buy merely enough to get along with at first, and add other things by
degrees. It is only by experience that you can tell what will be the
wants of your family. If you spend all your money, you will find you
have purchased many things you do not actually want, and have no means
left to get many things which you do want. If you have enough, and
more than enough, to get everything suitable to your situation, do not
think you must spend all, you may be able to lay out in furniture,
merely because you happen to have it. Begin humbly. As riches
increase, it is easy and pleasant to increase in comforts; but it is
always painful and inconvenient to decrease. Neatness, tastefulness,
and good sense may be shown in the management of a small household,
and the arrangement of a little furniture, as well as upon a larger
scale. The consideration which many purchase by living beyond their
income, and, of course, living upon others, is not worth the trouble
it costs. It does not, in fact, procure a man valuable friends, or
extensive influence.