THE TIM BUNKER PAPERS. 221 



to stop until the young woman got seated. Some of the 

 young folks in the pew behind me tittered, and an old 

 lady in my own pew put her handkerchief to her mouth. 

 I suppose she wanted to cough just then, and didn t like 

 to disturb the meeting. Mr. Spooner looked astonished, 

 as if he had seen a vision. 



Now, you see, this sort of thing is going on all over the 

 country, and there is a good deal of extravagance in folks 

 buying jewelry and knick-knacks that they do not have 

 any use for. I suppose it is rather worse than common 

 just now, but there has always been a good deal of it. 

 If a man buys what he don t need, I call him extravagant, 

 whether it is an extra acre of land, a two story bonnet, 

 or a bogus gold watch chain, without any watch. If a 

 man can do his business with a wheelbarrow, he should 

 not invest in a horse and cart. If his farm only affords 

 occupation for one horse and cart, he should not buy a 

 yoke of oxen and cart. If he has only capital to work 

 twenty acres to advantage, he is very extravagant to pur 

 chase fifty. If he has only feed for six cows, he should 

 not keep eight. This is one of our greatest faults as a 

 people, and I am afraid this war, if it ends in the triumph 

 of the government, as we hope it will, will not remedy 

 the evil. We buy cargoes of silks, and jewelry, wines, 

 and brandies, that we have no need of. Miss Almeda 

 Georgiana Bottom is not the only sinner among us, not 

 by many hundred, I tell you. 



Yours to command, 



TIMOTHY BUNKER, ESQ. 



Hookertown, Jan. ls, 1863. 



