The Osceola times., 1882-11-25
COST OF HOUSEKEEPING.
The Amount q Money One Can Afford to
Get Married On.
Cincinnati Commercial.

Cincinnati Commercial
The question has been revived by
correspondent in the New York Sun what
amount OF money young man can af-
ford to get married on, and the variety
and yiyacity of the numerous replies from
both married and unmarried people
which his communication has called out.
shows it to be a burning question.
1t is noticeable in this mass of cor
respondence that those who have tried
it on hold the most conservative views,
and put the expense of startingin house
keeping and keeping it up at coed
deal higher figure than the inexpericn-
ced boys and girls who look ahead to
matrimony as the summit Of human fe-
licity.
The original correspondent, bachelor
as he describes himself, estimated that
he could start in housekeeping by pur-
chasing, at secondhand, with fifteen do
lars, and maintain himself and wife on
an income of one dollar day; and ne
had the confidence of his convictions so
strong rs to itemize his household fur
nishing and table expense.
He is wiser man now, for dozen or
more married people take up and ana
lyze his schedule, and show how many
things he wants as absolutely essential to
housekeeping, letting alone comfort He
ought to include pillows for his bed, tow
els to dry himself with, spoons for hlsta-
BILE, etc, while he makes allowance for
but two quilts, at dollar each, for his
bed, and but knife and fork apiece for
man and wife. As for articles of COM
/ fort, they have to be omitted altogether.
| 1t is evident from this instructive cor
respondence that good deal more than
$l5 in cash isneeded to set up housekecp-
| ing, and that an allowance of a dollar
day for subsistence is insufficient TO sup
ply wholesome, plain food in sufficient
quantities to support two persons
] In this calculation there is no allow
ance for extras whatever, such as medi-
| cines in case of sickness, occasional visi-
| tors, or increase in the family; nothing
| for car fares, or an occasional outing, or
anything else that goes TO relieve the mo-
notony of routine work.
! Now, wife shut up in one or two small
rooms, sleeping on straw tick, wearing
cheap calico, cooking and using second
hand household utensils and furniture
without books, newspapers, flowers or any
of the trfies that adorn and make home
pleasant, and with husband too poor to
take her out Of an evening to any place
of amusement, or to entertain any COM
pany in his own house or rooms, must
love him devotedly if she finds content
ment in her surroundings. and does not
long for the teshpots of Egypt.
! 1t is an old saying that when poverty
comes in at the door love flies out of the
window. Grinding poverty; or even that
| stringency of circumstances that keeps
men and women steadily at the wheel
with no relaxation from drudgery, no
| amusement or entertainment because of
the expensiveness of it, become exceed
| ingly monotonous.
! 1t will require a measure of fortitude
and forebearance on the part of couple
who make such start in life, to render
existence tolerable after the novelty of
newly welded life has worn off that is
rarely to be found in this wicked world.
| To live next door to positive deprivation
and distress, and be conscious oft, dread
ing accident or adversely, is to be haunt
ed by demon worse than the night
mare.
The days of cheap living in this coun-
| try are over. Even in remote settle
ments, owing to the all pervasiveness of
railroads, and the facilities of sending all
sorts of produce to good markets, prices
are comparatively equalized, and living
costs pretty sum of money or its equiv
alent. Men must take thought for the
morrow, especially if they assume the
responsibility Of supporting wife, with
| the chances of the added responsibility
for whose education and proper develop
ment they are morally, and ought to be
/ legally held.
While it is well and wise to marry ear
| ly where the means justify, it is folly,
likely to end in misery, to jump into
matrimony unprepared for the conse-
quences. A young man who begins that
| kind of life upon an insufficient income
is nearly certain to fall behind, and to
| find it difficult to catch up. Necessity is
hard taskmaker and the feeling of in
| dependence being gone, and the con-
/ sciousness of being slave of necessity,
however frugal and temperate he may be,
/ take the spirit out of a man and writes
| the lines of anxiety and fear upon his
countenance. If is a fearful experiment
to make, since it involves not only his
own happiness, but that of the one being
| he loves beyond all Others
Still we are aware that much allow
ance may and should be made for the
fine enthusiasm Of youth, and the ambi-
ton that is stimulated when one gives
hostages to society; and when young
man thinks he is able to make his way
in the world he might well try, and be-
gin to economize by stopping all expen-
sive, useless and injurious habits, such as
smoking and drinking, and going to pla-