The San Francisco call., 1898-12-04

 ones well being. The cares and anxie- ties of a mother with two or three mar riageable daughters in New York at the present day are manifold and varied for the cost of living has increased fourfold within the last four years, and since the war has again taken jump upward.
 Rent Is Serious Matter.
 The first thing to be considered in be- ginning a serious social campaign Tn New York is the matter of rent. Per sonally speaking, do not own, put rent, a town house, but we have, or course, to have the Newport cottage, the Adirondack camp, the little box at the Hot Springs for the autumn and house at Aiken for, the winter-that is, after Christmas, so that it is not worth while for us to come to town for more than two or three months. But, then, we have to pay for being in town at least $500 a month, so you can easily see what rent amounts to in the course of the year. and it is well known l am not an extravagant woman.
 Indeed, for the set 1 am identified with. I am considered extraordinarily economical, but, as I have said before, 
 hole in the money my husband and 1 have to live on. Fortunately, have an income as well as he, so the $60,OOO a year that we have between us sees us through fairly well-though it's none too much But, then, am what is called a good manager, so we don have many worries.
 Those Servants.
 The next large expenditure for the
 <s.1r1 .f flla paid to the servants. It is simply mad dening the amount that they demand, and things have got to such pass that it is necessary to pay fabulous wages in order to get good service. Then the servants have combined to have as many helpers as possible, so that It takes two to do the work of one. Our household is run economically, l am sure of that, for I keep fewer servants than any of my friends, and yet can not run my household with less than fourteen, and that includes the men servants
 The stable I have very little to do with, for I leave that for my husband to look after, except that 1 engage the coachman and footman, as I am very particular as to their appearance. l will not be driven about by men of different sizes and who are utterly lack ing in style.
 As you know, l do not keep cheI, and I will not pay over $50 month fer my cook, but I must pay $75 to my butler or have wretched service. My daughters must have a maid, and of course the woman who waits on them has all she can do without looking after me, and at my age it is most i'm perative that I should have a woman to look after my gowns, arrange my hair and keep my personal belongings Tn order
 I have to pay the woman want $35 month; to the girls maid l pay $25, and they are cheap at that money. There are lots of little things that they do that otherwise would have to be sent out of the house to be done and would cost a lot more Then I suppose in per sonal expenses I might count telephone. The bill for that came in yesterday and the excess charges were $100, which seemed to me a swindle, but afterward found were all right.
 I cut off one expense this year, that of housekeeper. At least, I was going to cut it off, but found when I look ad into the matter that she saved her wages, $50 a month out of the bills, and although I had to have another