"Away, then, with your expensive follies, and you will not then have so much cause to complain of hard times, heavy taxes, and chargeable families. 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, _Many a little makes a mickle_. Beware of little expenses; _A small leak will sink a great ship_, as Poor Richard says; and again, _Who dainties love, shall beggars prove_; and moreover, _Fools make feasts, and wise men eat them_. "Here you are all got together at this sale of fineries and knickknacks. 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 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 ere long thou shalt sell thy necessaries_. And again, _At a great pennyworth pause a while_. He means, that perhaps 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 pennyworths_. Again, _It is foolish to lay out money in a purchase of repentance_; and yet this folly is practised every day at auctions, for want of minding the Almanac. 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, scarlet and velvets, put out the kitchen fire_, as Poor Richard says. "These are not the necessaries of life; they can scarcely be called the conveniences; and yet, only because they look pretty, how many want to have them! By these and other extravagances, 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 knew not the getting of; they think _It is day, and will never be night_; that a little to be spent out of so much is not worth minding; but _Always taking out of the mealtub and never putting in, soon comes to the bottom_, as Poor Richard says; and then, _When the well is dry, they know the worth of water_. But this they might have known before if they had taken his advice. _If you would know the value of money, go and try to borrow some; for he that goes a borrowing goes a sorrowing_, as Poor Richard says; and indeed so does he that lends to such people, when he goes to get it in again. Poor Dick farther advises, and says, _Fond pride of dress is sure a very curse; Ere fancy you consult, consult your purse._