Thrift is an admirable trait. The way to acquire it is to cultivate it. The way to cultivate it is to deny yourself, and faithfully lay by the money you were tempted to spend. Of course you do not lay the money by for the sake of having it to spend later on. People save money for the money, it is true. This is right because it is provident. One might fall ill, and if he had no money saved up he might become a burden upon those illy able to support him.
But the best thing about the habit of saving is the habit itself. Having the habit well fixed in one's character renders one self-controllable—in other words, thrifty. Thrift applies to more things than money-saving, for the man who saves money begins to save other things. Waste is wrong—a sin.
Did you ever know one to save on his age—that is, to lay by as many dimes or dollars each year as he is years old? Suppose you are fourteen. During that year you save $14, and with it buy a certificate of deposit, a share of stock, or something that is complete in itself—a bond that represents your age that year. Next year you are fifteen, and you buy a $15 bond. Or, if you cannot save as many dollars as you are years old, try saving as many half-dollars or dimes. Keep your money in your own name, not in the name of somebody else who happens to have a bank-book when you do not, and draw it out only when you are very sure you need it. Get your age bond first, and your luxury afterward.
If you begin at fourteen, a dollar for each year, you will have at twenty-one seven bonds, representing $119. You will also have some interest money. But you will have much more, namely, the habit of saving—systematic economy, which is an education of itself, and one which, if necessary to gain, you could well afford to throw away the $119 that you saved.
The Helping Hand.
Some kind friends in St Louis put a lemonade stand on Delaware Boulevard the other day, and as a result sent $1.50 to us for the School Fund. Two readers living in West Groton, Mass., took up a ten-cent collection among their acquaintances, and remitted $1. The William D. Moffat Chapter, of Oakland, Md., exhibited some rare manuscripts which a friend loaned them, and sent us $10.
The letter of Mr. Munroe was cordially received by the Order, and everybody praised the idea that each member be represented, so that the building would stand as a monument to the chivalry of the whole Order. Since the last report the following sums have reached us: Roderick and William J. Beebe, $2. William D. Moffat Chapter, Oakland, Md., $10. Lucy L. Verrill, $1. H. E. Banning, 40 cents. Rosaline and Edith Cline, 20 cents. E. J. and F. G., 20 cents. Carrie Wellenbrock, $1. Otto Prussack, 5 cents. Dorothy and Pineo, 5 cents. M. C. Haldeman, 25 cents. Myra F. Chapin, 10 cents. Carroll D. Murphy, 10 cents. Harold W. Bynner, 10 cents. Gerard Stafford King, 10 cents. Two devoted readers, $1. Anna E. Sibley, 26 cents. Carolyn G. Thorne, 50 cents. Ernestine Pattison, $2.50. Amy, D. A., and W. H. Bowman, Maud Ringen, Marie and Morris Sadler, Jun., $1.50. Katherine A. Waller, 25 cents.
These sums come from every part of the country, showing a wide interest. The Little Women Chapter, of Upper Nyack, N. Y., Sophie Moeller, president, is to hold a fair, and wants contributions; the members of the Order residing in Washington, D. C., and in Cincinnati. O., respectively are to have entertainments; and Mr. Kirk Munroe is to give in New York city, in November, a reading from his own books. Washington members may send word to Elizabeth W. Hyde, 1418 Euclid Place, N. W., and Cincinnati members to the Robert Louis Stevenson Chapter, J. H. Bates, Jun., 502 East Third Street.