HAPPY HOLLOW FARM 103 



our home. We had changed the uses we were 

 making of our hours, that was all; we had just 

 about as much leisure as ever. Besides, the 

 abundance of everything, and all of first qual- 

 ity, was to be considered. 



Then there was the matter of rent. I don't 

 quite know how to get at that, so as to satisfy 

 everybody. A house like our farmhouse 

 couldn't have been hired in town one afford- 

 ing such ample room, I mean for less than 

 $100 a month. We had never paid any such 

 rent; but there's the fact. We were living as 

 we had always wanted to live, though we hadn't 

 been able to afford it. If I credit Happy Hol- 

 low Farm with rent at $100 a month, that 

 would repay the whole cost of the house in 

 sixteen or seventeen months which doesn't 

 seem exactly reasonable, does it? I'll tell you 

 what I'll do with you: I'll call it $50 a month 

 and let it go at that. So there's another $600 

 a year to the good. 



Then there's the cost of fuel. To heat our 

 house in town used to set us back $150 to $200 

 every winter, the cost varying according to 

 weather conditions and fluctuations in the price 

 of coal. At Happy Hollow we've burned ten 

 cords of wood a year in heating and cooking. 



