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sake of finery on the back, have gone with a hungry belly, and half starved families. "Silks and fattins, scarlet and velvets, put out the kitchen-fire," as Poor Richard says, There are not the necessaries of life; they can scarcely be called the conveniencies; 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 will never 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
