There is one
thing that may be say of Benevolence,--that it has never ruined anyone;
though selfishness and dissipation have ruined thousands.
The words "Waste not, want not," carved in stone over Sir Walter Scott's
kitchen fireplace at Abbotsford, expresses in a few words the secret of
Order in the midst of abundance. Order is most useful in the management
of everything,--of a household, of a business, of a manufactory, of an
army. Its maxim is--A place for everything, and everything in its place.
Order is wealth; for, whoever properly regulates the use of his income,
almost doubles his resources. Disorderly persons are rarely rich; and
orderly persons are rarely poor.
Order is the best manager of time; for unless work is properly arranged,
Time is lost; and, once lost, it is gone for ever. Order illustrates
many important subjects. Thus, obedience to the moral and natural law,
is order. Respect for ourselves and our neighbours, is order. Regard for
the rights and obligations of all, is order. Virtue is order. The world
began with order. Chaos prevailed, before the establishment of order.
Thrift is the spirit of order in human life. It is the prime agent in
private economy. It preserves the happiness of many a household. And as
it is usually woman who regulates the order of the household, it is
mainly upon her that the well-doing of society depends. It is therefore
all the more necessary that she should early be educated in the habit
and the virtue of orderliness.
The peer, the merchant, the clerk, the artizan, and the labourer, are
all of the same nature, born with the same propensities and subject to
similar influences. They are, it is true, born in different positions,
but it rests with themselves whether they shall live their lives nobly
or vilely. They may not have their choice of riches or poverty; but they
have their choice of being good or evil,--of being worthy or worthless.
People of the highest position, in point of culture and education, have
often as great privations to endure as the average of working people.
They have often to make their incomes go much further. They have to keep
up a social standing. They have to dress better; and live sufficiently
well for the purpose of health. Though their income may be less than
that of colliers and iron-workers, they are under the moral necessity of
educating their sons and bringing them up as gentlemen, so that they may
take their fair share of the wor
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