THE TIM BUNKER PAPEKS. 81 



and new clap-boarded, and painted, and papered, and hard 

 finished, and by the time he got through, it about finished 

 him. She must have extravagant carpets and furniture, 

 and a fine carriage to ride in, and everything to match the 

 fine house. 



When Tom got through with his fitting out, he found 

 himself fifteen hundred dollars in debt. The farm was a 

 good one, and produced grand crops, but with all he could 

 do, the balance was on the wrong side at the close of every 

 year, and at the end of a dozen years they had to sell out 

 and emigrate. You see, the silk dresses and other women 

 fixin kept him in debt, and he had no chance to buy more 

 stock, when he needed it, or to hire as much labor as he 

 really needed, to carry on the farm to advantage. It is 

 of no use to begin life in this way. If he had lived in the 

 old house a few years, and waited for the finery until he 

 had the cash in his pocket to pay for it, he might have 

 been in Hookertown to this day, and as thriving a man as 

 there is in it. &quot; Pay as you go &quot; is the true principle for 

 everything that isn t necessary. A man may incur debt 

 for a part of his land or stock, or for the tools of his trade. 

 But he might as well go to the poor-house as to run in 

 debt for fine clothes and a splendid house. Better sleep 

 on a pine bedstead, till you are able to pay for mahogany. 



I have talked this doctrine over so much in my family, 

 that I guess the children have got it all by heart. Sally 

 has, I am certain. I suppose your readers would like to 

 hear how she is getting on, over to the parsonage. Most 

 stories end with the wedding, as if folks were of no con 

 sequence at all, after they got married. But as I am only 

 writing a statement of facts, about things in the land of 

 steady habits, you must expect to hear of people after the 

 honeymoon. 



I felt bound to give Josiah and Sally a good setting out, 

 for folks in their circumstances. There is some parsonage 

 land, that Josiah knows how to make use of, and they have 

 4* 



