$100), into open-work hose at twenty-five cents a pair (the original
$10 a pair), into willow plumes at $1.19 (the original sold at $50),
never have a durable or suitable garment. They are bravely ornamented,
but never properly clothed. Moreover, they are brave but for a day.
Their purchases have no goodness in them; they tear, grow rusty, fall
to pieces with the first few wearings, and the poor little victims are
shabby and bedraggled often before they have paid for their
belongings, for many of these things are bought on the installment
plan, particularly hats and gowns. Under these circumstances, it is
little wonder that one hears, often and often among their class, the
bitter cry, "Gee, but it's hell to be poor!"--that one finds so often
assigned by a girl as the cause of her downfall, the natural
reason--"Wanted to dress like other girls"--"Wanted pretty clothes."

This habit of buying poor imitations does not end in the girl's life
with her clothes. When she marries, she carries it into her home.
Decoration, not furnishing, is the keynote of all she touches. It is
she who is the best patron of the elaborate and monstrous cheap
furniture, rugs, draperies, crockery, bric-a-brac, which fill the
shops of the cheaper quarters of the great cities, and usually all
quarters of the newer inland towns.

Has all this no relation to national prosperity--to the cost of
living? The effect on the victim's personal budget is clear--the
effect it has on the family budget, which it dominates, is clear. In
both cases nothing of permanent value is acquired. The good linen
undergarments, the "all wool" gown, the broadcloth cape or coat, those
standard garments which the thrifty once acquired and cherished, only
awaken the mirth of the pretty little spendthrift on $8 a week. Solid
pieces of furniture such as often dignify even the huts of European
peasants and are passed down from mother to daughter for
generations--are objects of contempt by the younger generation here.
Even the daughters of good old New England farmers are found to-day
glad to exchange mahogany for quartered oak and English pewter for
pressed glass and stamped crockery. True, another generation may come
in and buy it all back at fabulous prices, but the waste of it!

This production of shoddy cloth, cotton laces, cheap furniture, what
is it but waste! Waste of labor and material! Time and money and
strength which might have been turned to producing things of perma