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HINTS TO PERSONS OF MODERATE FORTUNE
[FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE MASSACHUSETTS JOURNAL.]
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When clouds are seen, wise men put on their cloaks.--SHAKSPEARE.
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FURNITURE.
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.
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