OUR iio^rE&. 



Fifth meal; beef steak and pork sausaije, oue 

 pound, cost 10 cts ; 1 should have eaten the 

 Avhole with ease had not Blue Eyes petitioneu 

 for a part of "papa's supper," and so my sup- 

 per cost 14 cents. 



As the progTamme was, that I was to have 

 what I liked, "providing I could give the cost 

 of it, I chose next ginger snap.«, of which I am 

 very fond, and cheese ; as I had eaten no fruit, 

 I cliose a good glass of lemonade at the close 

 of the meal, wliiclT cost 1 cent, the cheese 2 cts. 

 and the snaps 8 cents — 11 cents in a,ll. 



Seventh meal ; Ijjj pounds of potatoes roasted 

 in the coals, cost less than i« cent, and the 

 milk eaten with them Ijrought it up to 2 cents, 

 but as I got hungry before supper I concluded 

 that potatoes would not compare with the 

 grains and beans. 



Eighth meal ; felt like having some more meat, 

 and to try something a little cheaper, I paid 

 35 cents for a soup bone ; this gave a very good 

 meal for about 4 cents. 



Ninth meal ; iy pound oat meal, and a most 

 delicious meal it was, for about ;i cents. 



Tenth meal ; one gill of whole corn soaked 

 in water 10 lionrs, the liuU taken off in the 

 usual way with a lye made of ashes, and corn 

 boiled until thoroughly cooked, when eaten 

 slowly with a little salt, made a good meal for 

 only ii of a cent. 



Eleventh meal ; and the most delicious meal 

 of all, was simply whole clean wheat boiled 

 until well cooked and served with butter 

 and clover honey. I ate about ^ of a cent's 

 worth, and about 2 cent's worth of outter and 

 honey, but ate more than I needed. 



Twelfth meal ; oysters. Oysters cost 10 cts., 

 milk Ic and crackers 2j._,' ; whole expense 13}o 

 cents. 



Thirteenth meal ; cciH'^ roasted on the coals, 

 a la boyliood days. This experiment was a 

 failure from tlie tUct that we only roasted five 

 and after eating these were so hungry that we 

 ate ly; of a grape pudding and a large slice of 

 home made ginger bread — home made costs 

 only 5 cents per pound, while the snaps are 18 

 at the grocers. Eggs would l>e quite expen- 

 sive for a fall meal at present rates, 22 cents, 

 and we should probably want 8 or 10, to ]>e 

 equivalent to ^4 pound of wheat. 



In the above experiments it will be observed 

 that we have paid little or no attention to san- 

 itary matters, and we should be very son\v to 

 discourage the use of meat, having at one time 

 regained health by an exclusive meat diet of 

 many weeks, but there is one very important 

 fact elucidated, viz., that a more extensive use 

 of our grains in their unground and unbolted 

 state would not only be a great saving of mon- 

 ey, but a positive gain in health. As an illus- 

 tration, a pound of wheat costs 2 cents, and is 

 worth more in every way than a pound of 

 Hour that costs 4 cents, or a i>ound of l>read 

 that costs from 8 to 10. Cracked wheat, it is 

 true, can be bought of the grocers, bat as it 

 must inevitably pass through several hands 

 before it gets to tlic consumer, they really can- 

 not furnish for much less than ov 8 cents 

 what they pay the farmer 2 for. Much the 

 same might be said of all our grains, and if 

 you have never tried cooking them whole in 

 the way we have mentioned, it may be worth 

 while to try the cxperim.'iit. If they are simj)- 



ly broken in two, say in a common coffee ra-ill,. 

 they will cook more quicklj^ and mills are 

 now in the market for this purpose, in sizcv 

 and capacitj' fromi a coffee mill all the way up. 



Tlie great strides that are now l>eing madi- 

 in science and tlie arts and industries, are Ijy- 

 a kind of Yankee faculty of cutting- 'ci'oss lots, 

 of producing just as good or even a Ijetter ar- 

 ticle, with less lalx/r and machineiy, less com- 

 plication, and fewer hands emyployecl Suppose 

 we had a Job of work to do on the opposite 

 r,ide of a stream ; we might go down stream a 

 uiilc to get to a bridge, and then come l>ack a 

 mile on "the other side, or, we might roll up 

 our trousers and splash through, and have the 

 work a good way along in the time we would 

 be reaching the bridge. Some might object 

 that the latter is an undignified way, bat i! 

 it is the only road to honest indejjendence, we 

 would advise taking it by all means. We car. 

 splash through the water on a small scale, by 

 taking the coffee mill somte evening and seeing 

 how much money we can make by grinding" 

 wheat at two cents per pound, for even when 

 ground veiy coarsely it can be made into most 

 excellent bread. You can splash through the 

 water again by purchasing irreat that is good' 

 and wholesome^ at 4- cents per pound instead of 

 10. And again, 1>y paying cash for evei*ythiug 

 you buy and insisting that you have it at the 

 veiy lowest casJi figure. Haven't you the cash 

 on inind ? Reduce your expense^ so that you 

 can lay up half of what you have formerly paid 

 out for your table, in the way I have mentioned, 

 and before you arc frightened for fear such a 

 course may look undignified, reflect that some 

 of the finest minds the" world has ever produced 

 have been obliged to study this matter as one 

 of the fine arts — how to live cheaply. 



We have plenty of men in our cities, who 

 make it a business to hel]? those who are not 

 afraid to splash through the water, by offering 

 the sta])!e commodities of life at very close fig- 

 ures indeed, but you must pni/ cash, for these 

 men figure on so small a profit that it is en- 

 tirely out of the question to add a per cent to 

 cover the losses on bad customers, as most of 

 our country merchauts an:I grocers are obliged 

 to do, and for that matter you can almost al- 

 ways make an arrangement with your own 

 grocer, if you will tell him that his money is 

 always ready, or better still if he is trusty, 

 give him the money to get what you want 

 when he goes to the city. If you ha\e (dmii/.-.- 

 the nioney in your jiocket, you need not feai' 

 bat that you will always find him accommo- 

 dating. 



From quotations, from W. P. Southworth & 

 Co., 110 Ontario St., Cleveland, O., I glean the 

 following : 



Standard A, coffee sugar by the bai-rel, 10'._, 

 cents, retails forl2'.<. Golden svrap in 5 lb. 

 kegs, 00 cents; retails at fl.OO. "Cod-fish, 25 

 lbs., 5,4' cents ; retails at 8 cents. German era- 

 si ve soap, by the box, 4?4' cents; retails at ^ 

 cents. Soda and saleratus, 10 lb. lots, 7 cents : 

 retails at 10 cents. Oat meal and barley in 20 

 IV). lots, 5 and 7 cents; retails for 8 and 10. 

 Corn starch in 40 11). boxes, 10 cents ; retails at 

 1."). Rice, 10 11). lots, S^. ; retails for 12. 



I havi' only selected a" few of the necessaries 

 as samples ; tea, coffee and tobacco, would cer- 

 tainly be out of place in a home where eeoromy 



