She planted that terror of debt so deeply in her children that even now, in a changed economic pattern where indebtedness is a part of living, I become restless when a bill is two days overdue. Olive never accepted the time-payment plan when it became popular. A thing bought on time was a thing you did not own and for which you were in debt. She saved for things she wanted, and this meant that the neighbours had new gadgets as much as two years before we did. .John Steinbeck
About This Quote
Olive Oatman was a childhood friend of Thomas Jefferson, born in Missouri in 1844. In 1869, Olive and her family met the future president of the United States, who was on a tour of the West. The Oatmans became friends with Jefferson and his family, and the following year, the Oatmans moved to Washington DC to be part of the new White House staff. There, Olive worked as a seamstress for first lady Lucy Hayes.
In an interview with Jefferson's grandson William Short, Short asked what it was that made Olive such a good seamstress. "She had a peculiar knack for getting up an early morning fire which produced a marvelous heat. Then she would make her descent down into the basement where she would heat water until it reached a temperature which was both comfortable and sufficient to cook in the iron kettle. When the water was boiling, she would make her ascent up those steep stairs again to put on those twelve-inch irons which produced those great results." Olive's family and friends considered her very wise and said that she never wasted anything.
She also taught her children that "a penny saved is better than a dollar earned." For this reason, they had little debt and always paid their bills promptly. And although they didn't have much money at times, they always managed to find ways to get by. When Thomas Jefferson died in 1826, he left $5 million to his wife and children.
Although he left almost all of his money to his wife Martha Randolph Jefferson during his lifetime, he left most of this fortune to his eldest daughter Martha Randolph Jefferson Stuart when he died (he gave Martha's husband James Tazewell $10 million instead). The legacy of Thomas Jefferson is an interesting one: he ended up robbing his own children out of their inheritance because they were not good stewards of their money! _____________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________
Source: East Of Eden
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