Smyrna times., 1893-10-18
Living on 81 a Week.

A reporter of the Boston Herald has
put to practical test the assertion of
Mr.. Edward Atkinson that a man can
provide himself with complete nourish-
ment, in the form of solid food. at the
cost of one dollar a week or less, and
has, accordingly to his account in that
paper, verified the assertion by his ex
pertinent. The practical success of
Mr.. Atkinson's proposition depends, as
the Herald explains, upon the use of
cheap fuel, entirely consumed. ap-
piled without the loss to food that loses
nothing in its cooking" The reporter
accordingly used one of the ovens sug-
gested by Mr.. Atkinson, cooking by an
oil lamp, the heat being so concentra-
ted and confined to the oven as to
utilize all of it in the preparation of the
fSod. He gives long and amusing
description of his weeks experiment.
and triumphantly announces that it is !
true that full-grown person may feed
himself abundantly-yes, luxuriously |
ON the best homely food in the mar
ket-eXpensive meats and dainties ex-
cepted--cOnsiderabIy inside the limit"
of one dollar
He gives the following summary of
the cost; of each meal and the total
cost of each meal and the total cost for
the entire week; Saturday, breakfast
$50, dinner S.72, u O5c; Sunday break
fast ASS, dinner S.73. 1850; Monday
breakfast 7.19; dinner $50, 1856:
Tuesday breakfast, SOD, dinner 9.62,
l6.l7c. Wednesday, breakfast 6. Is, din
ner, 11,8l, 17.76c; Thursday. breakfast
214, dinner 5.64, 7.87c; Friday break
fast 2.63, dinner, 5.S8, sole; total cost.
7S.8Oc, Average per day. 1860; aver
age per meal, 6.2Sc
Counting the cost of the oil used for
fuel and some minor items not included
in the above calculation, he computes
tie total cost for the seven days at
and ninty-hundredths cents.
Beans, onions, beets and potatoes fig
ured largely in his bill of fare, but he
also had during the week such meats as
lamb, beef and pork, and other viands.
such as macaroni, apple sauce, cram
berry SAGE, grapes bread and butter
while be had coffee with sugar in it, to
drink. He provided himself with ac.
curate scales so as to ascertain the ex-
act amount of food he consumed, and
gives the results to the minutest de-
tails with true reportorial conscienti-
BUSINESS and care. He is doing his
usual work for the papor during his
experiment, and thinks that with a
little more time at his disposal he could
have made an even better showing.
aud have introduced such cheap des.
serts as bread puddings and pies in his
menus.
The experience of the Herald re-.
porter is an interesting one, but he is
not the first person who has lived on
dollar a week, though many cases of
the sort have been compulsory, and
not in the interest of scientific investi 9
cation. During the Civil war thous.
ands of people in the South lived regu-
larly on that amount or less, and their
experiences might furnish Mr.. Atkin. I
son and other statiCians with points |
On domestic economy. When our gold 8
was worth about sixty in Confederate /.
money, several members of the Rich !
mond, Va, press, managed to live ON Z
about sixty dollars each a week in Con- {
lederate paper money, or at about the 9
same rate as the Boston reporter, al. :
though they did not possess the fuel q
saving devices of the Boston man. The Il
bill of fare did not contain the same t
variety, however, and was about as
ollows Milk at $5 a quart, $S5; bread /
It 81 loaf, $14; one peck of meal. 50; Ii
'ne'quarter pound of bacon, 81; one q
Iuart of beans, SO; fuel, $5; total, $50, y
n Confederate currency or one dollar
n gold. They did not pretend, how
'ver, to enjoy it as the Boston reporter Il
ioes, and would not care to repeat the k
experiment. in the interest of science or
else. Il
Qnquestionably people can live on o
much less than they do, AS a general
ule, as men have discovered who have o.
'een left on desert islands, or who have y,
'een ship wrecked and drifted about
he ocean for days without their regu- al