Occupations > Frugal housewife

MODERATE FORTUNE. 177
and rendered still more unhappy. And should
your daughters fail in forming good con¬
nexions, what have you to leave them, save
extravagant habits, too deeply rooted to be
eradicated ? Think you those who now laugh
at them for a soiled glove, or an unfashion¬
able ribbon, will assist their poverty, or cheer
their neglected old age ? No ; they would
find them as cold and selfish as they are
vain. A few thousands in the hank are
worth all the fashionable friends in Chris¬
tendom.”
Whether my friend was convinced or not,
I cannot say; but I saw her daughters on
the parade, the next week, with new French
hats and blonde veils.
It is really melancholy to see how this
fever of extravagance rages, and how it is
sapping the strength of our happy country.
It has no bounds ; it pervades all ranks, and
characterizes all ages.
I know the wife of a pavior, who spends
her one hundred a-year in “ outward adorn¬
ing,” and who will not condescend to speak
to her husband while engaged in his honest
calling.
Tradesmen, who should have too high a
sense of their own respectability to resort to
such pitiful competition, will indulge their
daughters ip dressing like the wealthiest;
and a domestic would certainly leave you,