St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1884-10-18

month, or about forty cents a day. |
The landlord pays the water bill for |
the whole building. and as we do not
burn gas we have no gas bills. The |
oil that we burn costs us thirty cents 4
month in the winter. and, of course,
much less than that in the summer.
do my own nousework, and therefore
we save the servants wages and what
the servant would waste. As for fuel,
we use ten tons of coal a year, the av-
eragc cost of which last year was about
SOD ton, brought into the building.
That makes seventeen or eighteen cents
a day.
'.Tell him about the heprovisions," said
the husband, with chuckle.
Il am coming to that part of the
story" said the little woman, with
threatening glance at her husband.
Then addressing herself to the silent
guest, she said: Edward makes a
great deal of fun about my buying the
provisions for our table, because will
never let the cost of what we eat go
above a certain amount each week. If
we have an extra good dinner one day
we practice a little self-denial for the
rest of the week. Some days we do not
eat any butter. other days we go with
out milk, and in warm weather we only
have meat once in four or five days.
How much do you think it costs me a
week to supply our table? Please give
rough guess.
80, about twelve or fourteen dol
lars" promptly answered the newspa-
per man, making what he thought was
q low estimate.
Il spend four dollars week, and no
more, for provisions, replied Mrs. r.,
with an emphatic toss of the head. This
dinner to-day is extra, because we have
company. but shall not allow it to in
crease the aggregate cost of our food
for the week :"
That's so, she won't" groaned Ed
ward. Tomorrow there will be moth
ing bnt herrings, soda crackers and
cold water on the table"
Il resent that imputation," said the
Young wife, laughingly. edward
knows that we always have plenty of
good. wholesome food. In fact, we
are obliged to have it. for both he and
l exercise q great deal each day, and
then our baby is two years old, and she
has a ravenous appetite. l know that
to persons who have kept house it will
seem almost incredible that family of
three can be we'll fed on sixty cents
worth of food each day. We could not
get along on what sixty cents would
buy if should purchase my supplies
from day to day. But | go to market.
sometimes twice a week and sometimes
once week, and buy enough to last
two or three DAYS or week, as the case
may be. Flour buy by the bag, and
sugar ten or twenty pounds at time.
make my own bread. cakes and
pastry. and / have learned how to dress
up fancy little dishes out of the simplest
kind of fare. We have ham quite often.
One ham will last us a long while, yet
We do not get tired of it, because there
are dozen different ways of preparingit
for the table. Whenever buy roast
of beef we have it in many different
forms. | can get good roast at my
butchers for one dollar, and that will
last us three or four days. We will
have from that single piece meal of
roast beef, a meal of stewed meat with
potatoes, platter of cold meat with
pickles, and perhaps some good beef
soup. We eat a good deal of oatmeal,
cracked wheat, hominy and rice. Such
food is not only nourishing. but it costs
but little, and can be served in great
variety of WAYS. Fried hominy and
sirup or rice pudding makes avery nice
dessert. BY the way, l shall ask your
opinion of some of my rice pudding as
soon as you have finished your beef and
potatoes"
, The pudding was served few min
uees afterward, and it was truly de-
licious compound of rice and egg and
sugared frosting.
snow let me do a sum in addition,
said the husband, taking out his pencil,
after the meal was over. ''My wife
says that we pay forty cents day for
rent. sixty cents day for provisions,
eighteen cents day for fuel and about
one cent day for oil; that makes just
one dollar and nineteen cents. Is there
anything else?"
80, yes," exclaimed the wife, ''there
is Kate. the washerwoman; l pay her
one dollar and twenty-five cents week,
which is about eighteen cents a day."
"Well, that brings our necessary ex-
penses, not including clothing, up to
Sl.S7 a day." continued the young
man, putting on a thoughtful air. My
salary, as you say, is about 1913 day.
Last year we saved nearly S21O, which
is tritle more than seventy-three cents
day. Take that out and it leaves us
Just about - a day to live on. We have
already accounted for Sl.37. What be-
comes of the rest?'
1--WE spent about $50 for clothing
last year." suggested the wife. ''lou
had that s25 suit and your summer suit
which cost 80. and had dress and
my new cloak, which, with what the
baby had to have. and shoes and hats
for all of us brought the whole amount
up to nearly $50"
THAT makes about forty cents day
to be added to the Sl.37, making in all
Sl.7e Of our S2. There is twelve cents
day or little over S43 yet to be &C
counted for. That. suppose we can
put down for incidentals."
The young wife nodded her head
afiirmatively. and the newspaper man
asked, with some surprise, whether it
was possible that the S4S would cover
,v,hn1a xrnarf- for fxu