Behold there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand.
--I Kings, XVIII, 44.
Franklin says that, if you know how to spend less than
you get, you have the philosopher's stone. Cicero, many hundreds of
years before Ben Franklin said: "Economy is of itself a great revenue,"
and another Roman writer put it still better when he said: "There is no
gain so certain as that which arises from sparing what you have."
"Beware of small expenses," again writes Franklin; "a small leak will
sink a great ship." In our large cities there are thousands of servant
girls earning from two and a half to three dollars a week. The men who
employ them often get from twenty-five to one hundred dollars per week,
yet it is a notorious fact that the prudent servant girl usually has
more money at her command, clear of all debts, than her employer, whose
expenses scrape very closely against his income. Now you are on a salary
in a store. Perhaps that salary is yours, to spend as you see fit. If
so, remember that, like the highest officer in the land, you have
certain duties. If you were President you could not appoint your old
schoolmate Secretary of State unless he had made as much progress in
politics as yourself. So, too,