TWO SIDES TO A QUESTION.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 240, 3 July 1908, Page 5

TWO SIDES TO A QUESTION.

The present generation, is constantly accused of extravagance, yet, perhaps, never before has it been so' much tho. fashion to boast, of .economy. . Not twenty years ago (says an English writer)- it was considered .bad form to speak of money; now people never talk without complaining of their poverty. . Formerly one strove all one could to appear rich;-now one strives all one can to appear poor. And tho habit thrives, sinco it excuses occasions to display hospitality); generosity, or even common courtesy... When we' spend wo do io exclusively on ourselves, for this—it cannot be suiliciently deplored— is an. eminently practical age, . ' This ostentation of poverty saves people all . the trouble which in. days gono by was considered a pleasurable, duty; for instance, receiving one s friends with .any degree of ceremony,. little attentions on tho part of bachelors towards hostesses and towards young'girls, and the hundred and one occasions giving pleasure to others. Everything can'be exaggerated. : Thus, in tho United States, I believe, present-giving is a perfect tax on bachelors, and American women always complain of the meanness of European men. lam beginning to think .that they arc-a little justified.