Occupations > Frugal housewife

145
HINTS TO PEKSONS, &C.
fortunes have likewise an unquestioned
right to dispose of their hundreds as they
please; hut I would ask, Is it wise to risk
your happiness in a foolish attempt to keep
up with the opulent ? Of what use is the
effort which takes so much of your time,
and all of your income ? Nay, if any unex¬
pected change in affairs should deprive you
of a few yearly hundreds, you will find your
expenses have exceeded your income ; thus
the foundation of an accumulating debt will
he laid, and your family will have formed
habits but poorly calculated to save you
from the threatened ruin. Not one valua¬
ble friend will be gained by living beyond
your means, and old age will he left to com¬
parative, if not to utter poverty.
There is nothing in which the extrava¬
gance of the present day strikes me so for¬
cibly as the manner in which our young
people of moderate fortune furnish their
houses.
A few weeks since, I called upon a farmer’s
daughter, who had lately married a young
physician of moderate talents, and desti¬
tute of fortune. Her father had given her,
at her marriage, all he ever expected to
give her : viz. five hundred pounds. Yet
the lower part of her house was furnished
with as much splendour as we usually find
among the wealthiest. The whole five
hundred had been expended upon Brussels