gages on each house and lot. In this case the mortgage and interest thereon would be paid oft by instalments exact- ly as the monthly payments were made to the gentleman from whom I have quoted, and the results in each case would be the same. The fact that forty-nine men have been found in any one locality who could in this manner purchase houses for themselves (and I ask you again to notice that there has not been a single defaulter) establishes a fair precedent, as the circumstances in this instance were not specially favorable, and the Successful purchasers were simply working men of ordinary honQsty and perseverance. Any sober, industrious man, with a thrifty wife who is willing to do her share ot the work, can, if he is getting average wages, pay in less than three years for a house and lot which will provide for him and his family a comfortable home for a lifetime, and he can do it with very little more exertion than would be required to pay the rent of an inferior house for the same length of time. The advantages of owning a house in distinction to hir- ing one, are so great as to need only the briefest mention, and most of you must already have learned that, for many reasons, hired houses make very uncertain and unsatisfactory homes. There is no better investment for a certain propor- tion of a man's capital than a house and lot, and the earlier ON HABITS AND MANNERS. Ill in life he makes the investment, the more profitable it will be, not only as a direct saving of money, but also and prin- cipally in a higher sense. In the first place, he saves for himself the profit which, in paying rent, he puts in another man's pocket ; he avoids the uncertainty which must always accompany the occupation of another man's house, and the expense, discomfort and loss caused by frequent removals from one place to another, and he secures all the pecuniary advantage which must accrue to any working man who be- comes known as a steady, industrious and permanent resident of any one locality. But perhaps his greatest gain is that which comes sec- ondarily, in the moral stimulus which he and his family receive from living in a house which is their own property, wherein no one has a right but themselves, which they can improve andbeautify until it becomes to them, as their home, the pleasantest and most attractive spot on earth. When a man and woman actually own the house which is their home, they find themselves, as a rule, quickly filled with an hon- orable ambition to make house and garden as neat, comfort- able and pretty as possible. They take pride and pleasure in working tor the improvement of that which is their own, and receive constant gratification from results achieved by their own labor and thrift. They have provid- ed for themselves a tangible object for honest ambition ; they 112 ON HABITS AND MANNERS. have something to work for and be interested in, and have thus secured a strong safeguard against the temptations to idleness, unsteadiness and extravagance, which so constantly beset humanity and are so frequent a cause of ruin.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

gages on each house and lot. In this case the mortgage and interest thereon would be paid oft by instalments exactly as the monthly payments were made to the gentleman from whom I have quoted, and the results in each case would be the same. The fact that forty-nine men have been found in any one locality who could in this manner purchase houses for themselves (and I ask you again to notice that there has not been a single defaulter) establishes a fair precedent, as the circumstances in this instance were not specially favorable, and the Successful purchasers were simply working men of ordinary honesty and perseverance. Any sober, industrious man, with a thrifty wife who is willing to do her share of the work, can, if he is getting average wages, pay in less than three years for a house and lot which will provide for him and his family a comfortable home for a lifetime, and he can do it with very little more exertion than would be required to pay the rent of an inferior house for the same length of time. The advantages of owning a house in distinction to hiring one, are so great as to need only the briefest mention, and most of you must already have learned that, for many reasons, hired houses make very uncertain and unsatisfactory homes. There is no better investment for a certain proportion of a man's capital than a house and lot, and the earlier in life he makes the investment, the more profitable it will be, not only as a direct saving of money, but also and principally in a higher sense. In the first place, he saves for himself the profit which, in paying rent, he puts in another man's pocket ; he avoids the uncertainty which must always accompany the occupation of another man's house, and the expense, discomfort and loss caused by frequent removals from one place to another, and he secures all the pecuniary advantage which must accrue to any working man who becomes known as a steady, industrious and permanent resident of any one locality. But perhaps his greatest gain is that which comes secondarily, in the moral stimulus which he and his family receive from living in a house which is their own property, wherein no one has a right but themselves, which they can improve and beautify until it becomes to them, as their home, the pleasantest and most attractive spot on earth. When a man and woman actually own the house which is their home, they find themselves, as a rule, quickly filled with an honorable ambition to make house and garden as neat, comfortable and pretty as possible. They take pride and pleasure in working tor the improvement of that which is their own, and receive constant gratification from results achieved by their own labor and thrift. They have provided for themselves a tangible object for honest ambition ; they have something to work for and be interested in, and have thus secured a strong safeguard against the temptations to idleness, unsteadiness and extravagance, which so constantly beset humanity and are so frequent a cause of ruin.

On habits and manners