Another word before we have done.  “If,” said Nasmyth, “I were to try to compress into one sentence the whole of the experience I have had during an active and successful life, and offer it to young men as a rule and certain receipt for success in any station, it would be composed in these words—­’Duty first! Pleasure second!’ From what I have seen of young men and their after-progress, I am satisfied that what is generally termed ‘bad fortune,’ ‘ill luck,’ and ‘misfortune,’ is in nine cases out of ten, simply the result of inverting the above simple maxim.  Such experience as I have had, convinces me that absence of success arises in the great majority of cases from want of self-denial and want of common sense.  The worst of all maxims is ’Pleasure first! Work and Duty second!”

CHAPTER VI.

METHODS OF ECONOMY.

“It was with profound wisdom that the Romans called by the same name courage and virtue.  There is in fact no virtue, properly so called, without victory over ourselves; and what cost us nothing, is worth nothing.”—­De Maistre.

“Almost all the advantages which man possesses above the inferior animals, arise from his power of acting in combination with his fellows; and of accomplishing by the united efforts of numbers what could not be accomplished by the detached efforts of indivduals.”—­J.S.  Mill.

“For the future, our main security will be in the wider diffusion of Property, and in all such measures as will facilitate this result.  With the possession of property will come Conservative instincts, and disinclination for rash and reckless schemes....  We trust much, therefore, to the rural population becoming Proprietors, and to the urban population becoming Capitalists.”—­W.R.  Greg.

The methods of practising economy are very simple.  Spend less than you earn.  That is the first rule.  A portion should always be set apart for the future.  The person who spends more than he earns, is a fool.  The civil law regards the spendthrift as akin to the lunatic, and frequently takes from him the management of his own affairs.

The next rule is to pay ready money, and never, on any account, to run into debt.  The person who runs into debt is apt to get cheated; and if he runs into debt to any extent, he will himself be apt to get dishonest.  “Who pays what he owes, enriches himself.”

The next is, never to anticipate uncertain profits by expending them before they are secured.  The profits may never come, and in that case you will have taken upon yourself a load of debt which you may never get rid of.  It will sit upon your shoulders like the old man in Sinbad.

Another method of economy is, to keep a regular account of all that you earn, and of all that you expend.  An orderly man will know beforehand what he requires, and will be provided with the necessary means for obtaining it.  Thus his domestic budget will be balanced; and his expenditure kept within his income.