This Department is conducted in the interest of Girls and Young Women, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question on the subject so far as possible. Correspondents should address Editor.
All this question of spending and saving money which Edith and Charlotte ask me to talk about is one that cannot be settled in a few paragraphs. It is too large. The fact is, we ought to regard money as a talent, something to be used in a responsible way, and neither wasted nor hoarded, but handled so as to bring us the best returns in profit and pleasure.
It is pleasant for a girl to earn money and feel that it is her very own. Ethel's mother is paying Ethel for teaching her little brother Eddie to play the piano, and I have no doubt that Ethel earns the money, for Eddie is a perfect flutter-budget, and does not yet realize the necessity for careful practice, and so he must be called and seated and supervised generally, every afternoon, by his young music teacher, who, being only "sister," and not a rigid disciplinarian with a severe face and stern manner, has sometimes a rather difficult time of it. When a young girl can assist her mother in some way, as, for instance, by becoming her private secretary, and looking after her mother's social duties, answering notes, taking care of an address list, and in many ways lightening her mother's burden, she ought to have a little regular salary, in acknowledgment of her services, if her mother can afford to give it to her. All daughters, I am sure, are happy to assist their mothers without payment, but when it can be given, it is a pleasant arrangement for both sides.
In earning money by the exercise of any art, as, for instance, painting on china, embroidering on linen, or designing book-covers, a girl's ambition should be to do the very best and finest work she can. She must compete with skilled workers, and she must not be satisfied with slipshod work of her own. Then, whether she be a rich or a poor girl, she must ask the price given by the best houses, not underselling other people. For instance, simply because a young girl has a nice home and no expenses to speak of, and is in want of pin-money, she should not dispose of a doily worth ten dollars for five, even if the purchaser be her aunt Mary. She has no right in any case to undersell another girl, though she may give her work away freely if she chooses.
It may be extravagant for Marjorie to take a street car, when she is quite able to walk, while it would be quite proper for Elsie to go delicately to and fro in a carriage. All this depends on circumstances, and on the margin you can honestly afford for expenses.
When you happen to meet a friend in a public conveyance, you do not pay her fare, nor does she pay yours. Each person defrays her own expenses. Never permit chance acquaintances to pay for your railway tickets, nor to be in any way out of pocket on your account.
