Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1904-02-12
AN EXPERIMENT
in ECONOMY

The happy-locking young ma
iron was talking to a neighbol
suburbanite as they sat together
on an outgoing train one after
noon.
'oThese carnations? Yes, they
are pretty. l bought them fol
only 50 cents from a street flor
ist," she said. "They represent my
little extravaganza of to-day.
always bring some little surprise
home, every time go in to shop
flowers for the table, box OF
candy for the children, a negligee
to make me look especially pretty
at breakfast the next morning, or
something. Yes, | am firm be.
lever in little extravagances. !
have been, ever since the time !
tried to keep diary. Did | ever
tell you about that? When | think
of it, l wonder / am married TO.
day.
at was when | was working, you
know. shared large room with
Dolly Woodrow. We had fur.
nished it to entertain in, and called
it our studio, and had afternoon
teas of Sundays, and all sorts of
jolly times. We weren't especially
extravagant. We put dollar or
so away each week and spent the
rest of our salary, bringing as
much fun and brightness as posi-
BILE into our wOrk-a-day lives.
"Well, one Saturday evening,
Clara Teller dropped in to see us.
We had always rather pitied
Clara. She was so quiet, and
didn't seem to go out much or have
many friends. She drank in the
details of our room with longing
eyes.
It's lovely to be surrounded
with pretty things like this she
said Il would love to live like
you girls, but l want to do some
thing really worth while with my
money. So l ecOnOmize in every
way possible. | have been saving
for over three years now and next
summer I'll be able to go abroad.
I'll take a whole six weeks hOli-
day, and I'll visit London and
Paris and Italy
Then she waxed enthusiastic
over wise economy We had
never heard Clara talk so we'll or
so long before. She told us how
she denied herself every single
thing that wasn't absolutely nee
essary now, in order to gain one
large, splendid object in the end.
When that girl left we looked
upon her as a heroine. And what
had we done while Clara was thus
nObly working out a purpose in
life? We had frittered away our
money in foOlishness. Only that
afternoon we had invested in Il
box of bonbOns and some tea table
1ainties, in anticipation Of
guests the following afternoon;
and we had bought a huge bunch
of chrysanthemums for the studio.
The next day two girls came in
from the country and brought us
armfuls of bitter-sweet, which
made the studio look like a fairy
land; and three of the men who
dropped in brought boxes of
candy. Dolly and | felt worse than
ever over the bonbOns and chrys
.lnthemums.
"We resolved thereafter to keep
a strict account of our eXppndi-
lures; to see each nightwhat that
was unnecessary we had bought
Turing the day, and to do without
lit thereafter. Early Monday
morning on our way down town
we bought diary apiece for the
purpose.
1--WE felt rather dismayed that
Evening to find that the first item
to be written in our diaries was
1870 cents each for the books them.
selves. We were guilty. aware
THAT Clara Teller would have con
structed Il diary out Of odd pieces
Iof wrapping paper However.
from that day, economy seized and
grew upon us. When we disCOv-
cred that we were in the habit Of
spending ten cents for a dessert
latter lunch every day we there
latter confined ourselves to the