The Hickman courier., 1872-10-19
A Specimen of Cheap Living.

A Specimen OF Cheap Living.
IT is now Saturday afternoon, and
l will tell you in confidence little
of my personal private experience
during the past week. On Sunday
morning last L thought I would try
I for week the experiment of living
cheaply. Sunday breakfast. hulled
/ southern corn, with little milk. My
/ breakfast cost three cents. took
exactly the same thing for dinner
Food Tor the day, six cents. [ never
take any supper. Monday break
fast, two cents worth of oatmeal, in
the form of porridge, with one cents
worth of milk. For dinner, two
cents worth Of whole wheat, boiled,
with one cent worth of milk. Food
or Monday, six cents. Tuesday
breakfast, two cents worth of beans,
with half cents worth of vinegar.
/ For dinner, oEe quart Of rich bean
lporrldge, worth one cent, With four
Slices or coarse brc ID, worth two
cents. Food for Tuesday, five and
half cents. Wednesday breakfast,
hominy made of southern corn per
haps the best of all food for laboring
men in hot weather., two cents
worth, with one cents worth of sy-
RIP. For dinner, q splendid beet
stew, the meat of which cost two
cents. A little extravagant, you see.
But, then, you know, ga short life
and a merry one" Perhaps you
don't believe that the meat was pur-
chased for two cents? But it was,
though The fact is, that from an OK
weighing 800 pounds net, you can
purchase certain parts weighing
about 100 pounds, for three cents
per pound Two-thirds of pound
make more stew than L could eat.
There was really enough for two of
US. But then, you know how care
less and reckless we Americans are
III regard to our table expenses, al
ways getting twice as much as we
need. I must not forget to say that
these coarse, cheap portions of the
animal are the best for stew. The
very genius of waste seems to have
taken possession of me on that fatal
day. poured into my stew all at
once, slap-dash, a quarter of a cents
worth of Leicestershire sauce, and as
if to show that it never rains, but 1T
pours, I closed that gluttonouss scene
by devouring a cents worth of hom.
iny pudding. Food for Wednesday,
eight and a quarter cents. The gross
4 excess of Wednesday led to a very
moderate Thursday breakfast, which
consisted of oatmeal pooridge and
milk, costing about two and a half
cents. For d nner, cracked wheat
and baked beans, two cents worth of
each, milk, one cents worth. Food
for Thursday cost seven and half
cents. Friday breakfast, southern
hulled corn and milk, costing three
nts. For dinner, another of those
gourmaud surfeits which so disgrace
ed the history of Wednesday. Ex-
penses for the day, eight and a quar-
ter cents. This morning when L
went to the table, l said to myself,
whats the use of this economy 2"
And l made up my mind that for
4 this dav at least [ would sink all
moral restraints and give up the
reins to appetite. [ have no apollo
gy or defense for what followed.
+ S iturday breakfast, began with one
cents worth of oat-meal porridge,
with a teaspoorful of sugar, worth a
/ quarter of a cent then followed a
cents worth of cracked wheat, with
half cents worth of milk, then the
breakfast closed with two cents
worth of milk and one cents worth
/ of rye and Indian bread. For dinner
[ ate half of small lobster, which
cost three cents, and one cents worth
of coarse bread, and one cents worth
of hominy salad, and closed with
two cents worth of cracked wheat
and milk Cost of the days food,
( twelve and three quarter cents. In
all these statements only the cost of
material is given.
Cost for the week fftyfour and
/ quarter. cents. OF course, l don't pre-
/ tend that everybody can live in this
/ luxurious way. 1t isn't everybody
T who can afford it. 1 could have lived
/ just as we'll, so far as health and
+ strength are concerned, on half the
money Besides on three days, / ate
/ too much altogether, and suffered
/ from thirst and dullness. But then
Imay plead that / worked very hard,
and really need a good deal more
food than id!ers. By the
way, weighed myself at the begin
ming of the week, and found that it
vas just two hundred and twelve
pounds. Since dinner to-day l
weighed again, and found that bal
anced two hundred and twelve and a
half pounds, although it has been a
week of warm weather, ard / have
had unusual demands for exertion of
various kinds.
But let me feed family of ten
instead of one person, and l will
give them the highest health and
strength upon a diet which will cost
not much more than two dollars for
the ten persons for week. Let me
transfer my experiment to the far
West, where wheat, corn, oats and
beef are so cheap, and the cost OF
feeding my family Of ten would be so
ridiculous that / dare not mention
it. lest you laugh at me. And so far
frcm my family group being one of
ghosts or skeletons, l will engage
tnat they shall be plumper and
stronger, healthier and happier, with
clearer skins, brighter eyes, sSeeter
/ breaths, whittier teeth, and, in addl-
ton, that they shall live longer than
your Delmonico diners, each of whom
spends enough at a single dinner to
, feed my family of ten for a week
And last, but not least, they shall en-
I 10Y tkeir meals more than your Del
monico diners.
M1urrrnnEs in their haste to gel