Mr. Reid, managing director of the line, told the House of Commons Committee on Railway Labourers, that a French labourer is a much more independent person than an Englishman, and much more respectable. He stated, in support of his opinion, this remarkable circumstance, that whereas a French labourer desired to be paid only once a month, the English labourer desired to be paid every Saturday night,--and by the following Wednesday he wanted something on account of the week's work. "Nothing could be a greater test," said Mr. Reid, "of the respectability of a working man than being able to go without his pay for a month."[1] [Footnote 1: Thomas Brassey, M.P., _On Work and Wages_.] Although the French workman has nothing like the same facilities for saving as the English, the _Journal des Débats_ alleges that he saves ten times as much as his rival. There are only about a thousand savings banks and branches established in France, and yet two millions of persons belonging to the lower ranks last year had invested in them about twenty-eight millions sterling. But the Frenchman of the city prefers investing in Government Rentes; and the Frenchman of the country prefers investing in land. All, however, are thrifty, saving, and frugal; because they are educated in economy from their earliest years. CHAPTER XII LIVING BEYOND THE MEANS. "By no means run in debt: take thine own measure. Who cannot live on twenty pounds a year, Cannot on forty: he's a man of pleasure, A kind of thing that's for itself too dear."--_George Herbert_. "But what will Mrs. Grundy say?"--_Old Play._ "YES and No are, for good or evil, the Giants of Life."--_Jerrold_. "A hundred years of vexation will not pay a farthing of debt."--_From the French_. "Respectability is all very well for folks who can have it for ready money: but to be obliged to run into debt for it--it's enough to break the heart of an angel."--_Jerrold._ Extravagance is the pervading sin of modern society. It is not confined to the rich and moneyed classes, but extends also to the middle and working classes. There never was such a burning desire to be rich, or to _seem_ to be rich. People are no longer satisfied with the earnings of honest industry; but they must aim at becoming suddenly rich,--by speculation, gambling, betting, swindling, or cheating. General extravagance is to be seen everywhere. It is especially the characteristic of town life. You see it in the streets, in the parks, in the churches. The extravagance of dress is only one of its signs. There is a general prodigality in social display. People live in a style beyond their means; and the results are observed in commercial failures, in lists of bankrupts, and in criminal courts, where business men are so often convicted of dishonesty and fraud.