“overty or disaster except as it affected his wife and children—for their sake, investments had to be chosen conservatively. The bottom line was to underwrite the larger aim of independence: “no man can be otherwise independent who is not pecuniarily so.†The dependent man “must smile on those he hates, he must extend his hand where he would strike, he must speak pleasantly with a curse in his throat, because he is ever seeking work…he wears dependence like ayoke.†Independence, in contrast, kept a man “dignified and self-respecting, above the need of asking for favors, above all the inevitable meannesses of poverty.†Thrift and forethought, in other words, were necessary (though not sufficient) to manliness.”
