OCR Text |
Show home, and your only regret will bo that you did not long ago break the febackles of conventionality and live your life In your own way. ; COST OF ! LIVING within her means. Tho rent, light, fuel, food and other necessities seemed impossible to reduce, and there were certain things In connection with their position in society and the bringing up of their children they could not rr-duce nor e?rape. Finally she evolved a plan, and in Fplte of much opposition at homo and abroad, she can led It out. She took a smaller house. In a so-called less desirable They discovered that neighbors in small houses are just as kindly and sympathetic and agreeable as those In largo ones, often more eo, and I that life in a little homo has many advantages. The ono servant, without whom tho mistress of the house felt sho could not exixt In the residence on the avenue, was dismissed, and tho children helped with the work; and, too, the smaller homo had fewer carc3. Wasteful Servants. They discovered that a servant can wasto and deetroy a fearful amount of food and household supplies in the year, while her board amounts to a great kal In these days of high prices. Tho drawbacks failed to materialize, ma-terialize, and Instead of ruining tho future of ber children, the healthy work and privilege of having father and mother for friends, built them up In character and usefulness as nothing else could. True, there was little time for society, In tho general sens of that word, and many of tho necessary things of tho old life vanished, but the loss was more than overbalanced by the overwhelming gain, and for tho first time In the teu years of married life the family stood on a firm financial basis without worry or debt. Multitudes of families all over thla mcnt of affairs to make them comfort- ablo and contented, but the great bugaboo of "what will people 6ay?" keeps many men and women struggling along to keep pace with the style set up in more prosperous years, or one which never should have been adopted. adopt-ed. Juat because you havo started wrong is no reason why you should forever struggle to keep In the wrong path. Tho only honest thing to do Is to get into the right path not such an impossible thing, by tbo way, a3 many think it is and then life will be full of hopo and joy. There are women in this free lano of ours who actually suffer when they meet tho butcher, the baker, tbo dressmaker and the merchant on account of unpaid un-paid bills, and yet who lament that there is no way out of the difliculty. Euch month the pathetic dividing ot the Income to pay a little hero and a little there goe3 cn. but toe position In society must be kept up, or for the sake of the children the farce must go on, though working people are deprived of the necessities of life, and existence seems a burden too great to be endured by those who must turn and twist and try to keep up appearances. appear-ances. Many people lmaglo thy wil1 loso all their friends If they pay ten dollars less per month for a house than - k --o t--V--,-'--J able neighborhood. People whose good opinions are worth having Stick through thick and thin, while tho olher kind are worth nothing cither in prosperity or adversity. The Unwritten Lawa. But why is a change of location so desirable? Why not resolutely cut down expenses in tho old homo, and Bet up a scale of living that will avoid debt and leave something for a rainy day? Simply because neighbor-ten neighbor-ten laws, and what one woman does all the women do. If you live in a neighborhood neigh-borhood where every one keeps a maid and you attempt to do your own work, you will find countless difficulties you never dreamed of. The ladles of leisure will stroll In to Fit around in your way, to pity you in a thinly veiled manner, to tempt you to leave your work as they tell of their pleasures and excursions from home, and to make you feel that you are a much abused pereon because you must do the. work of a servant; but In a place where every woman Is busy with her moruing'a work, and it i.i tuo fashion to do for one's self, thcr is no time for self-pity or envy. Then, too. the children of tho lnlddlo class, so-called, are as a rulo better bred and more obedient than thoso left to whoso parents live mostly for society or business. Instead of being a drawback, draw-back, it Is a real benefit to many boys and girls who have been brought up with wrong ideals to assoclato In the public schools with the healthy-minded youngsters whoso parents hold to the doctrine that one man Is as good hoods are largely governed by unwrlt-as unwrlt-as another, as long as he's honest. So if you arc worrying along, and seo nothing in the future but strugglo for your "position in society" at the expense of common honesty, by all means readjust your life and bo happy, ic won't bo half the calamity you imagine It will be, and once jou get out of debt and begin saving money, you will be so happy and secure aud care-free that you won't givo a lig for what the world says. And do you Know what the world will pay? It will applaud your action, ac-tion, for uudernoath all tho sham and shoddy there Is tho hearty appreciation apprecia-tion genr-rously accorded to brave and nob?e and courageous souls In every walk la life You will be able to hold your head up when you walk along the street, for there Is an Independence Independ-ence burn of the knowledge that you "owe not nny roau" that it is pity more people cannot taste. You will find friends and neighbors and happi-ncjis happi-ncjis and prosperity in . your new How One Family Solved the Problem Happily the Folly of Ostentation By CHARLES DVYZR i OJsCE upon a time there was a family of five persons In a small city, consisting of father and ; mother and thrc; children an average family la an average town and this family, like hundreds of thousands thou-sands of other families, lived up to and beyond the very last penny of income in-come year after year. The wife and mother worried a great deal over the fact that it was a coulliiual "robbing Peter to pay Paul" proceeding, but yet, as Ehe cast about, pho could find no 1 A jMuauyly (Jig ffl,.i,Ui f.f j Wrlri w I I I neighborhood, and set resolutely to work to readjust all their ideas of living. liv-ing. Her husband bitterly opposed tho plan, and many of her friends talked seriously to her about "ruining her children's pronperts," while In her own heart' she had many misgivings; but the moving wan accomplished and tho the new and dllUcult task, as she expected, ex-pected, taken up. Well. It would take too long to enumerate all the pleasant surprises awaiting the family, but a few of them can be men'Jnuod. They discovered first of all that there Is a peace and contentment In living within one's means that people forever reaching into the fuluro for money not yet earned can never renin-.?, while, whtn added to that contentment Is a knowledge knowl-edge that In the savings' bank a nest cgp: is accumulating for a rainy day or old ago' or the education of the chil- |