two] selecting a home 



gives the owner fresh fruit and vegetables and his 

 winter potatoes, while it lowers his meat bill, be- 

 cause he has his own milk and chickens and eggs, 

 while he is forming the habit of using more fruit. 

 In the course of five years, by saving rent and keep- 

 ing well on a better diet, a horse has been added to 

 the family group. When this was done the wife 

 and children could enjoy life better, and they could 

 much enlarge and improve their garden. The wife, 

 a woman of common sense, found a few private 

 customers for her eggs, apples and vegetables. This 

 led to more berries and flowers, until her income 

 equaled that of her husband. If this book gets into 

 the hands of many such people — and that is just 

 what I wish — I would say, be sure of one thing, 

 that you do not indulge in shame for any honest 

 work. It is not a disgrace to sell — peddle, if you 

 choose to call it — what you have the wit to produce. 

 Above all, keep out of your children's heads that 

 earning is less honorable than spending. I have 

 poor neighbors who, for their dear lives' sake, would 

 not take a load of vegetables or berries to market. 

 False shame is always a mark of degeneracy. 



Riding between Boston and Albany I chanced to 

 sit with a Boston merchant. " I live out here," he 



[29] 



