Fly pleasures, and they will follow | 'If you would be wealthy, think of you. The diligent spinner has a large saving, as well as of getting. The Inshift; and now I have a sheep and a dies have not made Spain rich, because cow, every body bids me good-morrow.' her outgoes are greater than her in2. But with our industry we must comes.' likewise be steady, settled, and careful, and oversee our own affairs with our own eyes, and not trust too much to others; for, as poor Richard says, I never saw an oft-removed tree, That throve so well as those that settled be. And again, 'three removes are as bad as a fire; and again, 'keep thy shop, and thy shop will keep thee;' and again, 'if you would have your business done, go; if not, send.' And again, He that by the plough would thrive, And again, 'the eye of a master will do more work than both his hands;' and again, 'want of care does us more damage than want of knowledge;' and again, 'not to oversee workmen, is to leave them your purse open.' Trusting too much to others' care is the ruin of many; for, 'in the affairs of this world, men are saved, not by faith, but by the want of it;' but a man's own care is profitable; for, 'if you would have a faithful servant, and one that you like, serve yourself. A little neglect may breed great mischief; for want of a nail the shoe was lost, and for want of a shoe the horse was lost, and for want of a horse the rider was lost,' being overtaken and slain by the enemy; all for want of a little care about a horse-shoe nail. 3. So much fo industry, my friends, and attention to one's own business; but to these we must add frugality, if we would make our industry more successful. A man may, if he knows not how to save as he gets, 'keep his nose all his life to the grindstone, and die not worth a groat at last. A fat kitchen makes a lean will;' and Many estates are spent in the getting, Since women for tea forsook spinning and knit ting, And men for punch forsook hewing and splitting. 'Away, then, with your expensive follies, and you will not then have so much cause to complain of hard times, heavy taxes, and chargeable families; for Women and wine, game and deceit, Make the wealth small, and the want great. And farther, 'what maintains one vice, would bring up two children.' You may think, perhaps, that a little tea, or a little punch now and then, diet a little more costly, clothes a little finer, and a little entertainment now and then, can be no great matter; but remember, 'many a little makes a mickle.' Beware of little expenses; 'a small leak will sink a great ship,' as poor Richard says; and again, 'who dainties love, shall beggars prove; and moreover, 'fools make feasts, and wise men eat them.' 'Here you are all got together to this sale of fineries and nick-nacks. You call them goods; but, if you do not take care, they will prove evils to some of you. You expect they will be sold cheap, and perhaps they may, for less than they cost; but, if you have no occasion for them, they must be dear to you. Remember what poor Richard says, 'buy what thou hast no need of, and ere long thou shalt sell thy necessaries.' And again, 'at a great pennyworth pause a while.' He means, that perhaps the cheapness is apparent only, and not real; or the bargain, by straitening thee in thy business, may do thee more harm than good. For in another place he says, 'many have been ruined by buying good penny-worths.' Again, it is foolish to lay out money in a purchase of repentance;' and yet this folly is practised every day at auctions, for want of minding the almanac. Many a one, for the sake of finery on the back, have gone with a hungry belly, and half starved their families; 'silks and satins, scarlet and velvets, put out the kitchen fire,' as poor Richard says. These are not the FRANKLIN. necessaries of life, they can scarcely be called the conveniences; and yet, only because they look pretty, how many want to have them? By these and other extravagancies, the genteel are reduced to poverty, and forced to borrow of those whom they formerly despised, but who, through industry and frugality, have maintained their standing; in which case it appears plainly, that 'a ploughman on his legs is higher than a gentleman on his knees, as poor Richard says. Perhaps they have had a small estate left them, which they knew not the getting of; they think it is day, and never will be night;' that a little to be spent out of so much is not worth minding; but 'always taking out of the meal-tub, and never putting in, soon comes to the bottom,' as poor Richard says; and then, 'when the well is dry, they know the worth of water.' But this they might have known before, if they had taken his advice: 'if you would know the value of money, go and try to borrow some; for he that goes a-borrowing goes a-sorrowing,' as poor Richard says; and indeed so does he that lends to such people, when he goes to get it in again. Poor Dick farther advises, and says, 607, of appearance, for which so much is risked, so much is suffered? It cannot promote health, nor ease pain; it makes no increase of merit in the person; it creates envy, it hastens misfortunes. 'But what madness must it be to run in debt for these superfluities! We are offered, by the terms of this sale, six months credit; and that, perhaps, has induced some of us to attend it, because we cannot spare the ready money, and hope now to be fine without it. But ah! think what you do when you run in debt; you give to another power over your liberty. If you cannot pay at the time, you will be ashamed to see your creditor, you will be in fear when you speak to him, you will make poor, pitiful, sneaking excuses, and, by degrees, come to lose your veracity, and sink into base, downright lying: for, the second vice is lying, the first is running in debt,' as poor Richard says; and again, to the same purpose, lying rides upon debt's back; whereas a freeborn Englishman ought not to be ashamed nor afraid to see or speak to any man living. But poverty often deprives a man of all spirit and virtue. It is hard for an empty bag to stand upright.' What would you think of that prince, or of that government, who should issue an edict forbidding you to dress like a gentleman or gentlewoman, on pain of imprisonment or servitude? Would you not say, that you were free, have a right to dress as you please, and that such an edict would be a breach of your privileges, and such a government tyrannical? And yet you are about to put yourself under that tyranny, when you run in debt for such dress! Your creditor has authority, at his pleasure, to deprive you of your liberty, by confining you in gaol for life, or by sellVessels large may venture more, ing you for a servant, if you should But little boats should keep near shore. not be able to pay him. It is, however, a folly soon punished; have got your bargain, you may, perfor, as poor Richard says, 'pride that haps, think little of payment; but, as dines on vanity, sups on contempt; poor Richard says, 'creditors have betpride breakfasted with plenty, dined ter memories than debtors; creditors with poverty, and supped with infamy.' are a superstitious sect, great observers And, after all, of what use is this pride of set days and times.' The day comes Fond pride of dress is sure a very curse, Ere fancy you consult, consult your purse. And again, 'pride is as loud a beggar as want, and a great deal more saucy.' When you have bought one thing fine, you must buy then more, that your appearance may be all of a piece; but poor Dick says, 'it is easier to suppress the first desire than to satisfy all that follow it; and it is as truly folly for the poor to ape the rich, as for the frog to swell, in order to equal the ox.' When you round before you are aware, and the demand is made before you are prepared to satisfy it; or, if you bear your debt in mind, the term, which at first seemed so long, will, as it lessens, appear extremely short; time will seem to have added wings to his heels as well as his shoulders. Those have a short lent, who owe money to be paid at Easter. At present, perhaps, you may think yourselves in thriving circumstances, and that you can bear a little extravagance without injury; but For age and want save while you may, No morning sun lasts a whole day. Gain may be temporary and uncertain, but ever, while you live, expense is constant and certain: and, it is easier to build two chimneys than to keep one in fuel,' as poor Richard says: so, 'rather go to bed supperless than rise in debt.' Get what you can, and what you get hold, 'Tis the stone that will turn all your lead into gold. And when you have got the philosopher's stone, sure you will no longer complain of bad times, or the difficulty of paying taxes. 4. This doctrine, my friends, is reason and wisdom: but, after all, do not depend too much upon your own industry, and frugality, and prudence, though excellent things; for they may all be blasted, without the blessing from heaven; and therefore ask that blessing humbly, and be not uncharitable to those that at present seem to want it, but comfort and help them. Remember Job suffered, and was afterwards prosperous. 'And now,' to conclude, 'experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other,' as poor Richard says, and scarce in that; for, it is true, 'we may give advice, but we cannot give conduct:' however, remember this, they that will not be counselled cannot be helped;' and farther, that if you will not hear reason, she will surely rap your knuckles,' as as poor Richard says.' Thus the old gentleman ended his harangue. The people heard it and approved the doctrine; and immediately practised the contrary, just as if it had been a common sermon; for the auction opened, and they began to buy extravagantly.-I found the good man had thoroughly studied my almanacs, and digested all I had dropt on those topics during the course of 25 years. The frequent mention he made of me must have tired any one else; but my vanity was wonderfully delighted with it, though I was conscious, that not a tenth part of the wisdom was my own, which he ascribed to me, but rather the gleanings that I had made of the sense of all ages and nations. However, I resolved to be the better for the echo of it; and, though I had at first determined to buy stuff for a new coat, I went away, resolved to wear my old one a little longer. Reader, if thou wilt do the same, thy profit will be as great as mine. I am, as ever, Thine to serve thee, Richard Saunders. ON SMUGGLING, AND ITS VARIOUS SPECIES. Sir, There are many people that would be thought, and even think themselves, honest men, who fail nevertheless in particular points of honesty; deviating from that character sometimes by the prevalence of mode or custom, and sometimes through mere inattention; so that their honesty is partial only, and not general or universal. Thus one, who would scorn to over-reach you in a bargain, shall make no scruple of tricking you a little now and then at cards; another that plays with the utmost fairness, shall with great freedom cheat you in the sale of a horse. But there is no kind of dishonesty, into which otherwise good people easily and frequently fall, than that of defrauding government of its revenues by smuggling, when they have an opportunity, or encouraging smugglers by buying their goods. more I fell into these reflections the other day, on hearing two gentlemen of reputation discoursing about a small estate, which one of them was inclined to sell, and the other to buy; when the seller, in recommending the place, remarked, that its situation was very advantageous on this account, that, being on the sea-coast in a smuggling country one had frequent opportunities of buying many of the expensive articles used in a family (such as tea, coffee, chocolate, brandy, wines, cambrics, Brussels laces, French silks, and all kinds of India goods), 20, 30, and in some articles 50 per cent cheaper, than they could be had in the more interior parts, of traders that paid duty. The other honest gentleman allowed this to be an advantage, but insisted, that the seller, in the advanced price he demanded on that account, rated the advantage much above its value. And neither of them seemed to think dealing with smugglers a practice, that an honest man (provided he got his goods cheap) had the least reason to be ashamed of. At a time when the load of our public debt, and the heavy expense of maintaining our fleets and armies to be ready for our defence on occasion, makes it necessary, not only to continue old taxes but often to look out for new ones, perhaps it may not be unuseful to state this matter in a light, that few seem to have considered it in. The people of great Britain, under the happy constitution of this country, have a privilege few other countries enjoy, that of choosing the third branch of the legislature, which branch has alone the power of regulating their taxes. Now, whenever the government finds it necessary for the common benefit, advantage, and safety of the nation, for the security of our liberties, property, religion, and every thing that is dear to us, that certain sums shall be yearly raised by taxes, duties, etc. and paid into the public treasury, thence to be dispensed by government for those purposes; ought not every honest man freely and willingly to pay Herrig, British Auth. his just proportion of this necessary expense? Can he possibly preserve a right to that character, if, by any fraud, stratagem, or contrivance, he avoids that payment in whole or in part? What should we think of a companion, who, having supped with his friends at a tavern, and partaken equally of the joys of the evening with the rest of us, would nevertheless contrive by some artifice to shift his share of the reckoning upon others, in order to go off scot-free? If a man who practised this would, when detected, be deemed and called a scoundrel, what ought he to be called, who can enjoy all the inestimable benefits of public society, and yet by smuggling, or dealing with smugglers, contrive to evade paying his just share of the expense, as settled by his own representatives in parliament; and wrongfully throw it upon his honester and perhaps much poorer neighbours? He will perhaps be ready to tell me, that he does not wrong his neighbours; he scorns the imputation, he only cheats the king a little, who is very able to bear it. This however is a mistake. The public treasure is the treasure of the nation, to be applied to national purposes. And when a duty is laid for a particular public and necessary purpose, if, through smuggling, that duty falls short of raising the sum required, and other duties must therefore be laid to make up the deficiency, all the additional sum laid by the new duties and paid by other people, though it should amount to no more than a half-penny or a farthing per head, is so much actually picked out of the pockets of those other people by the smugglers and their abettors and encouragers. Are they then any better or other than pickpockets? and what mean, low, rascally pickpockets must those be, that can pick pockets for halfpence and for farthings? I would not however be supposed to allow in what I have just said, that cheating the king is a less offence against honesty, than cheating the 39 public. The king and the public in this case are different names for the same thing; but if we consider the king distinctly it will not lessen the crime: it is no justification of a robbery, that the person robbed was rich and able to bear it. The king has as much right to justice as the meanest of his subjects; and as he is truly the common father of his people, those that rob him fall under the scripture woe, pronounced against the son that robbeth his father, and saith it is no sin. Mean as this practice is, do we not daily see people of character and fortune engaged in it for trifling advantages to themselves?-Is any lady ashamed to request of a gentleman of her acquaintance, that when he returns from abroad, he would smuggle her home a piece of silk or lace from France or Flanders? Is any gentleman ashamed to undertake and execute the commission?-Not in the least. They will talk of it freely, even before others whose pockets they are contriving to pick by this piece of knavery. Among other branches of the revenue, that of the post-office is, by a late law, appropriated to the discharge of our public debt, to defray the expenses of the state. None but members of parliament, and a few public officers have now a right to avoid, by a frank, the payment of postage. When any letter, not written by them or on their business, is franked by any of them, it is a hurt to the revenue, an injury which they must now take the pains to conceal by writing the whole superscription themselves. And yet such is our insensibility to justice in this particular, that nothing is more common than to see, even in a reputable company, a very honest gentleman or lady declare his or her intention to cheat the nation of threepence by a frank, and without blushing apply to one of the very legislators themselves, with a modest request, that he would be pleased to become an accomplice in the crime, and assist in the perpetration. There are those who by these practices take a great deal in a year out of the public purse, and put the money into their own private pockets. If, passing through a room where public treasure is deposited, a man takes the opportunity of clandestinely pocketing and carrying off a guinea, is he not truly and properly a thief? And if another evades paying into the treasury a guinea he ought to pay in, and applies it to his own use, when he knows it belongs to the public as much as that which has been paid in, what difference is there in the nature of the crime, or the baseness of committing it? Some laws make the receiving of stolen goods equally penal with stealing, and upon this principle, that if there were no receivers there would be few thieves. Our proverb too says truly, that the receiver is as bad as the thief. By the same reasoning, as there would be few smugglers, if there were none who knowingly encouraged them by buying their goods we may say, that the encouragers of smuggling are as bad as the smugglers; and that as smugglers are a kind of thieves. both equally deserve the punishments of thievery. In this view of wronging the revenue, what must we think of those who can evade paying for their wheels and their plate, in defiance of law and justice, and yet declaim against corruption and peculation, as if their own hands and hearts were pure and unsullied? The Americans offend us grievously, when, contrary to our laws, they smuggle goods into their own country; and yet they had no hand in making those laws. I do not however pretend from thence to justify them. But I think the offence much greater in those who either directly or indirectly have been concerned in making the very lawthey break. And when I hear them exclaiming against the Americans, and for every little infringement of the acts of trade, or obstruction given by a petty mob to an officer of our customin that country, calling for vengeance against the whole people as rebels and traitors, I cannot help thinking there are still those in the world who can |