Spare Half-hours.

Otago Witness, Issue 1548, 9 July 1881, Page 26

Spare Half-hours.

By H. Lapham,

THRIFT. —(Concluded.)

There is another very common and fertile source of poverty amongst the working class in these colonies, and that is the false shame of not liking to be considered laborers for hire, — the desire to become their own masters.

The relation between masters and servants in the colonies is most unsatisfactory. Servants take not the slightest interest in the welfare or property of those who employ them. So long as their wages are forfchoom. ing they care for nothing else. They have no ambition to keep ther place j characters are neither asked for nor given. In a word, servants degrade themselves into mere machines, and masters look upon them as nothing more. I am aware that there are many, and honourable exceptions on both sides, but I refer to the generality, As soon as possible the laborer seeks to gratify his highest ambition and become his own master. Properly considered, the ambition is a worthy and laudable one ; it is natural that a man should try to possess himself of a home whioh shall enable him to labour for his own benefit, and to have the comfort of a wife by his side, and ohildren growing up about him.

But young men do not, unfortunately, always pause to consider what these things cost. A man takes up land, puts up a hovel thereon, and has the dignity of being ' his own boss.' No man shall order him to do this or that, to work harder, or longer, or more continuously than he pleases. But in the majority of cases these young fellows have never saved one penny ; they have no capital to fence, to cultivate, or to build, or buy stock, and the farm is mortgaged to pay preliminary expenses, and so begins a load of debt which is sometimes never shaken off. Their house is a mere make-shift hat ; their land is unmanured, cropped and recropped, till it is exhausted ; their stock are poor and ill-bred, and are not worth selling ; their wife i» a miserable, heart-broken drudge their ohildren rough, uneducated, small slaves. The man himself grows sour with disappointment, weary with the incubus of an 6ver-inoreasing debt, a morose, gloomy, whining, hopeless creature. But if he had only been content to work on steadily with a master for, cay 10 > eura, he could have had a little capital to start with, and would no doubt have been a happy, prosperous man, for scarcely any farm laborer gets less than L4O per aanum ; the majority, considerably more. But even out of the smaller sum, a man who has an ambition to start for himself and ia also thrifty Bhould easily put by L3O a year. He begins, let us say, to save at five-asd-tweaty — ia 10 years' time he ia in the prime of life, and li&s the very sufficient capital of 1300 to help him on his way. The popular cry just now is, throw open the land to the people, but if the people who take np the land are not Raving, industrious, and with at least a little capital, they inevitably will become overworked, poor, indebted, small farmers, who can be of. use neither to themselves nor others,

I have a sincere respect for tho * honest working-man,' when he is such, but one of the claus I have ltferrod to is just the opposite. He is dishonest to the Government which gives him lbiid at the easiest terms, expect;, ing him to improve it and increase lto worth. He is dishonest to him&elf by throwing away the Bubßtanca of a sure livelihood tor the shadow of being his own m&ater j he is dishonest to the wife whom he has promised to (support in comfort, by degrading her into an unpaid, overwo ked slave; and he ia dishonest to his family, since ho fails to give them a fair e<lacatiou, time to learn, and the blessing of a prosperous, happy home. Nor we female domestics, much wiser in the matters of thrift and eojnomy. A woman has, by universal allowance, a right to be more particular in her dress than a man. It is part of a woman's duty to always look comely, by which I do not mean only neat, but with such simple adornment as a bright ribbon, a becoming gown, or a nicely trimmed hat. A woman ia nothing if Bhe ia not attractive, and, the plainest woman may become bo with a little care. An to ugly women, I do not bdieve any woman need be that; who cares to drees decently and suitably. Unfortunately, our colonial domestios are not content with being simply and prettily dressed. Nothing will suffice them bub having gowns of superfine material, made in the extreme of the prevailing fashion, with brooches, ringe, ear-drops, gloves, parasols — everything, in fact, as like their mistresses as possible — the difference being that the mistresses can afford such extravagances and still have money to spend j the maids exhaust all their wages and have nothing to lay by. But if they can only out' dress their friends tfeeir ambi^on ia satisfied, ft n.eyer enters

into their calculations that ill-health may come and prevent them from earning a living, nor do they pause to consider how pleaßant a few pounds then would be. They never seem to think that a woman who herself is thrifty is the more likely to get a husband who ia hard-working and economical. Men are not fools enough to throw away their savings upon a woman whose one aim is to wear long-trained dresses and flash jewellery. Drpend upon it, the advice of the Northern farmer is applicable to both sexes : ' Doan't marry for money, but go where money is.' Surely a woman must feel pleased, if she really loves a man, that she does not come to him altogether emptyhanded,

Surely a man will respect his wife the more, and love her none the loss, beoause she has a little capital to help them in their mutual start in life. But a woman who has no forethought, no thrift, no idea of looking forward to woman's beat aiid noblest destiny—that of wife and mother — whose sole objeot is to dress fiuely and to ' strell ' her costly sliks and satins in the dust after the fashion of foolish, fine ladies, is a dishonour to the name of a woman. On the other hand a woman who has the habit of economy will certainly be a blessing to the man who is lucky enough to marry her. She will be able to furnish her future home comfortably, and though a husband may not say much about it, be sure he Appreciates all a good wife does for him. He may not notice details, but he will know that hia home ia always more pleasant than any other house he goes into. He will know that though his wife is always able to put on a nice drees she is not always bothering for money, and there mil be no secret bills. He will know that his children are always neat and tidy, patohed though their clothes may be. He will know, and thank God, that his wife is a orown of honour to him, and that he is one of the happiest men alive. There are many servants who work hard enough for their masters, but never give a thought to their own welfare in the future. But the servant who is economical and thrifty for himself will be the same for his master. Shakespeare never wrote truer words than these :

'To thine own self be true, and it will follow as the night the day. Thou oan'st not then be false to any man.'