This, however, is not the usual practice. The young man now spends, or
desires to spend, quite as liberally, and often much more liberally,
than his father, who is about to end his career. He begins life where
his father left off. He spends more than his father did at his age, and
soon finds himself up to his ears in debt. To satisfy his incessant
wants, he resorts to unscrupulous means, and to illicit gains. He tries
to make money rapidly; he speculates, over-trades, and is speedily wound
up. Thus he obtains experience; but it is the result, not of well-doing,
but of ill-doing.

Socrates recommends fathers of families to observe the practice of their
thrifty neighbours--of those who spend their means to the best
advantage,--and to profit by their example. Thrift is essentially
practical, and can best be taught by facts. Two men earn, say, five
shillings a day. They are in precisely the same condition as respects
family living, and expenditure Yet the one says he cannot save, and does
not; while the other says he can save, and regularly deposits part of
his savings in a savings bank, and eventually becomes a capitalist.

Samuel Johnson fully knew the straits of poverty. He once signed his
name _Impransus_, or _Dinnerless_. He had walked the streets with
Savage, not knowing where to lay his head at night. Johnson never forgot
the poverty through which he passed in his early life, and he was always
counselling his friends and readers to avoid it. Like Cicero, he averred
that the best source of wealth or well-being was economy. He called it
the daughter of Prudence, the sister of Temperance, and the mother of
Liberty. his mind, his character. Self-respect, originating in
self-love, instigates the first step of improvement. It stimulates a man
to rise, to look upward, to develop his intelligence, to improve his
condition. Self-respect is the root of most of the virtues--of