If there were but ten thousand boxes of matches in our country, think how careful we would be not to waste one match. But few people think about so simple a matter. Yet matches are made from wood; and forests have to be cut down to make the matches we use.
Old rags and old rubber do not seem to be of any value; yet in every city there are men who grow rich by collecting them.
In some schools the children bring old newspapers on a certain day, and you would be surprised to learn how much money one school made in this way for new playground games. That was thrift.
It seems to be a very little thing to play or idle away an evening; yet it was in odd moments that some of our greatest men studied until they were well educated.
Abraham Lincoln never “lost sixty golden minutes somewhere between sunrise and sunset.”
II
You all know the story of Benjamin Franklin—how he began life as a poor boy, and how by thrift, he became later in life one of the most useful and wealthy citizens of America.
Benjamin Franklin learned great wisdom through his experiences, and he was anxious that other people might learn the same lessons; so he printed an almanac and put into it many wise sayings, which he hoped would be remembered.
He called his almanac “Poor Richard’s Almanac.” Here are a few of its wise sayings:
“For age and want, save while you may;
No morning sun lasts all the day.”“But dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.”
“A small leak will sink a ship.”
“Be ashamed to catch yourself idle.”
“Always taking out of a meal-tub and never putting in soon comes to the bottom.”
“One to-day is worth two to-morrows.”
“Many a little makes a mickle.”
“Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; that is, waste nothing.”
“No pains, no gains.”