THRIFT DAY
“Spend, but do not waste;Save, but do not be a miser.”
“Spend, but do not waste;Save, but do not be a miser.”
“Spend, but do not waste;
Save, but do not be a miser.”
February third has recently been set aside in many places as Thrift Day.
Thrift means wise management.
A thrifty person never wastes what could be saved by thoughtfulness.
A thrifty person is one who does not waste anything, but gets the full value of everything.
A thrifty person sets traps to catch the waste, and changes it into things worth having.
Those who know, say that American people are the most wasteful of all people in the world.
They tell us that we waste money, food, forests, time, energy, and thousands of the little daily supplies which we might save.
If we all save what we can, it will be a very large amount when added together.
It seems like a little thing to throw away one sheet of paper, doesn’t it?
Suppose you count the number of sheets of paper in your writing pad at school. Let us say there are one hundred sheets, and that each pad costs the Board of Education five cents. If there are forty thousand children who waste one sheet of paper a day, the wasted sheets will amount to four hundred pads a day. At five cents a pad, four hundred pads will costtwenty dollars a day. There are about two hundred school days a year. Multiply twenty dollars by two hundred and you will find that the wasted sheets would cost four thousand dollars in a school year!
You would never have imagined that, would you? See how much the school boys and girls can save for the taxpayers, and for the children who will come to school later. That is being thrifty.
If there were but ten thousand boxes of matches in our country, think how careful we would be not to waste one match. But few people think about so simple a matter. Yet matches are made from wood; and forests have to be cut down to make the matches we use.
Old rags and old rubber do not seem to be of any value; yet in every city there are men who grow rich by collecting them.
In some schools the children bring old newspapers on a certain day, and you would be surprised to learn how much money one school made in this way for new playground games. That was thrift.
It seems to be a very little thing to play or idle away an evening; yet it was in odd moments that some of our greatest men studied until they were well educated.
Abraham Lincoln never “lost sixty golden minutes somewhere between sunrise and sunset.”
You all know the story of Benjamin Franklin—how he began life as a poor boy, and how by thrift,he became later in life one of the most useful and wealthy citizens of America.
Benjamin Franklin learned great wisdom through his experiences, and he was anxious that other people might learn the same lessons; so he printed an almanac and put into it many wise sayings, which he hoped would be remembered.
He called his almanac “Poor Richard’s Almanac.” Here are a few of its wise sayings:
“For age and want, save while you may;No morning sun lasts all the day.”“But dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.”“A small leak will sink a ship.”“Be ashamed to catch yourself idle.”“Always taking out of a meal-tub and never putting in soon comes to the bottom.”“One to-day is worth two to-morrows.”“Many a little makes a mickle.”“Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; that is, waste nothing.”“No pains, no gains.”
“For age and want, save while you may;No morning sun lasts all the day.”
“But dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.”
“A small leak will sink a ship.”
“Be ashamed to catch yourself idle.”
“Always taking out of a meal-tub and never putting in soon comes to the bottom.”
“One to-day is worth two to-morrows.”
“Many a little makes a mickle.”
“Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; that is, waste nothing.”
“No pains, no gains.”
QUESTIONS
Can you think of some ways in which you can save your clothing?Have you ever tried forming a Thrift Club in your class to see what and how much you can save?What might you do with the money?
Can you think of some ways in which you can save your clothing?
Have you ever tried forming a Thrift Club in your class to see what and how much you can save?
What might you do with the money?
How Does the Keeping of a Garden Help in Feeding the Hungry World?How Does the Keepingof a Garden Help inFeeding the Hungry World?
I Have Eaten Everything on My Plate and Wasted Nothing. How Does This Help toI Have Eaten Everythingon My Plate and WastedNothing. How Does ThisHelp to
Feed the Hungry World?Feed the Hungry World?