I BILTER-Well, I must say it's smooth going. Perhaps, after all, there is something in it. I— (There is a sharp snap. Once more the auto stops still.) WITHERBY (turning pale)-Old man, that's the coil-the vibratory coil. I know that sound, because I've had it happen before. We can't run her without that, you know. "Better telephone that healer." "That's what I will." (Rushes off to nearest 'phone. In a few moments returns, his face happy.) "It's all right; all right." "Can he fix her?" "Oh, no. But his wife says that while he was stepping across the way to get an ice cream soda he himself was run into by an automobile." "Hurt?" "Oh, no, of course not! But he has a claim of a broken collar bone, and she says he can't possibly give us any more absent treatment to-day." "But how in thunder are we going to get back?" HOW TO LIVE BEYOND YOUR INCOME-PERMA NENTLY. IN N the effete days of old, when kings and other hard-working monarchs were tolerated by some of the best people, and when necessities were luxuries and not luxuries necessities, as they are today, it was customary to try and live within one's income. This was considered a laudable and praiseworthy thing to do. Thanks, however, to all our scientific, educational and other uplifting influences, we have now advanced beyond this crude. condition. Today the great and absorbing question is how to live beyond our incomes-and to do it permanently. This is an important matter-much more important than any other-and we regret that science has apparently neglected it. If science, actuated by those noble and disinterested ideals, that, alas! it is not always so eager to follow, should invent a flyingmachine for the exclusive use of people who are living beyond their incomes and bar out all the creditors, there might be something in it. But science will never do this. We know science well enough to be certain that, just as we are about to conceal ourselves swiftly behind some friendly cloud, she will have sold to a higher bidder some faster machine, and our creditor will swoop down upon us and present his bill. * This is a question that, in reality, ought to be decided by the majority, and as the majority of us are living beyond our incomes, it ought to be possible for us to car ry the matter in a FLOWERS 15.00 popular election; and it would be possible to do this if we had reached that exalted state of consecration that we ought to have reached, with all the truly civilizing influences at our command. But, in some respects, we are behindhand. Our conceptions of what the State owes us are still too faulty to be of any real service. It is possible, however, that we may be able to arrive at a solution of this problem, if we look at it in that philosophical spirit and with that clarity of vision that its merit deserves. First, then, as already hinted at, we must understand that it is not so much how we can live beyond our incomes-because most of us are doing it now-as to how we can keep it up, and do so easily, calmly, gracefully and happily. At present we retain some remnants of self-respect. Odd notions of obsolete economy still cling to us like the rags of yesterday's raiment. We do not know our power. We must learn to live beyond our incomes permanently and peacefully and as our bounden right. Instead of being obliged to lower ourselves by dodging our creditors, they should be made, if not to dodge us, at least to realize our claims upon their lasting gratitude. How can this be done? So easily, so simply, that it seems almost absurd. First, one must have an income, no matter how small it is, to live beyond. This is necessary. Now with any kind of an income one can always secure an amount of credit proportioned to the size of the income. We thus have the two elements that may conduce to our future happiness, if we but take advantage of our opportunities. For example, suppose we start with an income of two thousand a year. We then, on the strength of this, open an account with firm number one, and having established our credit with this firm, we open another account with firm number two, referring them to number one. Then we open accounts with various other firms, referring them to the others. Our next step is to build up a reputation for paying our bills never at any stated time. For if we acquired the fatal habit of paying everything we owe on the first of the month, ruin would stare us in the face. But if our creditors come to regard us as good pay, but somewhat irregular, we shall then be able to extend the credit beyond the line of our income. At the end of the first year, therefore, we shall find that we have spent our income and have several hundreds of unpaid bills —that is, we have lived beyond our income to this extent. And now we come to the most important point in the solution of our problem. For, while we have only made $2,000 during this year, and have lived at the rate of $2,500, we find that the very fact of our having done this-provided we haven't worried about it-has increased our ability. We have expanded our nerve. We have lived a larger life. We have accumulated not only bills but friends. So that, instead of making $2,000, we find that it is easy for us to make $2,500 a year. This makes it possible for us to extend our line of credit, so that we can now live at the rate of $3,000. The mere fact of our living at the rate of $3,000, when we are making in reality but $2,500, makes it easy for us the next year to increase our abilities to the $3,000 basis, so that the following year we can live at the rate of $3,500. On this scientific basis, an honest and painstaking young man, ambitious for his own future, who starts out with an income of $2,000, if he lives beyond it sensibly and judiciously, can, at the end of ten years, be living beyond an income of $15,000, and, with health and strength, there is no earthly reason why he should not keep this rate indefinitely. It may be asked, that if this principle is true, why so many fail? The answer is, because the majority of us worry. Instead of allowing the living beyond our incomes to be a source of joy and genuine inspiration and solace and positive strength, we sap what should be our increasing energies, and allow our judgments to be absorbed by old woman's notions of economy. To cure ourselves of this detrimental souvenir of the past, we should examine occasionally the narrow and inconsequential lives of those few still left among us who are yet living within their incomes, and learn real wisdom. Our very extravagance ought to be an ever present help in time of trouble. We never see the man who has learned to be content within his income making any great effort to increase it. It is only the more fortunate among us who are unable to live within their incomes, who are doing the real work of the world. If you can keep your creditor guessing permanently, you should be entitled to his lasting homage. Why, if it wasn't for you and your increasing possibilities to make more money in the future by your present liberal ideas, he would then be at the mercy of the people who live within their incomes, and his very existence theatened. Let us not delude ourselves. With an established line of credit and a well developed nerve, the continuous living beyond our income becomes a sacred duty. And where duty calls us, we must go. THE PATRIOT. IT T was evening on the ocean steamer. The two men, hitherto strangers to each other, were comfortably seated on the leeward side of the smoking deck. "Yes, sir," said the enthusiastic American, "you who are an Englishman, and on your first visit to our glorious land, have no idea what awaits you. All that you have read or been told about the wonders of America will seem dim before the reality. Take, for example, the trip up the Hudson. There is no grander scenery in the world, not even on the Rhine. Then you have Niagara and the great lakes. Magnificent, sir, is not a fit word. It is gorgeous, overwhelming! If you have the time, take a look through the wilderness and grandeur of the Adirondacks, the oldest mountain range we have. They will prepare you for the marvelous scenery of the great West. Then, as you proceed, through our principal States and largest and most popular cities, to travel onward to Colorado, your mind will be appalled by the vista before you. No pen can picture it! No voice can describe it! The Colorado Cañon! The Yosemite! The Garden of the |