264 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



prodigal by nature — not from mere want of training — 

 and those who spend rather more money than they have, 

 will always be more fascinating than the careful ones. 

 The rash, the impetuous, and the thoughtlessly generous, 

 must ever prove the heart-winners ; and yet those who- 

 abet them are the first to turn on them when they are at- 

 the bottom of the hill or in a ditch by the roadside.^ 

 Because of this, parents should force themselves to be 

 more willing to kUl the fatted calf for the saving child 

 than for the prodigal. This should be impressed 

 upon the sons from their earliest years. In the case of a 

 parent really wishing to pay an extravagant son's bills, the 

 hardship of it will be brought home to the son if the 

 parent obliges himself to give an equal sum to the other 

 children who have not got into debt. I am told that 

 giving allowances to young boys is extremely rare. I 

 consider it of fundamental importance in their education. 

 Where it fails, it is an indication of character that is fuB 

 of anxiety for the future, a serious evil to be faced, like 

 hip-disease or a crooked spine. As a rule, everything is 

 provided for boys till the most dangerous time in their 

 lives, and then people are surprised that young men don't 

 know how to proportion their expenditure to their means, 

 which practice is the only wise one for rich or poor. 

 Everyone is rich who has a margin, and everyone is poor 

 who spends more than he has. To many people what I 

 have just said will appear as giving a very undue pre- 

 ponderance to the management of money. Admitting 

 the wisdom of what was said of old, ' The love of money 

 is a root of aU kinds of evil,' it is equally true that the 

 discreet management of money is the root of aU kinds of 

 good, especially with young people. Nothing is so selfish 

 as extravagance. No one can doubt the truth, as put 

 by the modern writer who says : ' Never treat money 

 affairs with levity — money is character.' If you can say 



