St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-09-11
HARD TIMES.

THESE hard times are forcing people
tinto closer living quarters than formerly.
Couples who rented a nine-room house
last year are compelled to put up with
two rooms this winter A great MANY
houses have two or three families un-
der one roof, and very comfortably
+ they live. In spite of shrinkage in
the already small income. appear
anees," that bugbear of society, must
be Kept up,no matter the inconvenience.
You must have actual experience by
I living In this economical fashion before
you can tell at glance how many
rooms your friend is indulging in You
call on friend, are shown into pleasant
double parlors, and the thought might
| come to an inexperienced person. How
can they afford two parIors to heat and
furnish" But one who has had good
dose or economy will glance suspiciousIy
around and calculate how many thus
that elegant bookcase conceals. or how
many frying pans might be discovered
k should that draped table lose its ample
| drapery and stand forth in its real
| character of cupboard and store room.
Ii that inexperienced young person
could remain until supper-the mystery
of 'two parlors" for such small in
come would be explained. A small
gasoline stove is brought to light from
the depths of q closet, teakettIe is
carefully dug out from the inside OF a
writing desk, frying pans spring up like
mushrooms from all sorts of impossible
| places. and the back parlor becomes
/ kithen and dining. room in very short
space of time. Supper is cooked and
eaten with as much relish as if served
| III freScoed banquet hall. Then the
| dishes are washed, the kitchen diSap-
pears ana the parlor returns. wond er
what that inexperienced young thing
would have thought had she known
| that the sofa upon which she sat. dis
| cuSSing the latest opera. concealed a
multitude of vegetables; that turnips
and potatoes were nicely slowed away
| beneath it IN neat little boxes, whilst
beside them cabbage reposed its
| weary head in the diShpan. Radishes
| and carrots lived under the piano in
brotherly love, coffee pot stared at her
| from behind the curtains, and under
meath the big chair teapot impatiently
awaited her departure SO SO it could be
warmed I'D.
But where do the owners of all this
concealed luxury sleep? About 10:30
that pretty bookcase and writing desk
combination which you admired is let
down with a bang! the proprietor
crawls in, and until the next day the
front parlor is bedroom. No one
would care to live always in this way;
but it is cosy. comfortable. and, above
all, economical. Very little work is
attached to this kind of housekeeping,
and the great problem of the age, the
servant girl question. never trouble
the inhabitants of these unique estab-
lishments.
Writing of hard times reminds me of
the street car strike in Duluth last
week. L was visiting there during the
three days when the "unsalted citiZens
of the Zenith City" proctor Knott)
were obliged to use their own under
standings on which to navigate How
those hills were. ahem = commented
upon. Bicycles were at premium,
and every one had weary.
faded appearance. No one SMILED
for three days except the man
who lived where the road was
level As result of that strike, COM
bined with those hills, most OF the in
labitants are now kuee-Sprung. hear
that many of the business men arose
| early, packed themselves snugly into
empty barrels5aud rofledIlowns to their
1 Offices Very nice, but 1 cannot recol-
lect hearing that any OF them rolled up
again. Nobody ever walks for a car in
Duluth. As you come down the hills
you can see the ear below you while it
is blocks away. The temptation to try
and catch it is too great to resist. Down
every hill you can see the natives run
ming as though they thought the cars
only ran once day. Everybody runs.
Prim old maids, sedate widows. chill
dreiI. and even the .'oldest inhabitant."
down car.
*
Last week the freedom of this great
and glorious country was brought
forc,bly to my mind. How entirely uu-
hampered by the feelings of other pee
pie we are. | came up town in a closed
car with Il IimOurger cheese And the
law allowed it. This cheese must have
been dug up at Pompeii. for feel sure
it had been dead and ought to have been
buried many years ago. The owner of
this delicious relish did not pay cent
extra, but should have Thought the i'm
pIoring glances cast at him Ivy his suffer
ing fellow passengers would have melt
ed the proyerbial "heart of stone As
he did not remove the nuisance. [ pre-
sumo his heart was manufactured from
Philadelphia pressed brick.
The timid passengers left at once, but
the Drawer ones remained for some
time, hoping that he would leave. Vain
hope. ne evidently intended to accom-
pany that cheese to the end of the line.
One young woman picked out the
wrong man as the offender and glared
at him until he slriyeled to one-fourth
of his original size. Another one didn't
stop to take seat, but after one sniff
leaned off the moving car and fell in
heap against the curbStOne, from whence
she gas assisted to her feet by boot
black and yellow dog. "Limburger''
was whispered around the car, and we
signaled the conductor to stop, and one
by one we were assisted off amidst
silence that was eloquent. The wav the
| passengers swallowed the atmosphere
was wonderful. and the amount they
would take in at one breath made me
| fear there wouldn't be enough to go
around. The car sped on, and the
! cheese-monger was left In undisputed