The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-08-01
THE CLEvERNESS
OF ONE WOMAN
From Harper,s Bazaar.

From Harper's Bazaar.
I had tried living cheaply in this city
and found the comforts of s6-per.
week boarding house anything but com
/ Portable, even though l owned my owr
piano, few good books and tea set
l made tea, read my books, slept and
dreamed in a small room not quite sc
large as the buffers pantry in my IA
theirs house-which had originally been
an old New England homestead. And
yet many friends liked to drop in on me
in my little room, and one friend who
came, and whose purse was not large,
asked me to give up my room and keep
house for him, and I jumped at the
chance, not knowing how hard it is to
keep house in New York when you are
both poor However. now that I know
all about it, I'd do 1t over again having
no sympathy whatever with those who
call marriage failure. Any vocation
Is failure if one is incompetent to
make 1T success. fiatter myself that
I would make a success of anything If
I got half a fair deal. and my husband
gave me a fair chance.
Our income is decidedly limited and
we are both fond of amusement, new
books, the theatre, etc., as well as a
good table.
How accomplish our ends on an ex-
penditure of $50 week? I agreed to
run the house" on s15 weekly-pay
onf ofn nrrtc oh
the table-my husband to have the other
SIS for our amusement and clothing
Then began our search for a four or
| broom flat in respectable neighbour
hood. Our search revealed no desirable
fiat under s25 per month twenty-five
dollars a month for rent is too much. -
said I. Now for the undesirable flats
said, IT don't care how undesirable the
location may be, but it must be res
pectable."
Four Room Flat
He Is a Scotchman. o l found a A.
room fiat at the top of an apartment
house on the lower East Side. near Four
teenth Street. for SIS a month. Every
room Is flooded with sunlight and air.
The roof Is just one flight above US, and
we live a good deal on the roof. Our
fox terrier aDd little nondescrlpt cat
enjoy the roof much as we do.
The rooms are small, of course, but
not so small as in more fashionable
apartment houses, and the landlord put
them in perfect order-I eschewed all
papering and had the rooms painted a
French gray-the woodwork grained
oak color. The windows have inside
blinds, so I made white muslin sash cur
i tains for all the windows. I only had
5000 for furnishings, so cheap curtainine
was essential. My curtains cost S2-eight
| windows.
What one article of furniture do you
want to be very good?'' I asked my hus-
band.
my bed, he responded. promptly:
"and. next. the table that l eat on
Here was a problem-how to provide
a brass bed with a good mattress and
down pillows. feecy blankets. and good
heavy cotton sheets and pillow cases,
| The bed would be $50. the mattress SIS
the blankets &c. and the rest of the
filings s15-s1OO in all. I thought 1t ovel
and decided that as my husband had tc
work very hard at his trade good
nights rest was worth everything t
hinl--and l purchased the bed and it:
furnishings for s1o0. leaving me sos fol
the rest of my furniture.
Plain Furnishings
We'll be very modern" l remarked
"and have nothing In our bedroom but
room of the little room off the bedroom, y
and so we did. l purchased an imitation
oak dressing case for Sc and an iron
framed couch for 50. I owned couch
pillows and cover. A rug $50, a wicker
rocking chair S3). the couch and the
| dressing case furnished this little room
| Our parlor was yet to be furnished. We
had bookcases and books, piano, and
some framed engravings At a large car
| T ar
rug that had been used for display and
was soiled and dusty. The clerk could
not have known It's value for, when I
said I would purchase It he let me have
1t for 50. 1 sent it away to be cleaned,
and It came home thing of beauty My
piano case is of dark wood, so I pur-
chased a plain black walnut rocking
chair and tall backed walnut armchair
for 49, The old Fifth Avenue hotel sold
out its gfded pier mirrors about this
time and I secured handsome one from
an auctioneer for IS. 1t. must have cost
SIS at least.
1.-THE brass andirons and other crate
| furnishings I must buy at an antique
shop later on. I said to my husband.
Now the kitchen remained to be fur
nished and I had only about $50 to do 1t
on.
Kitchen of Beauty
| "Our kitchen Is a beauty-large and full
of sunlight I hired gas range, which
was installed for 49, I'VE will dine in the
kitchen, since I am to do my own house
work." said. "Or, If you prefer, we'll
cook in the dining room. rather think
that is a better way of saying it,
Whatever pleases you pleases me-" re-
sponded my husband. / bought a small
oak dining table for So, an oak armchair
for the man of the house to sit In for S.
and three oak dining room chairs without
arms for &c. The rest of tire money !
spent on china and silverware and en-
ameled pots and pans for cooking. Out
Of my SIS week I purchased piece by
piece a dinner set of Austrian china DIM
ported worth $50. 1t is kept In stock
by a we'll known importing house.
now have four soup plates, four dinner
plates, four tea plates, four breakfast
plates, a teapot four teacups and sau-
GERS, four coffee CUPS and saucers, the
milk Jug, sugar basin and butter dish
. also four bread and butter plates. They
, are very artistic and durable and as
wash them myself l think l can afford
to have the best, don't you?
Also, out of my SIS week I am pay
ing up a ten-year $1,000 bond in safe
New York realty cohnpany-$5 every
month for ten years means $1,000 for us
at the end of the ten years One year
has gone by already The nine will not
be long In flying by.
have never asked my husband for q
dollar outside of the SIS he gives me
each week He has borrowed from me
though.
OF course 1 should not be able to sci
a good table and have all the fresh table