The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1875-12-23
Home and Happiness on Ten Dollars
Week.

I A Chicago correspondent of the Louis
vile Courier-Journdl tells an Interesting
story of married man in that city by
the lake, who. from enjoying good
salary on newspaper, was driven by
stress of hard times and bad luck to work
as psinter, earning on an average ten
dollars week. We are not sure that
some fiction has not been mixed with
facts, but we give the story es it is re-
lated. The economists wife did the talking
at dinner to which her husband had in
yited the writer: q
"Well, you see, Ned came home and
told me ten dollars was the most he could
get; it was forty dollars at Washington;
and we talked the matter over and made
up our minds it would do somehow-do
good deal better than living off our
friends or getting in debit wish could
make all young married people fear that
awful thing, debti-so l came here aud
hired these two rooms, which cost us one
dollar and fifty cents a week. The
sleeping-room is large enough for our
bed, and to stow away a few things snugly,
while the children sleep on the sofa
there. 1t is bed-lounge, and opens out
at night. We haven't but that one stove,
of course, and twenty-five bushels of
coke, which cost us three dollars de-
liyered, with care lasts us two months |;
while we get all the shavings and kind
lings we want at the cooper-shops for
carrying them away. Kerosene costs US
only sixteen cents gallon, and lasts a
month. By taking ten pounds of hooks,
even when pork is so high, we get them
at four cents, and they make three or
four nice meals, day or two apart, and
we have a refrigerator in the hall for
keeping perishable food. Ned found
where he could get nice pieces of meat,
beef, at five cents pound, if we take
ten pounds. We buy it for nice meat
of course; but out of that amount we
get steak or two-we have to pound it
some to make it tender land sometimes
we have what the Germans call Ham
burger steak, that is, the meat, chopped
fine like sausage, favored delicately with
onions, and broiled rapidly; besides
stews,' 'boils,' and plenty of shash,'
which isn't very bad when it's clean and
cooked nicely. Sometimes / vary the
mince-meat and boil a few pounds,
adding little nice pork to give it del
icacy and flavor; boil it all day until it
is almost jellied. Then / season it with
little butter, pepper, salt and just a
drop of Halford; set it away in q cloth
bag over night, and in the morning we
have the incest 'beef cheese you ever
tasted"
/ sampled the beef cheese, and even
after hearty meal its delicacy substan-
tiated the statement. ~ -...s.-...-ii ?
Sometimes, when we are very short
of money, Ned resorted to the little fc-
ton of buying five cents worth of good
meat for his cat. We haven't cat, but
we've got four hungry mouths, and the
pound or pound and half of meat we
got that way did us great deal of good,
especially if we were little hungry for
meat. You see, if that butcher had
known it was for our own use, it would
have only bought half pound. But
the cat legend always brings a good
piece. Sometimes we got so reckless as
to have chickens, and even turkey, but
we have TO watch the market for these.
Just after Thanksgiving / bought eight
chickens and nice turkey for one dol
lar down on Market street. 1t was Sat
urday evening, the dealer had ten tons
on hand, and it began to. rain; but it
showed before morning, and / had four
dollars worth of choice food in the house
Didn't we poor people go for them
chickens, though! We make our own
bread, and what pastry we can afford to
indulge. Two barrels of good winter
wheat -four, which cost, delivered, seven
dollars per barrel, last us just one year.
We don't use either tea or coffee, and our
milk here costs us twenty-one cents a
week, as a pint a day answers us"
Isaw that the culinary department
was successfully managed, but begged to
know how many hundred dollars year
they were obliged to expend for clothing.
How many hundred dollars2 My
sakes alivel We haven't spent hun
dred in two yearsr
Seeing that l looked perplexed, she
looked at Ned as much as to say, "Shall
II" and Ned, looking at her as if to say,
"Do as you like" she did as she liked,
as women generally do. ~
"Well, / kept Ned pretty well patched
up for year or more, made over his and
my own very old clothes for the children,
and them" laughing at Ned, eve re.
solved on strategy.
We knew that there were thousands
of people in a city like this, who, if
rightly approached, and given assurance
that they were not to be humbugged,
had been, and were, more than half will
ing to give the kind assistance we needed.
So Ned went down to the Tribune Office,
and had inserted. under the head OF
Miscellaneous last July"-("Sunday,
June 90" interrupted Ned, who, from
habit, is exact about dates and fgures),
:" this advertisement, which cost us Just
eighty cents"
Here she brought the slip which had
been clipped from the Tribune, and which
give as an evidence of the truthfulness
of the narrative:
uTANTED-B BY A HARD WORKING, NEEDY
w person, cast-off clothing of some gentleman.
Recipient will confer with honor, showing need and
respectability. Address P. rs, Tribune Office.
"We got all manner of answers to our
advertisement, some in witty vein, ask
ing US whether we could loan money at
ten per cent. a month, and inquiring
whether we couldn't get a better dodge
than that. There was just one helpful
answer and that from a man who