Mrs. Inchbald, author of the “Simple Story,” was, by dint of thrift, able to set apart the half of her small income for the benefit of her infirm sister.  There was thus about two pounds a week for the maintenance of each.  “Many times,” she says, “during the winter, when I was crying with cold, have I said to myself, ’Thank God, my dear sister need not leave her chamber; she will find her fire ready for her each morning; for she is now far less able than I am to endure privation.’” Mrs. Inchbald’s family were, for the most part very poor; and she felt it right to support them during their numerous afflictions.  There is one thing that may be say of Benevolence,—­that it has never ruined anyone; though selfishness and dissipation have ruined thousands.

The words “Waste not, want not,” carved in stone over Sir Walter Scott’s kitchen fireplace at Abbotsford, expresses in a few words the secret of Order in the midst of abundance.  Order is most useful in the management of everything,—­of a household, of a business, of a manufactory, of an army.  Its maxim is—­A place for everything, and everything in its place.  Order is wealth; for, whoever properly regulates the use of his income, almost doubles his resources.  Disorderly persons are rarely rich; and orderly persons are rarely poor.

Order is the best manager of time; for unless work is properly arranged, Time is lost; and, once lost, it is gone for ever.  Order illustrates many important subjects.  Thus, obedience to the moral and natural law, is order.  Respect for ourselves and our neighbours, is order.  Regard for the rights and obligations of all, is order.  Virtue is order.  The world began with order.  Chaos prevailed, before the establishment of order.

Thrift is the spirit of order in human life.  It is the prime agent in private economy.  It preserves the happiness of many a household.  And as it is usually woman who regulates the order of the household, it is mainly upon her that the well-doing of society depends.  It is therefore all the more necessary that she should early be educated in the habit and the virtue of orderliness.

The peer, the merchant, the clerk, the artizan, and the labourer, are all of the same nature, born with the same propensities and subject to similar influences.  They are, it is true, born in different positions, but it rests with themselves whether they shall live their lives nobly or vilely.  They may not have their choice of riches or poverty; but they have their choice of being good or evil,—­of being worthy or worthless.

People of the highest position, in point of culture and education, have often as great privations to endure as the average of working people.  They have often to make their incomes go much further.  They have to keep up a social standing.  They have to dress better; and live sufficiently well for the purpose of health.  Though their income may be less than that of colliers and iron-workers, they are under the moral necessity of educating their sons and bringing them up as gentlemen, so that they may take their fair share of the world’s work.