Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-03-19
BUYING AND RENTING

An 3, 300 clerk In one Of the departments.
who only took possession Of his Job at the
beginning OF last fall was somewhat rue
fully scratching his head with one hand
and making figures on pad with the other
on last payday morning
I'm blessed II can see where the spring
toggery for my wife and myself is going to
come In. and only last night she was throw
Ing on some baleful hints about the Easter
hat" he muttered. q bit dismally. Say,
| look here. I'm victim Of the buying and
renting things habit. that's what ails mo.
I've just been ciphering It out. The show
Ing Is weird. that's what 1t is, and it shows
how they can take 1t away from you in
Washington If you don't watch out
Uncle Samuel doles me out $50 the lunar
month. The heftiest lump to come out of
that Is the fiat rent, $45 per month, which
l settle at the rate Of $3.50 each st and
10Th. When we took the fiat we had to
nave some furniture to put In it, and that
was made easy for me at the ratio Of some
down and s15 a month until the fixtures are
paid for.
What's the good Of a fat without a
piano. especially when your wife knows
lions. and the 'Frolic of the Frogs Waltz
TO beat the band all hollow? Sure, we had
| to have plano. but couldn't exactly sea
my way TO buying one. So we decided %
t zen one. zeal cute instrument. too. Five
the calendar month. But we couldn't Do
without the piano, Of course, the same
being necessary evil.
ell, after we got settled and nv wife
h hxed up what she calls my dem why. .
began to pine to write that grea- American
mover that I've had in mind for more years
IMAM can begin to count. Well how's a
man going to write the great American
mover without typewriter. hey, oh. ]
had to have typewriter in that den. and
that was all there was about it. 1 wanted
10 see the marvellous work gradually form
ing itself In honest-Injun, sure-enougl,
type; ana mere pencil scrawling on such an
ambitious effort wasn't to be thought of.
80 started In to buy a typewriter and
m still buying the same at tn. even rate
| or ~ the month. I've worked all of three
nights on the great American novel since
| came into nominal possession of the ma.
cnine. but that doesn't make any difference
whatever to the heartless folks who sold me
the machine. They want and demand their
as regularly as the day ana date for the
same comes around. and II I'm not there
with the u they remind me in real brittle
| terms that the machine is only leased
Wnen got home from the office one
evening 1 found mighty likely looking
reed rocking chair installed in the sitfine
room. Mighty comfortable thing too. NV
VIE had bought It from a wagon during the
DAY. Two dollars down. e the month Their
| until paid for. The fellow was taking them
| In flats and dwelling houses, and just a Door
little y down looked easy enough to my
wife So she fell for the chair I'm nav.
| Ing the $2 month for 1t.
one day persuasive sort Of fellow
cropped into the office here and began to
show us fellows a line of finger rings that
looked pretty good. One Of them was my
wires birthstone. surrounded by diamonds
ana her birthday was approaching rapidly
Inc ring was handsome and was in that
bnthe glowing. just-after-luncheon humor
| asked the pertpatetic jewelry man how
much for the ring. and he said hundred
Just as wanted to surrender the money
how would IS a month suit me- for example?
1t would suit me first-rate decided and
took the gew-gaw. Only IS down-it seem
co IKE getting possession of a diamond
thing for mighty little money Now I'm
paying the IS month. and it seems to me
That I've been paying it for eight thousand
years. although I only took possession OF
the ring and passed 1t along to my wife last
winter.
"One evening after dinner there dropped
into our fiat one of the most marvellous
takers that ever met before or since He
was selling Picturesque Turkestan,' In
fifty numbers, delivered monthly, 81 down,
and 81 number thereafter. Now, that
looked reasonable enough to me- and paid
him the initial 81 and put my name to a
piece of. paper binding myself to dig up 81
a month for Picturesque Turkestan' until
all the numbers had been delivered
Not long after that clock man paid us
u u.
US by somebody or other when we were
married had gone into voluntary liquida-
ton. 1t quit 1t didn't strike-on the con-
trary, it utterly refused to strike. 1t just
gave low gutteral gasp and passed up the
game as bad job. Well the clock man ap-
peared at the fiat just on top of that incl
dent. Cuckoo clocks was his line. Some
thing very WOODY and appealing about a
| cuckoo clock, hey? Anyhow, I fell for the
| cuckoo clock-Id like to be able to blame II
| on my wife, but can: and be honest-and
that sets me back another 81 the month
| III have finished paying for it next Decem-
| ber but that seems a long way on, doesn't
| It?
Another rent item-pew rent That puts
| another little 81 dent in my monthly bank
| roll Then another standing expense, out
| of which get nothing tangible or my wife,
either for the matter of that Is the serv-
| ants pay-$15 a month. The gas bill aver
| ages s. month.
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