have already done, all other men _may_ do. Nor is thrift a painful
virtue. On the contrary, it enables us to avoid much contempt and many
indignities. It requires us to deny ourselves, but not to abstain from
any proper enjoyment. It provides many honest pleasures, of which
thriftlessness and extravagance deprive us.

Let no man say that he cannot economize. There are few persons who could
not contrive to save a few shillings weekly. In twenty years, three
shillings saved weekly would amount to two hundred and forty pounds; and
in ten years more, by addition of interest, to four hundred and twenty
pounds. Some may say that they cannot save nearly so much. Well! begin
with two shillings, one shilling, or even sixpence. Begin somewhere;
but, at all events, make a beginning. Sixpence a week, deposited in the
savings bank, will amount to forty pounds in twenty years, and seventy
pounds in thirty years. It is the _habit_ of economizing and denying
oneself that needs to be formed.

Thrift does not require superior courage, nor superior intellect, nor
any superhuman virtue. It merely requires common sense, and the power of
resisting selfish enjoyments. In fact, thrift is merely common sense in
every-day working action. It needs no fervent resolution, but only a
little patient self-denial. BEGIN is its device! The more the habit of
thrift is practised, the easier it becomes; and the sooner it
compensates the self-denier for the sacrifices which it has imposed.

The question may be asked,--Is it possible for a man working for small
wages to save anything, and lay it by in a savings bank, when he
requires every penny for the maintenance of his family? But the fact
remains, that it _is_ done by many industrious and sober men; that they
do deny themselves, and put their spare earnings into savings banks, and