Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-08-26
FRUGAL, BUT HONEST
Living in Paris on Thirty Dollars a
Month.
4 FAMILY OF fHREE ALMOST DID IT
The Bookkeeping Alone is Worth
a Good Salary.
THE CUISINES PoPULAIREs

Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.
PARIS. August 10. 1899.
His wife keeps the household books while
he is working. In the evening they go over
them together to learn exactly where the
money goes. The money is his salary as a
salesman in a retail shop, $50 monthly plus
the firms annual Christmas gift of $50. /
have not only seen this couples books but
I have dined with the two. True. we ate
at a restaurant, at Il cents each. but then
that Is their habit. II will not make my
wife household drudge" he says.
My friend Pillon is salesman In one OF
those cheap general supply establishments
so common in Paris, that initiate afar or
the Louvre and the Bon Marche. He has
travelled. Once he worked for three months
with a pick and shovel He has been a SOL
der, street car conductor. railway clerk
and a life insurance collector, always will
ing to take the first work offered. in a land
where clerks prefer poor, steady jobs to
better paid uncertain ones. His present
place Is of the steadiest-no promotion but
no fear Of being thanked" He married at
the age of twenty. Now he is thirty and
his wife Is twenty-eight She is dainty and
we'll read She never worked before her
marriage and was educated up to fifteen
in one Of those distressingly cheap convent
schools. where growing girls are fed on
bread, cheese. beans and wine and water,
with stewed prunes for dessert. On the
other hand, the sisters gave her manners.
culture and great self-respect. Before she
had the housekeeping and children to look
after she earned 40 cents a day addressing
envelopes at home. They have a home, al
though there is no word for home" in the
French language.
This home-although they eat in restau-
rants-is in two rooms of an apartment
house. with the use of a cellar five flights
down. 1t looks SO neat and worthy that 1t
seems almost a shame to analyZe the 1ur-
niture-one pine table in the Kitchen, one
painted and vanished table in the bed
room six chairs covered with lowered ere
tonne, one secondhand bureau, one bed,
few pictures and brackets, six pots OF
flowers one sofa-bed for the five-year-old
boy, four cretonne curtains draped from
ceiling to floor in the bed ROOM also white
curtains at all the windows and one baby
carriage. which serves for crib as we'll
The furniture, worth scarcely Sl5, makes
more effect than might be thought. 1t is
clean and dainty: and then there are books
new books. bright in their Paris paper
covers An old school friend of madam
supplies them, the one gift this proud cou-
pie degns to accept from the outside
world. 49,
In winter they two economical
stoves consuming $40 worth OF fuel
month Cooke ninety cents for 900 pounds)-
This item which appears excessive, Is JUS
tilted only by the draughty condition of the
rooms in that old Paris house Last winter;
too the young wife cooked for herself ana
boy the husband only going to the cuisine
populaire. He must always eat away from
home; his lunch time is too short and his
closing hour too late for any other pro-
gram. The food expenses for that year of
unsatisfactory lunching and dining apart
prove to my friends satisfaction that little
is to be gained by making his wife "a
household drudge The items. set down
with such minuteness by the painstaking
,,pff tr1yf1
ment to those interested in the details Of
Paris living. Still I would not advise
Americans with ideas Of long stay at the
exposition to try to duplicate the perform
ance. Only Parisians can do 1t.
The problem being how to live in the gay
capital on $50 monthly without getting into
debt or disgrace, the mans personal ex-
penses naturally come first. because he rep
resents the family to the outside world.
For example, he must be well dressed.
Here Are the Items.
The husband (personaD-Two pairs OF
Shoes $3.50: residing the same, 81 so; one
felt hat, 81 20: laundry 1.-TWO shirts a week.
at cents each), 1924; barber and baths.
$3.50: enc pair Of trousers. $3.50: five neck
ties. 81: one pair of eyeglasses (at bazaar).
30 cents; one doctors visit, 90 cents. Total
for the year. $A.14
The husband food)-Three hundred and
thirteen days at "a cents EACH in the
at home at "a cents each, SIZES. Total for
the year. 1910
The husband (extraordinary)-One suit of
clothes. SIS: one sack coat. 81; one overcoat,
$11; one umbrella s1.20. Total 1920.
The wife (personaD-One pair Of shoes, 81;
one hat trimmed by HERSELF, $1.20; ma
terial for gown (nade by herselG, $3.50:
laundry. 80 cents a month Qncluding table,
cloths and sheets. she washing out the
smaller articles), Sc. Total, $14
The five-year-old boy (personaD-Paint
box. slate, candy and toys, 81; two pairs of
shoes, s1.60; residing the same. so cents:
three aprons 90 cents: clothes, $50 straw
hat, IS cents: sofa bed, 81: one quilt 81; one
doctors visit 60 cents; twenty-eight days
at the hospital at 40 cents a day (scarlatina),
$11.2A; cab to take him to hospital Che
walked home), 80 cents Total, $26.75.
The wife and boy food).-(During this
year they ate at home)-Bread 3 cents;
meat. cents; vegetables mot including po-
tatoes. to be noted in the joint house
keeping" account, cents; milk. 8 cents;
total, II cents Cay. and for the year,
$62.Oj.
Weekly-Four pounds sugar. 20 cents; /
pound butter. u cents; Y pound lard, o
cents; II eggs average price,, 1S cents; y
pound cheese. s cents; pounds potatoes,
> cents; fresh dried fruits, u cents;
wine, 10 cents; total, S1.09 week; for the
year. $56.6S
Housekeeping, joint expenses monthly
Two pounds of -four, 10 cents; box cocoa
30 cents; 1 pound coffee, % cents; half