OCR Text |
Show An Experiment in Economy CITY or country, a man has no business to meddlo In the man- i agoment of tho household. Mr. Townbrod knows It now j but he did not tho other week. Also, he is at present of the opinion that a fow cents overcharge on groceries is not a matter of moment. And thereby, of course, hangs a tale. In several respects tho Townbreds were most favorably situated at Five Oaks; and one of tho greatest, per- I haps, was the matter of suppllos. They obtained them almost as easily despite the roads and weather as though they lived In the city Evory morning a delivery wacron from the big grocery storo In Vienna, the nearest village, came to tho house, the boy taking Mrs. Townbred's order for groceries, meats, kitchen sundries and even small quantities of feed for the stock. Then, sometime during the afternoon, he would return with tho desired articles. This was most convenient, But It was expensive, for the grocer, being quite human, charged a trifle more for his goods because of tho roally excellent delivery eorvlce he gavo his customers. Maybe It was simply because Mr. Townbrcd happened to be In a bad humor, or maybo ho was cold and tired from his long rldo homo In the trolley, but In all probability it was because ho happened to see tho month's grocery bill lying faco up on the living room table. At all events, whatever the cause, he took occaalon ono evening tho other week to find fault with tho way Mrs Townbred was purchasing her household supplies. sup-plies. The bill was outrageous! Why, it was easily three dollars more a month than their grocery bill had averaged when they lived in the city! Mrs. Townbred admitted it; but she I explained the groeor s convenient system sys-tem of delivery which, sho said, was well worth the additional charge considering con-sidering tho fact that, otherwise, every time she wanted somothln from tho storo John would have to F" "hook up" and drive to Vienna for it Moreover, a good portion of thoso three extra dollars had gone for emergency emer-gency orders of bran for the cow and "mlddllns" for tho pigs. But Mr. Townbrcd wasn't In the least impressed. "Then that's all tho more rooaon you should find somo other way of purchasing " "The only other way Is to buy thorn In town," Mrs. Townbred Interrupted. "Staples are cheaper there, I admit." Mr. Townbred paused for thought "Why not try' It. then?" he asked. "Is the frolght very much on small parcels?" par-cels?" "Ten cents on each parcel." she hastened to explain "So that's out of the question. But" and a sly llttlo llt-tlo twlnklo came into her eyes "lots of, people around us mako noarly all of their purchases In the city and and carry them out on tho car with them. Of courso you wouldn't even consider such a " "I wouldn't, wouldn't I'" There was righteous Indignation In Mr Townbred's tone. "Well, I'd like to know where you got such an Idea as that! I may not bo a regular farmer my dear, but In times like theso I'm willing to do anthing within reason to keep down expenses. I haven't tho false pride that prcvonts a city man from carrying a bundle you bet 1 haven't! After this, you Just tell me each morning what you want and I'll buy the things In town and bring them out with mo In the evening. And so it was settled. Whon tho delivery wagon came the next morning Mrs. Townbrcd told tho boy that sho had no order and, further, fur-ther, that she didn't think It would pay him to come thereafter more than once a week. And Mr. Townbred, that morning, had tucked away In his pocket a memorandum mem-orandum which read- "2 1-2 lbs pork chops; ten pounds of sugar, 1 lb of coffee; 2 salt mackorol." Sho deemed It wise to "break him In" gradually, and so refrained from Jotting down a half-dozen other things she might hav e added. That evening tho car was within two stations of Five Oaks whon Mr, Townbred (tho reading of his evening paper completed) suddenly remembered remem-bered that he ought to have some bundles bun-dles with him, to-wlt: pork chops, sugar, coffee and mackerel. Ho had forgot to buy 'em! For dinner that evening tho Townbreds Town-breds had mashed potatoes, canned I corn, tomato baked In compote but no pork chops, tea, which Mr. Town-bred Town-bred always detested, and without I sugar! And for breakfast tho next morning he had to content himself with two eggs and on a cold morn- I ing, mind jou a glass of milk In lieu of his fragrant, steaming cup of Java ! And yet. manlike, he couldn't refrain re-frain from laying somo of tho blame I upon his wife whon his fearful oversight over-sight came to light that evening "How did I know you were entirely out of thoso things'" he demanded "And wasn't It quite natural that, tho first time, I Bhould forget? Besides, you oughtn't to let things get down that way The thing to do Is to buy In larger quantities, Instead of a little bit every day. It saves money and It's a whole lot less trouble. Now" ho seized a pencil and pad from the living room table "come in the pantry'. pan-try'. Frieda, and we'll go over everything. every-thing. You tell mo what's needed. I'll Jot it down and have tho order tilled the first thing tomorrow." Mrs. Townbred took him at his I word, and a tour of tho pantry ihelvi I was made. The rosult was a list n hich, Mr. Townbred later declared, was "as long as your arm." In which statement, howover. it is to bo feared, he exaggerated. Could Mrs. Townbred have soon him tho next afternoon trying to get aboard the car for Fivo Oaks sho would have well, she might have taken pity upon him and, again, she might havo sat right down on the curb and laughed herself sick. Literally, he was loaded down with bundles. From each hand dangled a I I ' m' -rjllMSflltf 1 - . Mrs Townbrvel took him at his word. huge bundle made up of many little bundles. They manifested an amazing amaz-ing inclination to get between his knees or on top of them. And under each arm was a smaller package. They effectively prevented his raising his arms unless, of course, he was willing to lot them slip to tho pavement. pave-ment. Moreover, there were at least n few million other mon and women, similarly sim-ilarly armed, all eager and crowding to get on the car at tho samo moment There were only a certain number of ! his reading his evening paper. Moreover, More-over, when she saw he wasn't going to bo a gentleman, tho fat lady seemed i to tako a malicious delight In walking all over his packages at evory' lurch of tho car Arrived there ho gathered his Impedimenta Im-pedimenta and trudged wearily across the muddy road that led from tho smiicui in ins iiuuse. Ho enterod by the kitchen door, slammed the whole lot of them down j In the middle of tho floor and stnlked majestically through to the living I room, where Mrs. Townbred w a-reading a-reading "Did you bring everything?" she asked sweetly. Mr Townbred glared Thoro was murder, arson and mayhem In his eye. "All of them? All of them! What do you think I am a moving van? I should say not! I've enough for two moro trips at the oflVe." "We'll see what you've brought. All eager and crowding to gt on Uie car at the aamo moment. i seats In tho cur, you soe, and those, unfortunate enough to arrive too late' had tho pleasant prospect of standing In the aisle and holding their bun- ! dies until somo poor, bundle-ridden commuter reached his station and! surrendered his seat. Always, ulways during tho "rush ' hours" thero was a mad scramble for ae its And always the scramblers j were mad On this occasion Mr. Townbred was quite tho maddest of the lotl When finally he did squeeze through the crush, the only scat left was half' of one of tho "sldo ones" Into which1 ho fell with a sigh of relief, brazenly j Indifferent to tho fact that tho pack-! ages which had been Jamming him in tho back all the while wore held by a fat, tlrod-looklng woman who wouldn't hesllato ono mlnuto to take a scat offered by a gentleman. But Mr Townbred decided right then and thoro that, from that viewpoint, at least, he wasn't a gentleman. Ho piled his bundles on the floor between be-tween his logs. And they reached to Just tho right height to lnterforo with dear, and thon I'll tell you what to bring out with you tomorrow and what to leave until tho next day. Somo of tho things, you know, are needed right away and " "You'll have everyone of them tomorrow'" to-morrow'" snapped Mr. Townbred. Un Townbred looked up in surprise. sur-prise. "Surely, Ruthvln, surely you don't think you can manage them all on the single " "They are coming by freight. I'll have them Bent from tho office tho very first thing In tho morning!" Mrs Townbred started to speak. "And I don't care what It costs, either!" declared Mr. Townbred, savagely. sav-agely. "I always did pity a man who was boob enough to carry bundles Just to save a few ponnles and If you think I'm going to break my back1 lugging out stuff every evening you uro very much mistaken!" The next day tho delivery boy from tho grocery store got an order and was urged to come every day thereafter there-after without fall' (Copyright. 1916, by Edward Riddle Padgett). |