The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1912-06-09

nished at only a little more than cost,
thcy are cheaper
| Living From Hnnd TO Mouth.
! As We ate / asked the lady of the
! house 20 p,!l me how she is supplied
! She said:
we live from nand to mouth. but
! in some respects Te are very much
better of than at home. and In others
| ike our honac ways tine better We
are, in fact. socialists. with Uncle
Sam as the. governor All OF our food
| comes from tho government stores.
and II is from them tina, our bread,
our Ice. our meat and even our clothes
are obtained. The ice is delivered
| every morning and put into the Ice
box. Tho coal is brought to tbs bins.
the bread IS left at the door, and {, is
the same with our clothes o? anything
that we order.
our orders are made by means Of
| commissary books. which we have the
| right 20 buy UP to so per cent OF our
salaries. We cannot get book. how :
ever. Until th.e salary is earned and
II we should run out of book at
tho latusir part of Tie month W.. have
rather close forage. az you cannot
buy anything from Uncle sam except
with these books. This IS the only
place know OF whore you cannot
pay money to set things. Thpe only
legal tender Is one o., the books"
Well" continued the lady. "all our
! orders have to be mado the day ne
fore they are filled. The government
| has It's regular order man, who comes
around every morning and takes note
OF the supplies that We need. We
nave TO pay the order man in ad-
vance Tor all We order, and he leaves
a copy Of the order with us and takes
| two copies with him. One OF these
! comics goes to the commissary store.
ana the other Is used In Keeping the
accounts"
But do you always get what you
| ordzr:"
AS general thing. yes. but the
trouble is Yc cannot pick ont as you
could at market, and we have to
take what is sent ! may order port
erhousc steak. and II this man sends
Inc cut from the round have no
| redress II the steak should be bad
i could take IL to the health officer
and thus get back my money but II
1t Is merely of different quality 7
could do nothing. / know of certain
| house'k ccpcrs who when they receive
a tough steak beat Uncle Sam by set
! tinS III aside until II sDoils. They
can then taIki' 1T TO the health officer
aud recover what they have paid AS
a rule. however. the 8uppiiss are ex-
cellcnt The broad ls fresh and good
our lea comes from distilled water.
end II is delivered at 40 cents Der
: hundred The government even cuts
/ our kindling wood. and it keeps our
. Yards clean. Indeed. our living is
much cheaper and better than W. had
| it at home"
The Servant Question.
asked as TO servants. and the
! lady replied:
The servants hers are mostly ia
maican negroes. keep but one girl
and pay her sl5 gold a month She
/ has Thursday afternoon off, and she
must also stay at homo to get dinner
Sunday. My girl Is an excellent cook,
and she is cheaper than ordinary. The
! highest officials have more servants.
and the engineer commissioners have
about the same kind of an establish
ment that such men would have in
! the States. They have their cooks.
buffers and chambermaids. A good
cook gets about SEQ a butler SIS and
| a. chamberlnaid SIS. AS to the wash
| ing and ironing, that is often done in
the house by tho cook when one has
but two girls. and sometimes by ia
maican negresses, who come in and
wash and Iron for dollar day. We
can also send our clothes to the gov
eminent laundry, but it costs more,
! although thu work ls Nr,>u done An