The prevailing evil of the present day is extravagance. I know very
well that the old are too prone to preach about modern degeneracy,
whether they have cause or not; but, laugh as we may at the sage
advice of our fathers, it is too plain that our present expensive
habits are productive of much domestic unhappiness, and injurious
to public prosperity. Our wealthy people copy all the foolish and
extravagant caprice of European fashion, without considering that we
have not their laws of inheritance among us; and that our frequent
changes of policy render property far more precarious here than in the
old world. However, it is not to the rich I would speak. They have an
undoubted right to spend their thousands as they please; and if they
spend them ridiculously, it is consoling to reflect that they must,
in some way or other, benefit the poorer classes. People of moderate
fortunes have likewise an unquestioned right to dispose of their
hundreds as they please; but I would ask, Is it _wise_ to risk your
happiness in a foolish attempt to keep up with the opulent? Of what
_use_ is the effort which takes so much of your time, and _all_ of
your income? Nay, if any unexpected change in affairs should deprive
you of a few yearly hundreds, you will find your expenses have
_exceeded_ your income; thus the foundation of an accumulating debt
will be laid, and your family will have formed habits but poorly
calculated to save you from the threatened ruin. Not one valuable
friend will be gained by living beyond your means, and old age will be
left to comparative, if not to utter poverty.
There is nothing in which the extravagance of the present day strikes
me so forcibly as the manner in which our young people of moderate
fortune furnish their houses.
A few weeks since, I called upon a farmer's daughter, who had lately
married a young physician of moderate talents, and destitute of
fortune. Her father had given her, at her marriage, all he ever
expected to give her: viz. two thousand dollars. Yet the lower part of
her house was furnished with as much splendor as we usually find among
the wealthiest. The whole two thousand had been expended upon Brussels
carpets, alabaster vases, mahogany chairs, and marble tables. I
afterwards learned that the more useful household utensils had been
forgotten; and that, a few weeks after her wedding, she was actually
obliged to apply to her husband for money to purchase baskets, iron
spoons, clothes-lines, &c.; and her husband, made irritable by the
want of money, pettishly demanded why she had bought so many things
they did not want. Did the doctor gain any patients, or she a single
friend, by offering their visiters water in richly-cut glass tumblers,
or serving them with costly damask napkins, instead of plain soft
towels? No; their foolish vanity made them less happy, and no more
respectable.
Had the young lady been content with Kidderminster carpets, and
tasteful vases of her own making, she might have put _one_ thousand
dollars at interest; and had she obtained six per cent., it would have
clothed her as well as the wife of any man, who depends merely upon
his own industry, ought to be clothed. This would have saved much
domestic disquiet; for, after all, human nature is human nature; and a
wife is never better beloved, because she teases for money.
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