Some Sound Advice

Tho sii'ldi'n and severe finauoial preasure tlirough which we have been passing - which, though lightened now, may recur, no onn knows how soon orhow heavily- ought toremind niany families who Imvo perhaps escapee! misfortuno this tiaie to reconsider their modes of lito, and prepare lor eeasons of hard tiines that niay - that must - ncour ivgain. How many families there are who cotnmöuoe Ufe with a moderate income, but sanguine expectatious of of a rapid increase, who adopt a style of living at the outset whioh engrosses all their metms and oannot easily be reducud. Thf-y begin by expending all tho receive, possibly by in debts, instoad of immndiately commencing to savo sometliing tor the future. Their expectation is that, as yoar8 past, increasing prosperity in business will give largor income, from the surplus of which they can save for siokness and oíd age. But tho years which bring perhaps - perhapa not - an increase of income, rarely fai! to bring increased responsibilitien and additional demands. Children are. bom, and must bc maintained. Prienda and neighbors raise their iiwn style of living, and créate an apparent neoeasity for imtation. New wants arisc, and dorniant ambitions quicken and ptrengthen. Having once assumed a oertaiu social position, and been aecustomedtorngulati: theirexpendituresby what they want and enjoy, nd by what they imagine is expected of them, rather than by what they eau really afford, the bead of suoh a faiuíly feel that tbey cnnot niake a chinge without bringing discredit u]on themselves. They shrink from the very idea of doing anything to cause their friends to think they have been unsuocessful in life. So they wear a obeerful face in publie, whilo with calm despair thoy wateh their growing load of debt, convinced that uniess unexpected hel'p come thfy must inevitably sink ander it. Misfortunes do not come unexpectedly uponsuoh households- they are simply borne down by n overwholming weight. But the final shock finds them with warped nattires and depressed spirits ; and they vainly regret that they have lost substantial comfort, and happiness themselves, and endangered the prospects of their children. Too often the hnsband and wife indulge in rnutuitl recrimination ; and, as a natural result, he becomes careless in hahits and reckless in conduct, whilo she sinks into a Hstless morbid, discontonted state. Poverty soon sets its mark upon all the arrangements of such a household - poverty of the most painful kind, the shabby genteel. It is far easier to fall iuto the condition of genteel poverty than to rise from it ; though in America, where changes are easily made, where new avenues of industry are constantly opening, and new homes daily developing in Western regions, those who clearly see and resol-itely abandon past errors muy, if the oapacity for useful work and frugal life is not lost, retrievc almost any coudition more cotnpletely than would be possible in the fixed social conditions of European life. But how much better tocommence aright, restricting early style and expenditure, thus securing from the beginning a gradual and steady accumulation '.