St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1888-10-04
OWNING A HOME.
Something Within n Poor Mans Reach


i arriving at mature years and getting
j 1narried, is a home. The old prOvert
Il runs, "The cage first ; then the bird.
Still exigencies will arise where delays
are dangerous. 1t is fair to presume
however, that few thoughtful people
marry without some financial reserve
to fall back upon, and the best thing
to have on hand is piece of land. Let
us advise first, then, that every poor
young man buy piece of land, say at
the cost of a couple of hundred dollars,
hnd make his wife a wedding present
of the deed, conveying the same to her.
We put the cost low because a poor
! man will not expect to obtain a central
location upon the most popular street
of the town. Indeed, if he could OBJ
tain such lot be would no longer be
poor, and therefore all we have to say
upon this topic would be inapplicable
to him but ever so poor, he can get
the land if he will, for where there is a
will there is a way, and he cannot ex-
pect to have lands or houses or money
without some self denial nor will he
deserve to have them.
Now, then, we are talking to a SEN
sible young man expecting to get mar
ried, desiring to have family, and
meaning to have house to shelter
them. He gets the land from his lit
tie savings, as all poor people must do.
But how is he to get the housed We
noticed recently some model plans on
(which to build, and in the newspaper
(which they were, under a sketch of the
8 building recommended, we read-"this
house for S2400." We laid it down,
and the folly of such a proposition al
most burned our fingers. Where are
the $24G0 to come fromq 1t never
should, and ought not, be thought of ;
One-half of all the houses in this city
to-day are not worth more than from
$500 to $1,000.
The reader may start with surprise,
and ask, "What can you get for $;OOF'
That is the whole question under con-
sideratiOn and don't be in too much
Of hurry. 1t is not ten days since we
heard you talking of going West, as
the only chance of accommodating mon
ey; do you think that money grows
on bushes there7 What kind of a
home would you get if you went to
take up new land and wiring a fortune
from the soil, outside of the cities 2
j ust such as your fathers had when
they landed on the banks of the Parker
and took their spades and pick axes
and began to dig into the first hill
making a house, partly under the
earth's surface. In other words you
will find all over the Western plains
men with families, living in the "dug-
OUTS" where we should not put a
horse or a COW in this section of the
country. We will not advise anybody
to come to that to get house, for that
would be worse than the next evil to
Il it-'rent paying" which no man should
ever come to till necessity cOmpels him.
But having found fault with the
$500 house, as unattainable to the
wage workers, let us suggest another
plan. In the first place, we would
Il find Il carpenter or an architect who
would give us the plan of house that
could be built in sections, without de-
Fl strOying it's symmetry and beauty, for
the man who is about to marry and
start in life, will in the end, and as the
fruit of his labOrs, want a nice little
home, one that his wife will admire
and his children love, and which TO
them all will be home and that word
home, in the English language, means
all that is lOveable and enjoyable-the
dearest spot of earth dearer and bet
ter than palace belonging to another,
for it makes him king of the little ter
ritory, where no living man can invade
his rights; not the governor can step
within the enclosure, without saying
"With your permission, sir" 1t is his
own, the reward of his toll up as far
as the heavens and down to the centre
of the globe, it is his own.
But why build in sections That
question covers the whole philosophy
of our scheme and we answer: "be-
cause the ordinary, average man can't
find the money to pay rent and build
the house too and he must make the
rent pay for the house, as he goes
along. Let us see; now we have sup,
b posed that he has small cheap piece
81 of land; dry, sunny, airy, and, there,
fore, healthy. On that land he will
8 first build part of his house. NJ
B matter if it is only two rooms no mat
ter if it be only one story high anC
no matter if there be not a smOth bOarC
or brush full of paint on it. What ht
wants is to have it tight in wet wealth
er, and for little space capable OF be
ing warm in cold weather. Move in
to that. 1t will cost you less that $500
but it will stop your rent. You viii
have no landlord coming with hi
monthly bill and if your friend ask
you Chow do yOulike your new house,
you can truthfully reply "Better thar
any one ever lived n" for you will
be a happy man, and your fortune ha
begun.
The next year, from the rent savet
you will have 500; and by ecOnOm,
you may get $50, or 500 more. 1t will
surprise you to see how cheap you Cal
live, and how much You can save wheI
you have an object in view. You vii
throw your pipe away and stop you
beer drinking; and Mary Ann will g
with one dress less, and save lots o
money that now goes for nothing ; TO
you are to put the money into TIL
house, and that is better than saw
ings bank. The first year you will fur
nish and finish that part of house
the next you will begin another sec
ton; and before five years are out, yO
will have as fine home as any work
ingman can desire. In the same tim
the trees will have grown in the gar
den, the vines will have climbed on til
lattice work the flowers will bloom
along the walks, the vegetables viii
mature from your planting, and tn
hens will cackle in the coop over til
new-laid eggs.
Now this is our plan of making ever
man his own landlord, real estat
fbOss,n happy owner of his Ow
homestead. More than that, it is tn
foundation of wealth. 1t will take
half dozen years, but then he will b
under thirty, and of Industrious an
economical habits, and when he Ina
one house he is qualified to earn al
other; the two will beget third an
ar,flas and Uiuaa him lem