The morning times., 1896-02-23
-Hhe Art Of
| Living.

For natures calls are few;
In this the art of living lies,
To want no more than may suffice,
Aud make that little do
The art OF livingl What a momentous
question for the submerged tenth Of hu-
mainly! Nay, is ii not the problem para
mount for "A much larger fraction? Seneca
once said, IF you live according to the
dictates OF nature, you will never be poor,
il according TO the worlds caprice, you
will never be rich.'
But this ancient philosopher was rich
according to the worlds caprice" and
IL is so easy TO engage in platitudes and
ambiguous aXioms upon the art Of living
if your rent is paid, the coal-Din fun and
the harder always well stocked.
Live within your income" senten-
tiously eXclaims some sophist. But sup
pose your income balks and refuses 10 come
in? In that case" pipes in some simple
ton, cvasively, you must depend on your.
wits" But wits won't mctamorphose a
ten-dolar bin into a twenty y-dolIar rent re-
ceipt. Then hustle for the extra ten
ncr, another wiseacre laconicaly re-
marks. ''oh. certainly, thatis easy enough, y
replies the hard-up individual, sarcas-
ticaliy, Il never thought of that. Thank
You, ever so much. I'll just close myoffice
aud walk down street. Doubtless III
fiud 1t around the corner. Tcn-dollar hills
are often lying around loose, begging some
one To claim them
The young professional man can hustle
He must keep to his office. He can't take
i'm Lvn shine or bn mpndinU I Lpnw Of ono
who took in typewriting. That was several
years ago. He is taking in typewriting yet.
| knew OF another a lawyer, who thought
he could combine n private secretaryship
with his practice. He is private secretary
yet, and has abandoned all hope of obtain
ing law practice.
No, stick TO your profession exclusively
Hustle, of course. Hustle for cases Hustle
for patients, but don't hustle for outside
work. Live within your income?" Yes,
that's good advice after all. And il you
are not Il cad you can live comfortably
within very small income, too. And, lord,
man, don't be fool. Apropos, the follow
ing:
My chum got married. ''Well. old man, :"
| said, one day when met him down to wn,
"how's the madam" He assured me she
was quite well.
"Boarding?'
ION! YES" he answered vaguely.
! called on them n few days later and
found them pleasantly located in desira-
bic part of the city. Nelson and myself had
been room-mates at college. or course, our
ideas, then, OF life were exalted. He sup
posed n married man could live respectfully
on less than a couple of thousand dollars
a year. ! quite agreed with him. A man
who would permit his wife to prepare his
meals was brute. Those were our college
sentiments.
When became benedict took my wife
TO call on Mr.. and Mrs. Nelson.
"Stil boarding." inquired.
"Oh! yes" Nelson again evasively an
swcred.
So were we Forty dollars month for
board. $50 month for room ana say $50
for incidcntals. ] found l must take in
500 a month TO live. That was all very
well tin the summer lull came. Then my
practice dropped TO about $50 cash. The
idea of spending a month away from the
city was abandoned. My wife never pre-
pared a meal in her life.
Let me try To get our breakfasts she
vcntured to suggest one day. Now don't
frown so. would Just love II. and I'm
sure 1t would be cheaper" ] protested,
but finally consented to allow her to try
lust one. We bought little gas stove and
a few cooking utensils. ] improvised q
table out of a screen.
Breakfast appeared In due time and
/ was charmed. She begged to try it a
week sand we found two dollars paid the
bill. Then my wife, whose ruling pcnchant
is for calculating. began To figure. After .
half hour OF fuSSing and frowning she tri
umphantly announced that We could save
about ten dollars a month by preparing
our own breakfasts. And they are sc
much better" she added by way Of argu
ment, which, indeed, was true.
Meantime Nelson and his wife had re
turned our call.
Boarding." he inquired.
ooh, yes ] replied, and then changed
the subject.
When / came from the office one night
| was mad. Rent was due and no one had
called TO settle his bill. When l explained
the situation 10 my wife she sat thinking
for a few minutes and then disappeared
into the bedroom. / thought she had done
in there 10 have silent cry.
stepped softly to the door and peeped
in, hut she was not in tears. Instead she
was deeply immersed in columns OF figures.
Finally she laid them aside Ind asked for
the evening paper. ] watched her furtiyely
and saw that she was diligently reading
the advertisements. The next morning
when left for the office she explained that
she would meet me at dinner. 1t had been
my habit to co me TO the rooms former. That
evening after dinncrshe confrontedme with
| a dozen sheets of statistics on housekeeping.
ing.
BY the most original and complicated
methods she hadfigured out our future plan
of living. An that afternoon she had been
looking at rooms for light housekeeping
She now read me a long list, with prices
attached. I'VE are going to move" she
announced. Il find we can save ever SO
much. l am going 10 prepare the meals"
Again l protested, but she begged. 'It
will be perfectly lovely. We can rent three
| nice unfinished rooms for SIS. One viii
do for bedroom, one for kitchen. and
we can combine parlor and dininS-roon
Please let me do it,. And ii was so decided
Now isn't this nicc?" she exclaimed a.
we-sat down to dinner a few evenings ago
Il never enjoyed anything SO much in my
life. The stove is a perfect beauty. ant
the little oven that sets on one of TIL,
burners is too cute for anything"
We have been living this way for severa
months and are charmed. At about hal
the expense we live thrice more comfortably.
Nelson and his wife called on us the Other
evening and as usual he asked if we were
still boarding, and ] gave him the usua
evasive reply, But later in the evening