HOUSE AND GARDEN 
October, 1913 
in yellow and green paper certificates 
which just paid for our flat in the interest 
we got. Here I have $7,000 in green cer¬ 
tificates, the interest on which more than 
pays for the upkeep of the house, taxes, 
etc. I lose the interest on the $18,000, but 
I don’t pay any rent to anyone except my¬ 
self! Meanwhile, we save money on other 
things, and show a savings balance at the 
end of the year—that’s the real answer!" 
“Of course, I know why servant hire is 
more here — we keep two maids and a man. 
and they cost more. But, oh, John, look 
at our living! Why, it's just half as much 
as it was in the city.” 
“Yes, meat is cheaper here, we buy gro¬ 
ceries wholesale—and the garden, the cow 
and the chickens did the rest! Cut it 
clean in half,” agreed Mr. Spence happily. 
“I see you’ve got $309 charged against 
the car,” observed Mrs. Spence. “Isn’t 
that considerably more than Mr. Swift fig¬ 
ured it would cost?” 
“It is and it isn’t,” answered Mr. Spence. 
“Swift figured out $118 a year for the 
car, but he went on the basis I put up to 
him — that I wouldn’t use the car for any¬ 
thing but going back and forth to the sta¬ 
tion. But instead of that, we’ve run Good 
Fairy 6,754 miles in this one year, which 
is equal to 18.5 miles per day. I get about 
fifteen miles per gallon out of gas, buy it 
for 16 cents — in other words, I’ve spent 
$72 for gasoline and about $10 for oil. 
Then I bought two new sets of tires, at 
$108 the set — I shouldn’t have had to buy 
the second set so soon, but I foolishly let 
them stay half filled with air — the first set, 
I mean — and they went pretty fast. I 
know better now and the set I have on is 
almost new. The balance of the $309 is 
incidental repairs and adjustments. It 
works out to be 4U cents a mile instead of 
3 cents, the way Swift put it. But just 
look what we’ve done with the car — used 
it to do odd jobs, used it as a market 
wagon, as a station transport, as a calling 
and shopping car, used it to go see our 
friends, used it, in fact, to make life worth 
living. That $309 is money well spent. I 
don’t figure the car owes us anything at 
that figure.” 
“Neither do I, dear,” agreed Mrs. 
Spence. “It’s meant everything to us to 
have it. And to think we once thought 
them luxurious toys!” 
Mrs. Spence laughed gently at the mem¬ 
ory. Then, glancing at the paper again, 
she added: 
“Some of the other items are queer — 
that doctor’s bill of $4, for instance.” 
“Yes, isn’t it?” assented Mr. Spence. 
“Remember when Larry ate the apples and 
Dorry had a cold? That’s the sum total 
for doctors, though. It used to be any¬ 
where from fifty to a hundred a year, in 
the old statement it’s lumped in with inci¬ 
dentals and charity. You’ll notice,” Mr. 
Spence went on, “that my clothes stay the 
same and the life insurance is the same. 
You’ve spent less on yours, and a little 
more on the children’s, on account of wear 
and tear. Our expensive trip to the shore 
hasn’t been necessary, our amusements 
A tent large enough to shelter his 
vast army, yet so small that he could 
fold it in his hand, was the gift de¬ 
manded by a certain sultan of India 
of his son, the prince who married 
the fairy Pari-Banou. 
Jt was not difficult for the fairy to 
produce the tent. When it was 
stretched out, the sultan’s army con¬ 
veniently encamped under it and, as 
the army grew, the tent extended of 
its own accord. 
A reality more wonderful than 
Prince Ahmed’s magic tent is the Bell 
Telephone. It occupies but a few 
square inches of space on your desk 
or table, and yet extends over the 
entire country. 
When you grasp it in your hand, 
it is as easily possible to talk a hun¬ 
dred or a thousand miles away as to 
the nearest town or city. 
In the Bell System, 7,500,000 tele¬ 
phones are connected and work to¬ 
gether to take care of the telephone 
needs of the people of this country. 
As these needs grow, and as the 
number of telephone users increases, 
the system must inevitably expand. 
For the Bell System must always 
provide a service adequate to the 
demands of the people. 
American Telephone and Telegraph Company 
And Associated Companies 
Universal Service 
One Policy 
One System 
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E. F. HODGSON CO., 116 Washington St., Room 226. Boston, Massachusetts 
In writing to advertisers please mention House & Garden 
