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Independently Poor

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 26, 1907

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 84, No. 52.

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Independently Poor

SHE always had a good time, the other girls said of Jessie—said it half enviously, some of them. Her home was an old-fashioned, rather shabby house where the furnishing and the style of life were of the plainest, but she welcomed her friends there cordially, and shared with them what she had without pretense or apology. She wore her plain clothes in the same way—prettily and daintily made, but inexpensive always—and made the most of whatever pleasure came in her way without regard to appearing in costly array.
“You seem to get as much satisfaction out of everything as if you were independently rich,” said a discontented acquaintance one day. “I don’t see how you can.”
“Well, if I am not independently rich, I am independently poor, and I suppose that’s the next best thing,” laughed Jessie.
After all, the simplicity of standing for just what one is, without sham or pretense, lifts a burden of fret and anxiety, and leaves the spirit free.—Well-spring.