New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-07-19
KNOWING HOW TO LIVE.
THE AMERICANS EXPENDITURES.

There people in novels with incomes OF
less than $4,000 year, aad the average Anleri-
fixes his modest wishes at that his lowest
limit OF desire. That income means success at iS
lowest terms and we will not depreeilte our own
possible standing by considering insignificant for
tunes OF less degree. That reached, what loll0wsp
lie goes abroad, rents a Swiss villa or Flesentine
apartment and finds himself able to live vice as
well as at home for half the money. What he saves
he spends in bric-a-brac. IL never strikes him To
make an effort 90 improve the condition of things
at home, and insist on getting his dollars worth
when he might find life twice as convenient,
among old friends and neighbors, IN sound Of his
native tongue. lie has had 20 come home this sea-
son TO look after his proPerty-what is eft OF II,
Perhaps he is reduced 10 the penniessness Of $4,000
a year, on which, or even less the masses OF ma
tives contrive TO exist. But he and must con-
slider the from the view Of tastes which belong
10 500 900 a year, without regard 10 actual means.
As TO rent, after his house In Geneva, with its
great suites lit for congress Of ambassadors us
stately avenues and delicious gardens, at 200, IN
Guiding servants it seemed hard to accept cottage
in point OF size, with chOky rooms, In a restricted
quarter for a sum which would be a noblemans
income abroad For In Boston one can't 1--we
ali over town where he happens 70 find good
house and neighborhOOd. IL Boston has those
Questionable quarters, like part OF Irving
sOn-ave in New-io DIRK, When look wholly respect
able a visiting card, yet are not the fortune
of house agents, where family OF girls may grow
up and go parties every night In the best houses.
unatainted by their residences, the dwelerS wisely
keep the secret to themselves. Can you fancy
yourself meeting man VINO nves a1 we SCUM End
In society? Though why the South End should
not he as eligible as the Back Bay is what no one
not born Bostonian can make out In In the social
catechlsm of Boston, the question "heTe Goes
he live?7 comes very near the first. Were IT
allowable 10 rent a pleasant house Where ne Iouhu
il, the consequences TO his income would oe less
depicting, but would be certainly disastrous %
society. Instances have been known OF people
who were taken with the looks OF wide, gambrel-
rooted Old houses, with gardens, IN obscure paris
of Dorchester, and who even discussed the desira-
btlity of building on Powder horn Hill, processing
10 like the view; but they were creatures OF
abandoned tastes, and in origin probably New
Workers.
The charm of a house between court and garden
is unknown in American towns larger than Cleve-
land. Suppose our friend, with his foreign tastes.
misses the vine-draped berceau. the alice which
gave such privacy 20 his Paris house IN the
suburbs. Suppose he objects 20 the scrutiny OF
their private concerns than he chooses. Out OF
town he has his choice between pretentlous
cityfied house. with all its steepness and contrac-
ton relieved by quirks of roof and outside chin
ney stacks with bare expanse Of sOdded lawn
unfenced in the newest fashion. With all the eX,
panse Of wall and price, the imposing house VIII
not have two good-Sized rooms in 1t. II one
likes spacious chamber, say twenty or twenty
five feet square, he must buy or build a house
10 get it. AS for the grounds, where VIII he
find them in any such order as belongs to London
suburban places Of moderate rent? Compare
what he can have for $500 there with the trades
mems cottages which bring the price zen miles
around the large cities here. For the servants.
the less said the better. Nothing remains but
that who would improve private life IN THIS
country must be social pioneer, ana Sc. ao@nf
10 suit himself, provided he takes the trouble
10 learn the cost and the economies OF building.
very much cheaper than he can rent. AT worst.
he can borrow money TO build at five per cent, In
place Of paying ten per cent and taxes on some
body else property.
II he chooses TO apply to the same shrewdness 10
building that he gave 20 making his money at
first he will find that the houses estimated at
81 900 really cost about $4,000, and the building
lots which he is expected TO pay forty cents
forf in sta tlatrl a
in open market. II he prefers large, dlgnlned
outlines, and picturesque SURROUNDINGS TO ms
home, he will lind that twenty-five feet rooms
cost less than peaked roofs and fancy shingles,
and that fine plantations are the best speculation
man can engage in For hundred dollars
worth Of plants and trees from the spring aue-
tons judiciously laid out, will give him grounds
that will be a pleasure from the start, and In,
crease the value of his property almost thousand
fold Any one who doubts this knows little
Of the spending power of a hundred dollars III
horticultural way. For his furnishings, he may
turn decorator loose in his house, and pay Tor
lot Of incrusta, metaIhzed plaster, sham ONYX
and Moorish glass or he set his wpman-kInd
10 study and devise for their own home, when, II
they are at all clever they will turn out house
as harmonious and pleasant an India shawl.
with no rubbishy shifts Of cotton t1nne hangings
or iute tapestries, but with all the dignity OF
Woodstock carpets, Persian rugs, velvet curtains,
and plush upholstery for half what Messrs. Mince
& Moulder will charge for their trouble. The
women will doubtless hunt uD the Jobbing uphol-
sterer who does Mince a Moulders work. and
any the worse, or the soi4s betray the secret.
In the housekeeping an average American must
learn 10 order from first hand as Tar as possible,
when he will find his conservatory, vailed garden
and shrubberies can be kept up for less than the
difference in his house bills. For servants, till
some proper attempt is made 10 train them for en-
ployeT; employers must train for Themselves send
ing bright maids 70 protested cooks for teaching,
and the grooms 20 riding school, If II must be
But ncivility awkwardness dishonest from ser ser
house, unless he chooses. American employers get
the worst service III the world and the least respect,
lust because they submit IT, II one demands fair
return for what he pays and drops servant or
tradesmen promptly for due offence, he may have
10 try a score of experiments with the comfort Of
finding people he can trust and who humOr his
ways about him at last When man understands
the equities of all trades as far as they concern
himself, and knows when he Is well served or not,
and has the promptness 10 put down Insolence III
a cook, a hotel clerk, or conductor not 70 men
ton a plumber, he will find his way wonderfully
smoothed for him, even in his native country,
and his purse relieved.
Absurd Americans you have for a generation
paid the highest prices for yonr houses your
Clothes your service OF any nation on the globe;
but not because your water and gas pipes, your
coats and Goals, your carriages and furniture cost
more You have paid One-half for the cost and
fair profit of these things the other half because
sharp dealers are in a hurry make their fortunes
inside Of ten years. YOu are taxed ruthlessly
enough by Government, but still more So by your
tradesnen, your real estate dealers, your corpo-
rations You can put an end 70 il when You
understand the position and insist or falrer
division The study OF incomes and expenses
is interesting one, perhaps the most interesting
to the greatest number OF people that can be
named It is proved quite possible, both In
English society and our own, for man 10 live as
becomes a gentleman-dress well, have his club
and 20 into good society creditably-with prudence
on 81 200 year It is dem0nstTable that family
who know how 70 live may enjoy all the comforts
Of refined existence on So 500 year; keeping
a man and maid. with extra help when needed,
having a house near town. with carriage houses.
and more social pleasures than families Of twice
the income pretend 10 in the present restricted
mode of life Our people all have the tastes Of
those born 10 fortune The problem must he 70
reconcile them with limited incomes, and while
study of our shrewd neghbors across the water
teaches much, il leads % think IL not imposst
BILE 20 improve on their model.