The first experiences in handling an income just half the size to which one has been accustomed led to the sad doubt expressed by Sam Weller as to whether it is "worth while going through so much to learn so little, as the boy said when he came to the end of the alphabet." Later notice a subtle shifting of the vie point, which some may call resignation, but which we prefer to call a changed sense of values. We can dispense witn a private telephone, make a handful of soda serve the purpose of the more luxurious foam tath, substitute the cosmetic lotions and creams of the wholesale chemist for the much more expensive special brands, make hats last longer, discover that the tweed costume which has already lasted two seasons comes gallantly, if unexpectedly, though the third. But sooner or later we arrive at the conclusion that certain minor extravagances should be permitted if we are not to nourish an irritable sense of continual cramping.
What this extravagance should be must depend upon individual temperament. To some it means residence in a district which is just a little more expensive than their means justify, because a more crowded or less airy situation gives them a sense of failure against which they have to put up perpetual fight. As depression may be, and usually is, physically harmful, this choice of a residential district may well be a wise extravagance. Others may prefer to indulge in minor extravagance, such as a favour-ile and rather expensive complexion soap, a favourite hairdressing, a slight-visits to opera or concert, at the cost of well-darned stockings. Psychologists would probably agree in sanctioning some such extravagance on the grounds of providing an "escape valve." It also gives a sense of having one foot still in the old condi tions, which were so pleasant and to which—despite a boast of a better sense of values—one is determined, more or less patiently, to return.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.