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Ambition For Show

Ambition For Show image
Parent Issue
Day
3
Month
August
Year
1860
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

One of tbc most alarming elementa n tho social life of our country, is the ex;ravagance of tho wcalthier classes, which iuduces extravagance in other classes who can ill afford it. All alikc are eager to maintain a good appearance, and this ill-judged ambition leads to speculations, to dishonesty, and to forgories, to supply resources whieb ordinary industry caimot furnish. Au exchango has some coniments worthv oí' consideraron: What a tendency therc is in this Aincrioan world of ours to value appcai an-es Mther than reaïities! One-half of our families are occupiod constantly in the struggle to keep up appearanees. The fault commcncos vcry early in the history of our families. Uur voung mechamos or merohauts marry early, and it is well tliey should do so, provided they would be oontent vvith a simple stylo of living, suiting fur.iiture, and dress, and other family expenses to their income ouly. - But the young racehanie í'eels too often, when he marries, that he must live in the same stylo the bosses do. II is wife too frequcnt'ly - a young, gay, dashimg, thoughtless girl - feels even more ambition than he does, and the pair start in life with furniture above their means. Everything then must correspond, and dress and expenses of living become extravagant. Theu follows the inevitable Bridget, vrhose waste, and board, and wages amount to a large sum. Thcn commences tho life-long struggle to kocp up appearauces. The struggle is a hard one against the wind and tide and current. - The man may work hrd and earn much, but he and his wife started wrong. I(1or the flrst yoar the wife should have done lier own work. She would have been the better for it. She should ' have been content with plainer furnituro, designed for use and Dot ornament, and he should have been content with leas luxurious eating and drinking and smoking - O, this struggle to keep up appearanoes is terrible to a young mechauic! It is a hard, hard life to be all the time striving to gain and to. keep the front seats in society when property does not warrant it. Tho young merchant, too, often makes the same mistaken. His career, his struggle and his end will be similar to that of the meubanic, upon a slightly more dangerous scale, and, generally, with a more ambitious wifo. Thero is a wrong feeling about both husband and wife, that their respectability, and even their suocess in business, will depend upon the style thoy assume The merchant is in more dangei' of shipwreek in keeping up appearances than the young mechanic. The work of tho latter furnishes an income known beforehand, while ths profits of the former are uncertain, The former will likewise labor under the constant tomptation of striving to get rich too faut, and will strain his credit to keep up appearances as a thriving merchant. Young professioual men have the snme rocks before thein in the voyage of lifo. - Many spend their whole existence in rowing against wind and tide. Their young wives, too, have more amlition, more pride of rank and station, and more of the l'oolish notions of idleness and luxury. - Few of them are fitted for their condition, and they have the sad prospect bofore them of a struggle to keep up appearances. When will men learn to be coutentcd with the station in which God bas placed themV