“But, ma, we might do all this and still appear poor, while if we had a grand home like Mrs. Duncan, and exquisite curtains, and a fine carriage, and Bell had her diamond ring, and we all wore expensive and stylish clothing, everybody would know papa was rich.”
“Yes, Annie, and what good would it do people to know papa was rich?”
“Well, I cannot think of any good it would do them.”
“What good would it do _us_, darling, to have people know it?”
“Oh ma, it would be so pleasant to have every one polite to us, and treat us beautifully as they do rich people.”
“Do not all who _know_ us treat us well, Annie?”
“Oh yes, ma, _very_ well; but you know even _strangers_ admire those who dress, dine, and drive as only the rich can.”
“Now think, Annie, what this consideration of strangers costs. Friends envy us, the poor hate us, the irreligious question our sincerity, our own hearts are made vain, if not proud, millions are spent in useless luxuries that might bless the poor, and—well Annie, this is enough for once, isn’t it? When you have been in the city did you ever notice boys slowly pacing the streets and often ringing a bell, who were all covered over with an advertisement of some sale or show?”
“Well, I often see young ladies on the street who always remind me of these advertising boys, as their dress makes them a walking advertisement of their father’s wealth. One Sunday night, after attending service in a very wealthy church, I dreamed that all the ladies wore pocket-books on their heads instead of bonnets. Some were too full to be closed, and small coin often dropped out. Others were tightly clasped and ornamented with all manner of precious stones. A few were thin and worn, but all were labelled with the exact amount of contents. And when one lady walked in with $2,000,000 blazing in diamond figures on her pocket-book how all the congregation bowed down.”
“Now Annie, if Christian women would all feel that they were Christian stewards of their Lord’s money, and could see what foolish vanity it is to wish the world to know of their wealth, then we should all have some comparatively definite standard of a Christian style of living. But as long as Christian women have no guide but the varying length of a husband’s purse, we shall have no standard, no conscience in the matter, and the world will continue to jeer and the poor to suffer.”