FROM CITY TO COUNTRY 173 
gested to Tom and Kate that they should keep 
open house for us, or any part of us, whenever 
we were inclined to take advantage of their hos- 
pitality. This would give us city refuge after 
late functions of all sorts. The plan has worked 
admirably. I devote $1200 a year out of the 
$5200 of food-and-shelter money to the support 
of our city shelter at Kate’s house, and the bal- 
ance, $4000, is entered at the end of each year 
on the credit side of the farm ledger. Nor do I 
think this in any way unjust. We do not expect 
to get things for nothing, and we do not wish to. 
If the things we pay for now are as valuable as 
those we paid for six or eight years ago, we 
ought not to find fault with an equal price. I 
have repeatedly polled the family on this ques- 
tion, and we all agree that we have lost nothing 
by the change, and that we have gained a great 
deal in several ways. Our friends are of like 
opinion; and I am therefore justified in credit- 
ing Four Oaks with a considerable sum for food 
and shelter. We have bettered our condition 
without foregoing anything, and without increas- 
ing our expenses. That is enough. 
