust, comradeship and the
blessed responsibility shared in the
care of children are gifts of God
that all the money in the United
States Treasury cannot buy. They
are the best things in life, the
most uplifting forces in the world,
Money household goods, clothes,
jewelry and success come; in ac-
quiring them we realize how much
more alluring was their pursuit
than the actual possession But
love and trust endure till the end,
if they are not ruthlessly done to
death.
In an extreme case, like that of
the woman who wrote me, doubt
less the ingrained habits of squeez-
ing every penny till 1t does the
T work of two, necessary to lift man
from poverty to success, leaves its
imprint on the character of the in
dividual. In this case it seems TO
have left so much of avarice that It
is difficult to find anything of the real
man.
Love OF Money ISuFpS All
The boarding of money takes the
place of wife and child; there is no
JOY in life comparable to juggling
money that it may yield few
more pennies to be invested, put
in the bank, the old worstcd stock
ing, or wherever else the miser
keeps the darling of his heart
Take the case of our most IA
hn 90 fNfn irNE of
finance of a generation ago. The
boarding of money, even pennies,
had become pathological with him,
he could not bring himself to
spend, even if he knew that hoard
ing for a week, or a month, or even
a year longer, would cost him
thousand-fold in the end.
The papers made much of this
story at the time it happened. The
door bell of his bleak home was
of the old-fashioned type that has
to be pulled instead of pressed. 1t
had long been out of order, and his
wife, visitors and the servants con-
tinued to report to the head of the
house the inconvenience of it's lack
of repair.
He Preferred to Take the Risk
But the old gentleman could not
be made to spend the dollar that
would put it in order. He pre-
ferred to give the bell the mighty
jerk that was required to make it
heard.
Coming home from Wall Street
one day, he pulled the balky bell
as usual. The rusty wire broke, and
the capitalist went sprawling back
ward down his brownstone steps.
When the specialists had finished
patching and mending him, their
bills amounted to several thousands,
and the bell had to be repaired in
to the bargain. Curiously enough, he
did not complain over the colossal
expenditure; he paid it as another
man of his class would buy a rare
picture or tapestry. When it came
to a showdown, he was willing to
pay the price for his pet weakness,
that is, "Never to spend a penny til
actually driven to it,"
Saving Not Vice of Americans
Saving is certainly not the vice OF
the American people, especially the
women, who spend more money on
their clothes. it is alleged, than all
the women of Europe put together.
What would our grandmother,
with that sole black silk dress -
that was inherited from generation
to generation - think of those di-
aphanous fabrics, those chiffons
and gauzes, that we feel we must
have in such profusion these days?
Undoubtedly our point of view
has changed very materially since
grandma solemnly bequeathed. her
best black silk and her mink furs
TO her favorite daughter. In those
days no one would have dreamed
of altering furs; they were as final
in cut and shape as death and taxes.
but now We tear up our furs and
have them made over every season.
Are we any happier than was
grandma with her gentle placidity
and her one black silk frock? I
doubt it. And certainly the inces-
SAINT demand for money and the re-
fusal and ensuing alterations are
at the bottom of much unrest in our
domestic life.
But the war is gradually reform
ing us, and the new impetus to
thrift given us by the Liberty Bond
drive may save us from one of our
least commendable tendencies.