Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1891-02-25
LIVING IN A BIG CITY.
LIGHT HOUSEKEEPING; WHAT lT
MEANS AND HOW IT IS DONE

Light housekeeping has become almost
scandalous term because Ofits abuse here
and elsewhere; but, nevertheless, there isa
great deal Of such housekeeping in New
York that is eminently respectable. Some
times the partners are man and wife, some.
times they are bachelors, and sometimes,
though more rarely perhaps, young women
engaged, as the census says, In "gainful uc
cupations" -dressmaking, shop tending
literary work, or what not. Most families
of this sort breakfast at home and dine Mt
restaurants Nobody believes, of course,
that dining at restaurants is any cheaper
than dining at home.
In fact, it is vastly dearer, unless the res
taurants be of the fifteen cents meal va
riety But light housekeeping dispenses
with maid servant, hospitality and good
deal Of rent 1t is peculiarly well adapted
to those families Of two, in which both hus
band and wife help to earn a living. As
the wife is out all day, she cannot attend to
household duties Of very eXacting char
acter, and as economy is the object the
family cannot employ maid servant
CHEAP LIVING.
So two rooms, or at furthest three, are
rented instead of four, five or six; a gas
ing; the "house" is heated by steam, shared
in common with other tenants, and thus
what is lost IN the cost of restaurant din,
ners is saved in rent, fuel and wages. Un-
furnished apartments Of two or three rooms
In respectable parts of the city may be
rented at from 50 TO 225 a month.
Ifayoung couple chooses to occupy apart
ments in one of the great sanitary tene.
for bf al, la ftI.,p
rentwiIl fall considerably below the smaller
Of these figures The cost of breakfast is
a mere tri1e, and really poor folk, that are
willing to put up with such an apology for
home, may live almost as cheaply IN the
heart of New York as in the country A
clever woman can make even such quarters
as these cozy and attractive, and the posi-.
bility ofsueh mode of life has FASTENED
many marriage
Bachelors living in this fashion manage
very comfortably though, of course, at
greater expense because few men are con
tent to get their own breakfasts and attend
to their own apartments. The homeless
habit prevents most bachelor housekeeping
from going beyond the eight stage,
though when once a maid servant becomes
a necessity, it is cheaper to have all meals
prepared at home. Few young men, how
ever, are content to forego the glitter and
hum of the cheerful restaurant, with lis
motley company and varied bills of fare
Better and more wholesome dinners could
be prepared at home for less than half the
money, but the charm Of contact with the
world is lost, and there is always the danger
that the absence of one partner may leave
the other TO dine alone,
WHY WOMEN DON'T CLUB
Women seem to find it difficult to keep
house together Perhaps they are less
adaptable than men, or perhaps the strain
of constant contact from which men may
escape by going out into the world, makes
friction inevitable Az any rate, there are
thousands of women living lonely lives in
boarding houses, when "all the comforts
Of home" are within their reach il only
they choose to form housekeeping part
nership The dreariuess of boarding house
life for women is a thing that men would
not endure. In some Of the poorer but
still respectable boarding houses the par
lor is rented to physician, SO that there ia
no common room where dodgers may re
ceive visitors.
All the uglness of human life shows it,
self at such places, yet women of delicate
sensibilties endure it, because they fancy
that they could not undertake the task Of
housekeeping with other women. ~ don't
know any girl with whom I'd dare try such
an experiment" said an art student, when
this idea was suggested to her Another
woman, who had established a little home
of her own, confessed that she was very
well pleased that a friend living in like
manner as herself had not taken apart
ments In the same house For the 3d. So
or IS a week that each Of four women pays
for the discomforts of Il boarding house all
could have a cozy little home in common.
But in this whole city there are probably
only few score such homes
Some charitable women in Brooklyn dis
covered that nearly dozen shop girls were
lodging in one moderate sized room, where
they prepared their breakfasts in the morn
ing and sat at night unless the streets
proved more attractive. Such women earn
from So to 81 a week.
PROJECTED WORK
They must present decent outward ap
pearance; but it has been discovered that
in the case OF the poorest the one visible
garment is almost the only scrap of cloth
ing they possess. For the most part these
girls have almost no skill as necdleWomcn
and little knowledge Of the housekeeping
art. They simply manage to exist and
that by constant hard work and rigid, if
not always intelligent, economy. 1t is
cherished plan of the Young Womcu's
Christian Association of Brooklyn to build
a large lodging house, whore these women
may live and carry on a species of light
housekeeping The price Of lodging win
be placed within the reach of the poorest
girls, but each will pay something for the
comforts she receives. At the same time
the associations classes in uCedIGWOrl and .
general domestic economy will give the
girls an opportunity to learn the arts ucces .
sary TO the maintaining Of a home ], i8 /
said that already the instruction impaired /
in the classes of this association has pro
NOTED many marriages. Light housekucp
ing for single women ought also to be pro
motive of matrimony.
Light housekeeping in New York as
sumes many curious forms, The city Is so
large that there is room for an indulgence
of all sorts of tastes There are families /
that never meet except at dinner. There /
are others that are together only az hrCgk
fast. There are probably very few, rich or
poor, that take three meals per day to-
Cether One anxious woman is the en-
thusiastic advocate of cooking i'm common .
or, moro broadly, cooperative bouscAecp
ing. All sorts of ingenious devices have
been invented for promoting this idea
New York Star.
Remarkable Age ana Nnmc.
At San Martin, near Atacarotal Mex
leo, there resides pure Indian woman