CHAP. V.

PECUNIARY AFFAIRS.

"It is the fate of almost every passion, when it has passed the bounds which nature prescribes, to counteract its own purposes." RAMBLER.

THERE is no subject which produces more frequent altercations in families than pecuniary affairs a tendency to parsimony on one side, and to prodigality on the other, cannot but occasion disputes between parents and children. A love of profusion either evidences much inexperience, or it proves that even experience has failed to produce its proper effect. They who are incessantly draining their parents of money to defray superfluous expenses, have not yet considered how easily property is dissipated by imperceptible degrees: they have not been in the habit of calculating for the future, and have no thought beyond present gratification. It is

the attribute of prudence to "foresee the evil, while the simple pass on and are punished." To be indifferent to our future prospects, is folly; to sacrifice the interests of near relatives to personal gratification, is selfish and cruel while children, perhaps, have no apprehension that they are doing so, their parents may have well-grounded fears on the subject, quite sufficient to account for their remonstrances and their resistance.

That an expensive style of dress is one of the principal drains of property among our own sex, needs not to be proved: much is it to the disgrace of the matronly character, that mothers are frequently no less eager than their daughters to gratify this idle passion: and what is ultimately gained by indulging it? In what higher estimation do dressy women stand with the wise and good, with those whose opinions are of value? Taste may harmonise the colours and adjust the drapery, and symmetry of form may display the whole to advantage, while the mind does not perhaps at all correspond with the external appearance: there may exist neither symmetry nor harmony there,-its scanty

furniture too plainly indicating that it has occupied by far the least proportion of attention. While the outside show might gain admittance into the gayest circles, the mind may have been so far neglected as to be utterly unfit for the society of the cultivated, the polite, and the better informed of either sex; and still less qualified to find resources in itself in the hours of solitude and retirement, in the absence of a vain and alluring world.

Of such characters it might be justly inquired, "Wherefore will ye spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which satisfieth not?" What rational mind but must deplore the accumulated mischiefs of this fatal propensity? Shall it not be for a lamentation? In numberless instances it has prevented its fair victims from attaining those useful acquirements which their extravagance has rendered doubly nècessary in future life. Nor can this be a solitary passion; it brings up many similar evils in its train, all equally inimical to sterling excellence of character and to happiness; for upon such persons Providence does not eventually

:

smile of trivial and unworthy objects, pursued to excess, their votaries will one day have to exclaim," All is vanity and vexation of spirit." Even in present gratifications of this nature there is much alloy-a worm nibbling at the root of the very choicest of them: and it will be well if every sigh fetched from the bosom of a parent by unreasonable exactions, be not repaid by a briny tear, wrung either from painful recollections, or from the pressure of present misfortunes.

It is hoped, however, that to many young readers such remonstrances are not applicable; or that where there exists an inclination to unnecessary expense, a reasonable expostulation will be sufficient to restrain it. Let every one aim at a wise medium. The very few persons who pass the other extreme, and become careless of external appearances, betray an equal error of judgment: a decent conformity to our circumstances, and to the society with which we rank, is neither unreasonable nor dangerous.

It must, however, be acknowledged that children are not always chargeable with the whole blame of domestic disputes even on

this subject; some of them have to endure severe trials, from the unreasonable parsimony of their parents: and where this is the case, it has a hopeless aspect, because covetousness is a vice rarely indeed extirpated in advanced life. An appeal to the reason, to the feelings, or even to the experience of the money-loving is fruitless.

The discord produced among the nearest relatives by the love of money, proves it to be indeed "the root of all evil."

"Gold begets in brothers hate,

Gold in families debate."

Many whose feelings would revolt at those heathen parents who used to sacrifice their offspring to idols, make some advances towards the crime they condemn, when their fondness for gold impels them to sacrifice to it the happiness of those dependent on them: for "covetousness is idolatry." To withhold the means of enjoying those advantages in society which belong to their circumstances and their age, is unjust and cruel. Let it be repeated-the morning of life should be held saered by parents, as well as the evening of it