The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-12-26
Mrs. SangSter on Keep
ing Household Accounts

. ONE years ago man who was deep
y ~ in love with most beautiful girl
succeeded in winning her affections,
married her ana straightway entered into
the seventh heaven of complete felicity.
At first there was no flaw. by ana Dyr
almost impercepubly, came the little riIt
that makes the music mute, But TINS was
after the lapse OF time. For weeks ana
months there was not a shadow on the
I face of an exquisite satisfaction, until one
! day, at the breakfast table, which really
seems TO lend itself willingly TO disagree
/ able scenes and speeches, the husband OBJ
| served blandly: My dear. there IS Just
one thing in which you have disappolnt-
ed me-" Here came the first trouble
/ Very much disappointed me- he added,
in one thing
What may that be-" asked the young
wife, with the pucker of frown between
her brows, her hand posing the lump OF
sugar she was about to drop into her good
mans cup
You have never learned" ne said. sol
EMMY, TO keep exact household ac-
counts. Your mother neglected this part
of your education
Women who have had every advantage
our colleges can give sometimes biunder
as helpiessly I'm this little matter Of keep
ing accounts as if they had never 50
much as passed a primary examination.
We have a happy gO-lucky method or
managing our pecunlary afIalrs, Whlch Is
naturally exasperating to business men
accustomed To settling down every detail
to the minutest particular.
Abroad an important part OF house
wifery is economy. in Germany, France
and England the house mistress carefully
scrutinizes the cost of living, and regards
it as a portion of every day 0uty 10 put
down precisely what is spent for fuel,
food and service The trouble with us IS
that we live in country where eXpend-
Irpr~f n lie and
tolerated. The very prOfuslon OF our
harvests, the magnificence of our great
country and the desire of our men FOLK
to bestOw all that they can earn and save
upon the women of their homes combine
to make us Needless and spendthirft in
our home management.
Jenny determines on the first of the
year that she will turn over new leaf.
and accordingly she furnishes herself
with blank books, properly ruled. with
pens and ink and blOtters, and is resolved,
day by day, TO put down IN Dlack and
white every item Of domestic expense.
But on Monday she is busy with extra
busting and furnishing, while her maid
does the washing on Tuesday she attends
the mothers meeting, on Wednesday she
has a luncheon, on Thursday the dress
maker comes. and so the days pass, until
at the end of four or five she cannot I'M
agine what has become of the house
keeping money, nor can she at all remem-
Der what she bought, or when, or why,
way to keep an exact account is to keep
it religiously every day without single
omission.
John. good-naturedIy laughs at Jen-
nyS abOTtiVe attempts. and says Never
mind. little woman, the money goes, and
what's the use of worrying over cents
or 50?" Nevertheless it is. because so
many of us ignore and despise the little
leaks that we get into great troubles, out
of which we with difficulty and loss Of
time and temper finally emerge.
Two families are known to me in which
the, income TO dollar is the same, and
in which the style of living Is Identical. In
each household there are three children.
the usual American number, receiving
good training and education. In one Of
these homes there is serenity and free
dom from financial distress. In the
other there is an endless trail of haTrasS-
ing debt. and husband and wife are prem
aturely aging in the futile endeavOr to
make both ends meet. l have wondered
very often where the difference lay. and
why ones wife should manage so admir-
ably, while the other is always plunged
I into fathomless- abyss Of discourage
ment and modification.
Not long ago the more fortunate lady
confided to me that in her home every
thing was paid for on the spot, and that
she never had so much as a weekly bill.
! Furthermore she said, II have reduced
my housekeeping TO an exact science, and
l know just how many tableSpOOnfulS Of
ground coffee and teaspoonfuls Of tea 1
use in a week, and know just how many
potatoes OF a certain size, how many ap-
pies and how many pounds of flour my
, family will consume in a given time. Tom
and / not only keep our heads above
water, but We are able to save something
handsome for a rainy day"
The other lady, a gentlewoman to the
/ tips Of her fingers. sweet and sunny
hearted and the graduate of a famous
college, is never able by any chance to
| live within her husbands income. al
though her table is not better appointed
and no more abUndantly spread than that
OF her friend. Eery dollar of Johns sala-
| ~ is anticipated before he receives il.
and they are mOrtgaging the future in a
way that is positively maddening to them
| both. ! met her one morning in a street
car and she said she was on her way to
/ buy frOcks for her little girls I directed
her to shop where winter goods were
advertised at specially tempting rates
oh" she said, that is all very we'll