Croesus, who has ten times her income?"
"But, papa," said Marianne, with a twinge of that exacting sensitiveness
by which the child is characterized, "I think I am an economist, thanks
to you and mamma, so far as knowing just what my income is, and keeping
within it; but that does not satisfy me, and it seems that isn't all of
economy;--the question that haunts me is, Might I not make my little all
do more and better than I do?"
"There," said I, "you have hit the broader and deeper signification of
economy, which is, in fact, the science of _comparative values._ In its
highest sense, economy is a just judgment of the comparative value of
things,--money only the means of enabling one to express that value.
This is the reason why the whole matter is so full of difficulty,--why
every one criticizes his neighbor in this regard. Human beings are so
various, the necessities of each are so different, they are made
comfortable or uncomfortable by such opposite means, that the spending
of other people's incomes must of necessity often look unwise from our
stand-point. For this reason multitudes of people who cannot be accused
of exceeding their incomes often seem to others to be spending them
foolishly and extravagantly.
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