The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1905-10-08

=
= undecided as to
whether you shall board or keep
house. You are evidently trying
to argue yourself into the belief that
boarding is the ideal life, while way
down in your innards is longing
for a home that you can't get rid
of.
There is something favorable to
be said of either proposition. If
there were nothing to consider but
the question of cost, that is to say,
the direct expense--tfe fixed charges,
as the railroad man would put it
/ should advise you TO board. 1t
used to be a popular idea, and may
be yet for aught know to the con-
trary, that it was cheaper for
young couple to keep house. / have
had some personal experience, and
know a great many other people
who have arrived at years of dis
erection after sunGry wrestles with
this same Immortal conundrum,
every one of whom has found. as 1
have, that it costs more to keep up
a home. however modest, than 1t
does TO board with the same rela-
tive surroundings. All this talk
about the economy of home life is
tommyrot, unless II refers entirely
to indirect results, and it leads to
wrong conclusions and many mis-
takes on the part OF young married
people The youth is told that two
can live as cheaply as one-another
old and dangerous delusion-and
proceeds to figure that his income
will answer very well for two on
that basis. He gets married, rents
him a fat or a little house, and
settles down to save money and be
happy He can easily do both, IL he
goes about 1t in the right way, but
he soon learns that two cannot live
as cheaply as one-unless he was
extravagant before marriage and des-
perately economical afterward-and
that keeping house always cost more
than any advance calculations. The
statisticians of domestic economy
make things look mighty c = 49, CO CO
paper If some of them were to be
believed, you could keep house and
get fat on your cigar money. But
their enticing theories won't work
out in practice. A measure of dis
appointment is the invariable re-
suit of the attempt, and in the dis
covery lie the beginnings of many
unhappy lives.
want you to go into this bust
ness with your eyes open. | would
like very much to see you have
home of your own, for reasons which
l shall give you. but l don't want
you to have any false notions about
its cost If the financial end is your
only consideration, ~ all means
get you a respectable boarding
place, where you will have a com
Portable room and eatable food at
reasonable rates, If such combina-
ton exists You will have the sat
isfaction of knowing just how much
you will have to pay for your meals
and lodging and laundry, and there
will be few extras. AS a purely
financial proposition it is very sim
pie. Butt can't place too much
emphasis on that but-marriage is
not properly a financial proposition.
know very well that it is in great
many cases, and the tendency to
make It so seems TO be growing,
but II isn't right. Money is an i'm
portant factor in domestic life, but
beyond the necessities of existence,
Il is not an essential. Properly used,
It will help make happiness, but at
its best, 1t is a mere auxiliary. Put
II in single harness and depend
upon 1t alone to draw you to bliss,
and you will find that il will surely
bolt at the first fork of the road,