The Montgomery tribune. (Montgomery City, Mo.) 1892-1910, 1906-05-25
ON COST OF LIVING
EVEN THE POET MUST PAY HIS
COAL BILLS.

Practically All People Live on the
Fruits Of Day Labor-Rent Should
Not Cost More Than one-Fifth of
Annual Income-Mistaken Pride
as to External Appearances De-
prives Some People Of the Real
JOY of Living-only Millionaires
Can afford" to Dress as Poor as
Poverty-Buy Clothes at End Of a
Season-Willful Waste the Crying
Sin Of American Housekeeping.
BY MARGARET E. sANGsTER.
A young fellow just out of college
met me one day and with a disguised
expression inquired whether l knew
Mr.. Blank, a poet whose verses we're
household words. I replied that I had
that honor, adding that I appreciated
very much the privilege of Mr.. Blanks
friendship. Yesterday" said the lad,
with a gloomy look on his handsome
face, II should have said the same
thing, but l am disillusionized. Blank
called at our house last evening and
with a laugh told my father that he
felt very happy. He had settled his
coal bill with the price of a poem.
Think of that! Think OF bringing
poetry down to the level of coal bills
and furnaces!"
"Mr. Blank Is most fortunate" l
said. 1T is n0t every poet who can
dofrav thA pnct 10 1f,fao hy nnntfo
dreams, nor is poetry often so remu-
nerative that it can Offset tons Of
COAL"
We parted, the young fellow and I,
unable to agree with one another, but
I fancy a few years later when ne
shall have become a sober, plodding,
professional man, with a family to
support, he will understand the situa-
ton better. By some honest
coal and groceries must be paid for,
and the cost of living must be taken
into account whether people ear their
money by one form of day labor or an
other. From the president in the
digging a trench, we all live, If we are
decent and diligent. on the fruits of
our labor. A small contingent, not
to be envied, loaf about Europe and
America, existing in idleness on the
money Woodworking fathers and grand
fathers earned. But we do not take
them into account, as they belong dis
tinctly to the unproductive class. Most
Of Is are producers, and as producers
are directly interested in the cost of
living.
The proposition resolves itself into
several parts, the first of which Is:
The Shelter of the Roof.
We cannot be exposed to the ele-
ments. We must nave a refuge from
winds, rain, cold, storm and sun
Whether we live in a splendid brown
stone edifice or a tumble-down, I'M
painted cottage, or anywhere between
these extremes, we must equally have
protection from i~nclemency of the at
mosphere, and asylum from friends and
foes. The latter sentiment may need
explanation, because everyone CON-
prehends that enemies are better on
the outside of the sheltering walls,
while everybody who is not disposed to
hermit life has a welcome for his
friends. Yet there are days and nights
when a home values seclusion, and
does not even desire for the moment
the presence of friends. Four walls
and a roof are the shell of the home,
let it be very simple or very stately.
For this shelter We pay either in
rent, If we hire, or in taxes and the
cost of constant repairs, If we own the
estate. At the basis of family living
lies the cost of the shelter, and the
first duty of a householder is to rightly
adjust this item of expense in its rela-
ton to other necessary items. The
house itself should not annually cost
for shelter more than a fifth of the an
nual income.
Often people pay an undue price for
shelter because they are determined to
live on a fashionable street, or in a
neighborhood where houses are held
at a fancy valuation. They deny them
selves a great part of the JOY of hv-
ing and are defrauded of comfort
through a mistaken pride as tc the ex-
ternl appearance and internal arrange
ments Of that which is after all the
least important item In the bill. What
we demand Of a house is that 1t shall
have excellent sanitary conditions and
perfect drainage, that 1t shall be
tight and compact, without a leaking
roof. or a damp cellar, and that there
shall be In 1t SUFFICIENT room to ac-
commodate the family.
These are the essentials. Other mat
tiers may take care of themselves.
The Item Of Clothing.
A man who goes daily to business
must be comfortably clothed for his
work, well shod and provided with
outer garments that enable him to APP
pear thoroughly respectable among his