Easy tempers are not soon ruffled, but calmly endure vexations. Many are the counsels given for the regulation of temper, but the only effectual remedy is Prayer. This alone will bring divine strength, and enable us to resist the evil passions of our nature. Let us, then, cultivate a good temper, looking to Jesus as our great example, who, when "He was reviled, reviled not again," ever remembering that it is only divine grace that can influence the deep and hidden springs of our hearts, and prepare us for that abode where all evil is unknown. "Good temper-'tis the choicest gift NO. X. Take Care of Your Money. The greatest source of poverty is the habit of reckless spending, instead of laying by for old age, or for a time of need; the whole of the earnings are spent, so that when sickness comes, and no work is to be obtained, there is no reserve fund, and consequently want and privation follow. Not that money can ever make a man happy; it cannot; there is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. It is the working man who is the happy man; it is the idle man who is the miserable man. Then let none wish for unearned gold, "but rather let us labour and be strong in the use of what we have," remembering that "the prudent man foreseeth the evil, and girdeth himself." Are you careful and provident with what God has given you? or are you careless and extravagant? Now, if the improvident can be persuaded to take care of their money, a steady improvement in position will be the result. There are many who have risen from the lowest depths of poverty to comfort and respectability through cultivating careful habits. The reader is not asked to put his savings into a drawer or desk, but is introduced to our friend, the Savings' Bank. If you place them anywhere else, it will be taken out and spent within a fortnight; but this friend promises that the longer he keeps it, the more it will increase. This fact should induce you to let it be in his keeping until you really want it, for "a penny saved is a penny gained." Be careful, then, with trifles, and not wait until you have a large sum, but commence at once to deposit in the Savings' Bank. Remember that, Threepence per week is £0 13 0 for 1 year This, with interest added, will prove a great help to you in the time of need. Perhaps the reader already spends much more than this in Beer or Tobacco. It is an astounding fact that sixty millions a year are spent in this country in drink, and it is calculated that the working people in London spend £2,500,000 of it. But notwithstanding these evils, the number is fast increasing of those who are provident and careful, who appreciate the privileges that the Bank affords them. The number of de positors is probably a million and a half, and about thirty millions of the money are invested in Government securities, at £3 per £100 interest. Will you, then, make a beginning? Is not your independence worth striving for? Instead of being obliged to pay 13s. 6d. for a pair of boots which should only cost 12s., is it not better to go to the reserve fund and pay ready money, thus saving 1s. 6d. interest, besides the sorrow which comes from getting into debt? It is also a duty and a privilege to lay by a little to help the needy, for "He that giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord, and He shall reward him in the day of trouble." "Be careful of your money, then, Be careful of your money; To help the poor, who throng your door, Finis. |