The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1920-10-01
ONCE $500 YEAR
MEANT LIVING AND
GATHERING NEST-EGG
(Omaha Bee.)

We knew of q man once who mar
rfed on q salary Of $500 a year. and
lived in four rooms Of new S-room
house, two upstairs and two down. for
which he paid SO month rent He
had an equal share in big garden
that yielded all the vegetables ne
wanted in summer and potatoes and
tomatoes for all the year around. AT
the end Of the year he was all the way
to 800 on the right Side Of the ledger.
Within a year he started little bus
fuess Of his own that showed $500 net
profits the first year. He quadrupled
the amount saved that year over the
net proceeds Of the first year, and
started his third year of married life
with $500 surplus. Incredible, you say?
Not so. This young man lived In a
village in the latter sos and lived we'll
according to the village standards.
He and his wife dressed as well as
anybody in their community; perhaps
better, because he had college ideas
about clothes and was inclined to be
stylish. For four years the pair lived
very comfortably and happily on $500
a year until they moved to much
larger town. incidentally we may re-
mark that after their wedding pres
ents had been scheduled with an eye
to their utility they had found it neces-
sary to spend only SITS in order to go
to housekeeping by themselves.
Coal at $3.50 Load.
At that time a big wagon load or
coal cost about $3.50 delivered, suit
Of serviceable clothes, $12; a "dress
pattern" about SO; peaches, 81
bushel and apples from rs to so cents
a bushel. All meats and groceries
were very low, and in the village life
about the only opportunity for extrava-
gance was at church festivals, where
a spender might blow" dollar for
a stewed or fried oyster with coffee.
cake, slaw, pickles and pie for four
persons, If he wanted to attract atten-
ton by free handedness. All the So
cial sports of young married people
cost practically nothing. There were
no movies, no dancing parties, no the
aters, no motor cars, no street cars,
no fine boxed candies, no kid gloves,
no silk stockings. no diamonds-noth-
ing to spend money for except neces-
stiles.
But make no mistake. These young
people had just as good times, were
Just as happy, and we believe more
contented than couples of today who
spend from $4,000 to $4,000 year for
city life-golf, bridge, clubs, dances,
automobile parties and all. The young
man Of whom we have spoken made
similar comparison then and he was
fairly qualified to judge, for he had
had his fling in lively college career,
had lived a time in New York City,
and had INDUCED himself quite as
much as was good for him.
"Up-to-date" Village Now.
Are there such villages now, we
wonder, where taffy, popcorn and
doughnuts in winter. and melons, ber-
ries and fruits in summer take the
place Of the costly modern restaurant
and club menus? The particular viii
lage Of which we have written has
changed with the years. 1t has it's
movies, its night luncheons. its drinks.
it's motor cars, along with silk stock
ings, silk shirts, diamonds and other
things unknown to it thirty years ago.
All these reflections of former years
were started by some recent lines of
Roy K. Moulton-sad lines for all their
humor, because they are so far from
the sweet and contented village life
once universal in this country. Let us
repeat them:
"a boob there was and he lost MS neao,
Even as you and l.
And he quoth to the lady: Let us we'd
It's as cheap for two as one he said,
Even as you and l.
He hustled around and hired fat,
Even as you and l;
Installment furniture and all of that.
But his gas is gone and his tires are
fiat;
The profiteers have him on the mat.
Even as you and ]"
Contentment and Profit.
With urban population now exceed
ing rural in the United States, the
young men looking toward the bright
lights, vain displays and uncertain
life of the big cities for their futures,
it is not untimely to recall the joys
of the village.
Every country boy, every village
youth, should study long what Is with
in him before he takes upon his Shout
ders the heavy excess baggage of city
extravagances, non-essentials, costly
vanities, hollow pleasures, and sinister
hazards to his happiness which may
be avoided in the pleasant and whole
some life and abundance of the farm
and small town. There is always safe
ty near the soil.