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steadily, and you will see great effects, for Constant dropping wears away stones, and by diligence and practice the mouse eat into the cable; and little strokes fell great oaks,' as poor Richard says in his almanac, the year I cannot just now remember.

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"Methinks I hear some of you say, 'Must a man afford himself no leisure? I will tell thee, my friend, what poor Richard says, Employ thy time well, if thou means to gain leisure; and since thou art not sure of a minute, throw not away an hour.' Leisure is time in doing something useful; this leisure the diligent man will obtain, but the lazy man never; so that, as poor Richard says, A life of leisure and a life of laziness are two things. Do you imagine that sloth will afford you more comfort than labour? No; for, as poor Richard says, Trouble springs from idleness, and grievous toil from needless ease. Many, without labour, would live by their wits only, but they break for want of stock. Whereas industry gives comfort, and plenty, and respect: Fly pleasures, and they will follow you.' The diligent spinner has a large shift;

and now I have a sheep and a cow every body bids me good morrow; all which is well said by poor Richard.

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"But with our industry, we must likewise be steady, settled, and careful, and oversee our affairs with our own eyes, and not trust too much to others: for, as Richard says,

poor

'I never saw an oft removed tree,

Nor yet an oft removed family,

'That throve so well as those that settled be.'

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"And again, 'Three removes are as bad as a fire: and again, Keep thy shop, and thy shop will keep thee;' and again, If you would have your business done, go; and if not, send;' and again,

He that by the plough would thrive,

"Himself must either hold or drive.'

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"And again, The eye of a master will do more work than both his hands' and again, Want of care does us more damage than want of knowledge:' and again, 'Not to oversee workmen, is to leave them your purse open.'

"Trusting too much to others care is the ruin of many; for, In the affairs of this

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world, men are saved, not by faith, but by the want of it;' If you would have a faithful servant, and one that you like, serve yourself. A little neglect may breed great mischief; for want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the rider was lost;' being overtaken and slain by the enemy; all for the want of a little care about a horse-shoe nail.

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"So much for industry, my friends, and attention to one's own business; but to these we must add frugality, if we would make our industry more certainly successful. A man may,

e knows not how to save as he gets, 'keep his nose all his life to the grind-stone, and die not worth a groat at last. A fat kitchen makes a lean will;' and,

Many estates are spent in the getting,

Since women for tea forsook spinning and knitting,

And men for punch forsook hewing and splitting.

"If you would be wealthy, think of saving, as well as of getting. The Indies have not made Spain rich, because her out-goes are greater than her in-comes.'

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"Away, then, with your expensive follies, and you will not then have so much cause to complain of hard times, and heavy taxes, and chargeable families; for, as poor Dick says, 'Women and wine, game and deceit,

'Make the wealth small, and the want great.'

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“And farther, What maintains one vice, would bring up two children.' You may think, perhaps, that a little tea, or a little punch now and then, diet a little more costly, clothes a little finer, and a little entertainment now and then, can be no great matter; but remember what poor Richard says, 'Many a little makes a mickle.' and farther, 'Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship; and again, Who dainties love, shall beggars prove; and moreover, Fools make feasts and wise men eat them.'

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"Here you are all got together, at this sale of fineries and nicknacks.

You call them goods, but if you do not take care, they will prove evils to some of you. You expect they will be sold cheap, and perhaps they may for

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less than they cost; but if you have no occasion for them, they must be dear to you. Remember what poor Richard says, 'Buy what thou hast no need of, and before long thou shall sell thy necessaries.' And again, At a great penny-worth pause awhile:" he means, that the cheapness is apparent only, and not real or the bargain, by straitening thee in thy business, may do thee more harm than good. For in another place he says, 'Many have been ruined by buying good penny-worths.' Again, poor Richard says, "Tis foolish to lay out money in a purchase of repentance; and yet this folly is practised every day at sales, for want of minding the almanac.'

'Wise

men,' as poor Dick says, 'learn by other's harm, fools scarcely by their own.' Many a one, for the sake of finery on the back, have gone with a hungry belly and half starved their families;' 'Silks and satins, scarlets and velvets, as poor Richard says, 'put out the kitchen fire.' These are no necessaries of life; they can scarcely be called the conveniences, and yet only because they look pretty, how many want to have them. The artificial wants of mankind thus become more numerous than the natural; and, as poor Dick says, For one poor person, there are an hundred indigent.' 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

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