MONEY MANAGEMENT AND AMUSEMENTS

Now the case where a man owns his place clear is a happy exception to the rule.

Merchants are failing, families are suffering for food and clothing. No work presents itself. But the holidays are just as numerous.

Their amusements are entered into as eagerly. All who can do so will spend their hard-earned pence and shillings and pounds for a taste of pleasure, for strong drink, or some other indulgence.

The papers that report the poverty of the people, have regular standing notices of the horse-races, and of the prizes presented for different kinds of exciting sports. The shows, the theaters, and all such demoralizing amusements, are taking the money from the country, and poverty is continually increasing.

Poor men will invest their last shilling in a lottery, hoping to secure a prize, and then they have to beg for food to sustain life, or go hungry. Many die of hunger, and many put an end to their existence. The end is not yet.

Men take you to their orchards of oranges and lemons, and other fruits, and tell you that the produce does not pay for the work done in them. It is next to impossible to make ends meet, and parents decide that the children shall not be farmers; they have not the courage and hope to educate them to till the soil. (Testimonies on Education, 94, Ellen G. White)