ECONOMY.

By ELIZABETH A. S. DAWES, M.A., D.Lit.

The subject "Economy" may strike my readers as being somewhat dry and uninteresting; but I trust that when I have explained to you its meaning and shown to what various things economy can be applied and the good results attendant on its application, you will henceforth regard the word with more liking and comprehension than before.

"Economy" (or "œconomy" as it should be spelt) comes from the Greek word οἰκονομἱα, which signifies literally the "administration of a house or home," and, secondarily, "right management" or "administration" of anything.

When viewed with regard to our life as a complete unity, economy, or right administration, should be zealously practised in three special ways, namely, economy of money, economy of time, and economy of forces or strength, and these last two are touched upon indirectly in the lines chosen for the heading of this address.

Let us begin with economy of money. Many persons, both young and old, learn the sad necessity for this by hard experience, and by such my advice is not required. It is to you, the happy daughters of prosperous parents, that I should like more particularly to say a few words on this subject.

There are so many reasons why we should all practise economy of money, or, in other words, try to administer our money aright. Firstly, it trains us in habits of order and reflection if we try to lay out our money to the best use instead of squandering it on worthless trifles which serve only for the pleasure or amusement of the moment.

Secondly, it sets a good example to those around us and helps to remind them of the fact that money like other talents is given to us to use and not to waste. Thirdly and chiefly, it is to be commended because if anyone, no matter who, nor whether his income be small or large, really administers his money aright, that person will find himself able to put by something each year against the rainy days that may come.

Again, it is not only for one's own use, but for that of others that we should endeavour to keep a reserve-fund. And this applies directly to girls with ample pocket-money. Do begin now at once; buy a little money-box and every week or month drop a certain sum into it and resolve never to open that box except to relieve some urgent and piteous case of distress. For years it might remain unopened, and if you continued to feed it regularly, it would give you infinite pleasure some day to be able to open it and with the contents earn the undying gratitude of a fellow-creature.

If you girls who have now, or will shortly have, an ample allowance per year to dress on, were to pause to consider seriously how many women there are, say in London alone, who have only £40 or £50 a year, and not a penny beyond, to live on, that is, to provide them with a home, food, clothing, firing, and all the other necessaries of life, there is hardly one among you probably who would not resolve to immediately commence administering her money with some care.

Economy of time again is essential towards using one's life to the best advantage. It does not mean a continual bustle and hurry, but doing things at the right time and working and living with some definite end in view—the final end of all ends being, as the motto says, the glory and honour of God in our lives. Again, true economy of time does not imply that each hour in which we have not actually achieved some work with brain or hand is consequently wasted, for it may often be truer economy to spend an hour in quiet talk with a friend or in taking suitable recreation, but it does demand some method in our distribution of time, and protests against the best hours of the day being devoted solely to amusement or to mutually profitless gossip. Milton prettily says—

"Hours have wings, fly up to the author of time and carry news of our usage. All our prayers cannot entreat one of them either to return or slacken his pace. The misspents of every minute are a new record against us in heaven. Sure if we thought thus, we should dismiss them with better reports and not suffer them to fly away empty or laden with dangerous intelligence. How happy is it when they carry up not only the message, but the fruits of good, and stay with the Ancient of Days to speak for us before His glorious throne."

Sir James Y. Simpson, the celebrated surgeon, was very fond of speaking to the students on the duty of saving the moments and letting the minutes look after themselves. But in his estimate, as it should ever be in ours, the quality of the work was the all-important element in life. And of a hard-working thoughtful doctor who died young, he said, "He was older than some of us who are twice his age!"

Kingsley had the same thought in his mind when he wrote those well-known lines—

He did not intend to deprecate cleverness and learning, but to point out that our first endeavour should be to be good and live a noble life, and if we could accomplish that, not to fret or be grieved if outstripped in intellectual attainments by others; because whilst "to do lovely things" lies in everybody's power, the higher intellectual acquirements are not within the reach of all. With due arrangement of time it is marvellous how much can be accomplished. You will be surprised to find how many books you can read in a year if you devote one hour a day to them. It is often said that it is the busiest people who can always find time to undertake yet some more work or do a service for others, while idle people never have time for anything, and the truth of this paradox is proved by the vast amount of reading accomplished and the intense interest taken in extraneous matters by our very busiest statesmen, surgeons and clergymen. Try then, all of you, to acquire such habits of regularity and punctuality whilst at school, that they may remain with you afterwards and make it an easy and pleasant task for you to apportion your time to the best advantage, when freed from the rules necessary in scholastic life.

It remains for me to say a few words on the economy of our powers or strength, which must be subdivided into physical and moral. Here the idea of law involved in the word economy plays a most important part, for nature has certain laws which, in our employment of our forces, she will not allow to be transgressed with impunity; if we overtax either our bodily or mental strength, we shall find that this disregard of nature's laws will, sooner or later, bring its inevitable punishment. A word of warning against the folly of taking physical exercise in excess will hardly be out of season just now, when bicycling is so very popular, that one unfortunately hears of many men, women and girls who have made themselves ill by riding too fast or too long distances at a stretch, or who, in other words, have not listened to the warning of Nature, which says, "Do enough, but not too much." It is such a pity ever to convert what is intended to be a beneficent pleasure into an evil through our inability to practise a little self-restraint, and this may arise not only from doing too much, but also from doing it in a reckless and senseless manner. I heard it said recently that, according to computations, there had been more deaths from bicycling accidents in the last year in England than there had been English soldiers killed throughout the present Egyptian campaign, from its very beginning to after the Battle of Omdurman; and when one reads the accounts of these accidents, one finds that nearly every one was caused directly by the rider's recklessness and want of prudence. Too much physical exercise also weakens our mental powers, so intimately are mind and body connected, that that is an additional reason for taking bicycling and all other bodily exercises in moderation, lest we should be too tired to fulfil our other duties. The same warning applies to mental overwork. How many a girl while at school, and more especially at College, ruins her eyesight, if not her constitution, by poring over her books at all hours, even when she ought to be taking the much-needed rest of sleep, or of open-air exercise; and they cannot, or will not, believe that time spent on necessary recreation and change of occupation is time saved, not lost, and will enable them to resume their work or exercise with far more vigour.

Therefore, dear girls, listen to your common sense, and stop immediately when you feel that, either in work or play, you are getting overtired.

Finally, let us consider what these three economies united will effect. Each is good in itself, but happy is he who practises all three with the ever-present thought that God is to be the end of all, for he will be gaining wisdom, which "is better than rubies," and "whoso findeth wisdom findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord." "Wisdom! how inexhaustible a theme! It is the ripest fruit of a well-spent life. Wisdom never grows old, for she is the expression of order itself—that is, of the eternal. Only the wise man draws from life, and from every stage of it, its true savour, because only he feels the beauty, the dignity, and the value of life.... To see all things in God, to make of one's own life a journey towards the ideal, to live with gratitude and devoutness, with gentleness and courage, to add to these the humility which kneels and the charity which gives, is the true wisdom of the children of God."