How she did it, or, Comfort on $150 a year

Front matter

-CT t 0 N (

HOW

SHE

Contents

CHAPTER PAGR

I. — A Critical Discussion 7

II. — Practical Housekeeping 22

Chapter I. A Critical Discussion

It is much easier to be critical than correct.

Disraeli.

What custom wills, in all things should we do’t The dust on antique time would lie unswept,

And mountainous error be too highly heaped For truth to overpeer. — Shakespeare.

“ It is a grave problem,” said Mrs. Nymscywitch, very thoughtfully.

“ An utter absurdity rather ! ” cried Lady Disdain, as she arranged her hat-strings with an air of lofty impatience. “ What human being could live on three hundred a year?”

“ It would be literal starvation, my dear,” chimed in Mrs. El Dorado with gentle remonstrance in her tones.

“ Still I mean to try it ! ” returned Faith Arden with steady resoluteness, as she clasped her hands earnestly together. “ In fact, I have already made all my arrangements.”

HOW SHE DID IT.

“Then you had better unmake them.”

“No! it is too late for that. The land is bought.”

“ What ! that wild heap of rocks ? Who but a lunatic would dream of building a house in such a lonely, dreary spot ? ”

“ If you would only be willing to consider its capabilities,” urged Faith with wistful pleading in her dark eyes.

It tried her more than she was willing to admit, to have her friends so vehemently opposed to the one scheme of life she with her restricted resources had been able to plan.

“ My dear child,” said Mrs. Nymscy witch, kindly, “tell us then what you find to tempt you to this unusual proceeding.”

Somewhat cheered by those encouraging tones, Faith said with eager warmth :

“ You have no idea what a beautiful place it really is ! With the rubbish and undergrowth cleared away, and the wild scrubby bushes removed, the daintiest little nooks, the prettiest vistas will show themselves — ”

“ That only the eye of Faith can discover as yet,” interposed Mrs. Nymscywitch, dryly.

A CRITICAL DISCUSSION.

Then as they all smiled at her little joke, she added :

“ Well ! and then? You can’t live on nooks and vistas, you know.”

“ I’m not so sure of that ! ” returned Faith, seriously, “ I will have a house the plan of

which I have carefully studied out, in which housekeeping shall become a practical delight, with no wearying or repulsive details. I will settle down to a life of pure enjoyment, into which the grosser elements of every-day existence shall have little place. I shall have every comfort, unalloyed by household anxiety ; and the bread of contentment will be sweeter to me than the richest feast you have ever spread before your guests in your own houses.”

“ But bread ! my dear,” began Lady Disdain, who was rather literal in her limited comprehension of Faith’s meaning.

“ I shall have more than bread ; I shall have all reasonable needs of soul and body duly supplied,” said Faith, her eyes shining, as a little flush crept over her face.

“ You really can’t do it on three hundred a year,” interposed Mrs. El Dorado, practically ; “ unless you don’t mean to pay your bills.”

HOW SHE DID IT.

“ Where then would be my freedom from anxiety ? ” returned Faith, laughing.

“ But your house, dear child ! ” said Mrs. Nymscy witch, “you can’t build that out of your income.”

“ No ! but a friend will lend what I need for that, on a mortgage, and I mean to save something every year, to pay it off by installments.”

“ Good gracious ! just hear her ! she talks of saving something out of that pitiful sum ! ” cried Lady Disdain, in genuine horror. “ And what will you do for furniture ? ”

“ You know my share of that at the old homestead is almost enough to begin with ; and I have a few hundred dollars on hand to supply deficiencies.”

“ But the ground — your acre of rocks, as I call it — you must have paid for it a great deal more than it was worth.”

“ It cost two hundred and fifty dollars ; and I have still a balance left.”

“Tell me, Faith!” said Mrs. El Dorado, soberly, “ do you think there is one shovelful <pf earth on your whole domain?”

“ Oh, yes ! several, I should think,” returned Faith, tranquilly. “ It really is a curious and

A CRITICAL DISCUSSION .

II very picturesque mass of rocks, rising abruptly from the ground about fifty feet on the west side, with a rapid inclination toward the east that does not leave an actual level anywhere. Still, in ail the crevices and broken edges a gradual accumulation of soil has formed, so that quite large trees stand in the deeper places.”

“ Is it so bad as that ? I thought there was quite a grassy slope,” began Mrs. Nymscywitch.

“ In appearance, yes ; but it is very deceitful. The more it looks like solid earth, the surer it is to be far more solid rock.”

“ I have the 'dimmest recollection of the place,” said Mrs. Nymscy witch. “Just driving once or twice hurriedly by, without having any idea I should ever be interested in it, I scarcely know anything at all of its aspect or dimensions.”

“Let me refresh your memory,” replied Faith, taking a portfolio from the table, with a faint gleam of fun in her demure eyes. “ Here is a sketch of the domain taken one windy day in March, when I went over to select a spot for the house.”

As the three heads bent eagerly over the

HOW SHE DID IT.

paper, there was a moment’s dismayed pause, broken only by gasps of horror, sighs of gloomy foreboding, and half - breathed interjections of mingled regret and unwilling admiration.

As a study of wild primitive forest -life, the sketch was a decided success. The gaunt branches that swayed so drearily before the March gale, the masses of dead leaves over which ridges of soiled snow yet lay, holding them imprisoned in their icy grasp, the broken tangled array of briers, and the unsightly debris of many long years of utter neglect, all made a picture that was dreary and unattractive indeed. The great mass of almost perpendicular rocks, stripped of their dainty summer array, with here and there a scraggy vine clinging like a huge lifeless serpent to the rough stone, inspired only a sense of their cheerlessness, and caused a shiver at the cold winds that seemed to dash so unavailingly against them.

“ My dear child ! ” cried Mrs. Nymscywitch, at last, “ you must give up this wild plan. Where could you place a building here that would not blow off the rocks at the first high wind ? There wouldn’t be much to choose between its toppling over the precipice on the

A CRITICAL DISCUSSION.

one hand, or rolling head over heels down the steep slope on the other.”

“ That did seem a difficulty at first,” replied Faith, tranquilly. “ I found at once it was altogether too breezy on the top there, so I chose a place under those big oak-trees, where it is more sheltered. In an emergency the house might be chained fast to the trees, you know.”

“ What an idea ! I think I’d rather be dashed to pieces at once than to be rocked in that perilous fashion in such a forest cradle that would fall into fragments by degrees.”

“ I don’t believe either danger will ever exist,” returned Faith, still smiling demurely. “ Now, here is another sketch, taken after the foundation was completed, which — ”

“ The foundation ! ” cried all in a breath. ‘‘You surely haven’t begun — ”

“Oh, yes! why should I lose time? That much was done by the middle of April, and it looked so oddly at that stage of the proceedings, I took this view of it also.”

“ But how it looks ! One end of it is buried in the ground, and the other stands out in the air with the most impertinent expression I ever saw.

HOW SHE DID IT.

Faith let them study her sketch for some moments, and make all the comments they pleased unanswered. Then, taking from the portfolio a third paper, she laid it before them with fingers that trembled slightly with triumph, as did also her voice as she observed, quietly :

“ But, in the end, you see, it doesn’t look so very badly.”

In speechless surprise the fair trio gazed at this crowning token of Faith’s zeal and energy. There was just enough in this new picture of the old rugged outlines, the piledup rocks and huge trees to show it was indeed the same scene ; but how wonderfully changed ! Nature had done her part, bringing out with her magic touch the graceful foliage, the drooping, luxuriant vines, and the dainty carpet of wild flowers and soft mosses, while the swaying fronds of the ferns bent beneath the summer breeze, and nodded sportively over the points of rock which had protected them so sturdily from winter’s icy blasts. But the wonder was in the changes wrought by the hand of man, usually such vandal touches beside Nature’s creative work. The house, whose

A CRITICAL DISCUSSION.

mere foundation looked so ludicrously out of place in the last sketch, was now a completed structure. Its long, low front peeped modestly out below the oak-branches, presenting already a cosy air of comfort and seclusion that found attraction even for the worldly gaze that now so intently regarded it.

“ But, Faith,’' at length exclaimed Mrs. Nymscywitch, opening her lips with a sort of gasp, so profound was her astonishment, “you naughty, treacherous child ! Have you really done all this without a word ? ”

“ I told you I had made my arrangements,” began Faith.

“You’ve made them with a vengeance, I think. Why, the very ground is metamorphosed ! Where is the bank in which one end of the foundation had buried its nose so uncomfortably ? ”

“ I had that cut down as far as 1 could to fill in at the other corner. Then, in leveling the bank on the road in front, and making that flat space which the drive encircles, I found material enough for a very satisfactory grading around the house.”

“But tell us about the house,” interrupted

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HOW SHE DID IT.

Mrs. El Dorado, eagerly. “ It looks quite pretty there in the picture.”

“ It is just as pretty in reality,” returned Faith. “ Here is a plan of it, if you care to go into details.”

“ Of course we do ! But is it really so large ? Thirty-five feet is a broad frontage.”

“ It is only twenty-four feet deep,” replied Faith. “You see, I could not sacrifice any of

Ground Plan.

A, arch ; D, doors j D D, double doors ; w, windows ; c, chimnies.

my oak-trees, so I contrived a house that would just fit in among them.”

A CRITICAL DISCUSSION.

“Well, let’s see this wonderful plan,” said Mrs. Nymscy witch. “ I like the shape of the piazza very much, and that bay-window just saves it from looking like a district - school house.”

“ What a cruel speech ! ” exclaimed Faith, pretending to look indignant; but she knew her old friend too well not to detect her kindly approbation despite her words of criticism.

“ The bay-window belongs to the parlor, I see, and opening from that is your library, with the entrance-hall and dining-room in the middle of the house. And this long room running back the whole depth of the house you call your bedroom. Surely you don’t mean to sleep there ! ” and Mrs. El Dorado’s face wore a look of utter consternation as she spoke.

“ Where else should I sleep ? I have a prejudice against disguised bedrooms, that are called parlors or dining-rooms in the day-time.”

“ But up-stairs — ”

“ There is no up - stairs,” tranquilly interrupted Faith.

“No up-stairs! Why, what can you do?”

“ You must remember this house was chiefly built with borrowed money,” said Faith, gravely. “ It is entirely unfinished overhead, al-

HOW SHE DID IT.

though it would only cost about two hundred dollars more to make three rooms there if they are ever wanted. But, you see, I can only sleep in one room at a time, and I prefer to use one on the first floor.”

“ But what if burglars came ? ”

“ Then I’ll be on the spot to protect my property. Half the time burglars escape while people are getting out their pistols and stumbling down-stairs in the dark after them.”

“ Imagine yourself chasing a burglar round with a pistol from one room to another ! ” cried Mrs. Nymscy witch, laughing till the tears ran down her cheeks, and yet glancing a little anxiously at Faith’s unterrified aspect under the discussion.

“ I hope I will succeed in keeping them outside,” she said, simply. “ But tell me how you like my kitchen and its arrangements. You see a door from the dining-room opens into it. By the time we got round to this side of the house we were so high up in the air that I had the kitchen started about four feet lower. So a little flight of steps leads down into it, and on one side an open stairway goes up to the servant’s room overhead.”

A CRITICAL DISCUSSION.

“ You will need a very tiny servant in these little rooms. Only ten feet by eleven, isn’t it?”

“ Large enough for my needs,” replied Faith, “ and I have very little idea of having a servant at all, although I built the room in case I should find I wanted it.”

“ Then you do mean to starve in good earnest ! ” cried Mrs. El Dorado, holding up her hands in horror, while tears of kindly pity stood in her eyes.

“ Not at all ! I have come much nearer starving at tables that were overloaded with ill-cooked and uneatable food than I shall ever be when left to my own devices. I should be a rich woman this day if I had claimed a salary for teaching all the stupid servants whom I have drilled into fair cooks in the course of my existence.”

“ But to do it all yourself ! ” exclaimed Lady Disdain, with a virtuous sniff and an air of great distaste.

“ It won’t harm or weary me,” replied Faith. “ Come and see me when I get settled.”

“And when will that be?”

“ I shall move in to-morrow.”

HOW SHE DID IT.

"To-morrow? But it doesn’t look finished enough — ”

“ Oh, fences and gates are easily put up, and some little touches inside can be added better when I am there to know just what will suit me.”

“ Oh, you mad, foolish woman ! Do give it up, even now ! You can finish and rent it.”

“ I prefer to live in it,” retorted Faith, firmly. “ I expect to sleep there to-morrow night.”

“ Impossible ! ” all three cried in chorus.

“ Not at all ! Carpets are already down in my own room and the parlor. I have a tiny stove ready for the kitchen, and it will take but a few hours to put everything in temporary order.”

“ But what will you have for supper to-morrow night ? ” asked practical Mrs. Nymscywitch.

“ I shall take some fruit and sandwiches over for that occasion, and cook my first meal the next morning.”

“ And the wherewithal for your kitchen fire ? ”

“ Is already provided. While the work of

A CRITICAL DISCUSSION.

building was going on, I found the workmen and my neighbors generally were kindly solicitous to help clear up my grounds by carrying off arms and baskets full of fragments and shavings ; so I hired a boy at fifty cents a day to excavate a sort of cellar under the house near the kitchen-door, and to collect all these spoils for firewood. Thus, I have enough to last a year at a cost of about five dollars.”

“Well, I’m coming over very soon to take breakfast with you ! ” said Mrs. El Dorado, rising to depart.

“ It might be prudent to bring it with you,” said Mrs. Nymscywitch, as she also rose.

“ If we don’t find you a wasted skeleton, it will be a comfort,” observed Lady Disdain, lugubriously.

But Faith only laughed as she bid them good-by.

Chapter II. Practical Housekeeping

All the means of action —

The shapeless mass, the materials —

Lie everywhere about us. What we need Is the celestial fire to change the flint Into transparent crystal, bright and clear ;

That fire is genius! — L ongfellow.

Faith Arden moved into her house with somewhat unwise impetuosity, for she found the masons’ labors but barely ended, and a faint damp odor of lime pervaded the greater part of the building, which warned her to use every caution in so hastily occupying it. Her own room, however, was fairly dry; and with utmost efforts she accomplished its arrangement for her use that night, and got the kitchen stove put up, besides hunting up a few articles she would need in getting breakfast the next morning. The parlor furniture had been hastily thrust in place, while the library and dining-

PRACTICAL HOUSEKEEPING .

room were crowded with boxes, baskets, trunks, and other things for which as yet no place could be found.

Weary to the last degree with her unwonted exertions that long summer’s day, yet triumphant over her success, and full of a keen sweet sense of content and restful peace, she watched the darkening sky as the twilight faded and the twinkling stars came out, seeming to smile in kindly encouragement upon her. Soon, knowing how early must be her rising in the morning, she retired to her room, wondering if any nervous sense of loneliness would indeed come over her in that utter solitude. But well-earned repose fell gently and at once upon her, weighing down her drooping eyelids with a dreamless sleep, in which midnight terrors had no place.

The carpenter, who still had many days of steady work before him in hanging sashes and blinds, as well as in putting finishing touches everywhere, was to come at seven o’clock ; and Faith rose briskly at six, hoping to complete her kitchen labors before his arrival. Simply putting on a light wrapper and slippers, she. hastened to light her fire and to put some water in a saucepan on the stove. Having accomplished a bright blaze that flamed with a cheering roar and crackle up the chimney, Faith returned to her room to complete her toilet ; and, after putting everything there in order, had the satisfaction, on again visiting the kitchen, of finding that the water was boiling merrily. In another moment, having ground some coffee, and put it in a little brown earthenware pipkin, she added enough of the hot water to make the quantity she wanted. She then stirred two heaping tablespoonfuls of oatmeal into the saucepan, and left both coffee and oatmeal to boil, while she arranged on a small stand in one corner of the dining-room such breakfast array as she could manage to find.

From the supply of food and groceries with which she had provided herself, Faith then obtained some rolls and butter, while from her pint of fresh milk, brought over the evening before by a brisk little farmer’s maiden, she skimmed cream enough to make both oatmeal and coffee doubly palatable. It was only halfpast six when she sat down to enjoy this first relay of food, which was succeeded presently by two fresh eggs, which had been cooking in

PRACTICAL HOUSEKEEPING.

the mean time. It may seem a simple breakfast, but everything was so fresh and daintily prepared, each article the best of its kind, and coming so briskly from the fire to greet the keen, healthy appetite that awaited it, that it is to be doubted if any breakfast in the world has been much more enjoyed.

It was a struggle to find soap and towels among the wild disarray that reigned everywhere, and the dish-pan for some moments very obstinately hid itself. But they all came to light at last, and, with the fresh supply of boiling water that awaited her, Faith had everything washed and put out of the way while yet the carpenter’s quick, active step was afar off.

He was a cheery, pleasant fellow, one who, instead of being any restraint on Faith’s movements, could be called upon to help her whenever she found anything too heavy or bulky for her own strength.

Busily and blithely they both worked all that long day, Caspar intent on getting all the blinds in place to keep out the glaring sunlight, while Faith put down the carpet in the hall, and arranged the furniture there and in

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HOW SHE DID IT.

the parlor, so as to make the reception of chance visitors more comfortable. She had planned and sewed the carpets in advance, having enough of a fine, neat ingrain that was still in good order to cover all the floors. As the inner doors would usually stand open, she fancied having the same carpet throughout, not liking the patchwork appearance that a variety would exhibit. Her parlor soon presented an aspect of some comfort. The piano, with a comfortable sofa, three easy -chairs, a round center-table, a small stand, and several ottomans furnished the room very fairly. In the hall were only a hat-stand and a small side-table, the blanks where two chairs ought to have been looking at Faith with very mournful grimness. For the dining-room there were as yet only a side-board, a buffet, a round stand, and one very plain cane-seated chair, while the library, still more unfortunate, could claim but a desk and narrow side-table. In Faith’s own room an old-fashioned bedstead, with canopy and heavy curtains of crimson silk, trimmed with gold lace, held a conspicuous position, while a wardrobe, a wash-stand, and a bureau, with a rockingchair, made up the sum of its furnishing. To i

PRACTICAL HOUSEKEEPING.

balance the blanks everywhere were the heapedup boxes of books and music, the trunks full of clothing and house -linen, the baskets of china, silver, and glass, and the huge packages of pictures and mirrors that stared Faith desperately in the face, and for many of which she could find no place at all.

Some of them she consigned to temporary oblivion in the attic overhead, which was accessible from the servant’s room by a few steps and a door, and where Caspar had made a rough flooring over part of it for this purpose. Others were piled up in the library, so that • by noon the dining-room was comparatively cleared.

When Caspar had gone home for his dinner, Faith, glad of a moment’s rest, and not caring to prepare an elaborate lunch, or to make up a fire again, found a shady corner of the piazza, where, with her simple array of crackers, cheese, some fruit, and a glass of milk spread on a chair beside her, she gained refreshment for both body and mind, while she studied out her next enterprises. She was already zealously tacking down the dining - room carpet when Caspar returned, and, when it was done,

HOW SHE DID IT.

having with his help put the side-board and buffet in place, she began to rejoice that the hardest part of her work was over for the day. Unaccustomed to such violent and continued exercise at any time, and, above all, in this glowing June weather, she was glad of a comparative rest while unpacking and arranging the silver and glass on the side-board, and hunting up the little china she owned. It was a wearisome task even then, for vases and lamps and ornaments of all sorts had been packed with the more useful articles, and must now be put aside again as they made their undesired appearance.

Even more gladly than on the previous day did Faith hail the warning whistle which proclaimed that Caspar’s day’s work was ended, and left her in the approaching coolness of evening to once more seek the kitchen’s tiny domain. She was honestly hungry by this time, and had too much pride and confidence in her culinary skill to hesitate an instant over the preparation of her dinner. Having with practiced housewifely care made in advance all due arrangements for supplies, she now only needed to decide what to use. Everything was at hand,

PRACTICAL HOUSEKEEPING.

and she could have got up quite a ceremonious meal had she chosen, but she wisely undertook only what w r as the least trouble. A piece of delicately broiled beefsteak, with some boiled rice, was all she cooked, making meanwhile a salad with some fresh lettuce, and preparing some peeled and sliced tomatoes with mayonnaise dressing. These, with a roll and a glass of wine, she arranged on the little table in the dining-room, and, after enjoying them with the hearty zest gained from her day’s hard work, she took her dessert of ripe, glowing strawberries outside, and ate them leisurely under the cool shade of her magnificent oak-trees.

Then gathering together the array of her tiny dining- table, Faith put all aside in the kitchen, wisely concluding that once a day, after breakfast, was often enough for the rather distasteful process of washing them, which she did not at all fancy. Still, she performed even this task daintily, liking to have each article, as it was restored to its place in the dining-room, shine with a polished cleanliness such as few servants’ hands ever bestow. Faith had some peculiar ways of performing this duty. She began with the knives, washing them, one

HOW SHE DID IT.

at a time, in the hottest of water, cleaning each with brickdust, and drying and polishing it quickly, so that it shone like new steel again. Then came the glass and silver, that must be clear and bright beyond compare, while the china and the kitchen utensils were not the less carefully attended to for their humbler claims. She used a swab rather than a dish-cloth, having a horror of putting her fingers in hot water, and often added only some borax to the water to make it soft enough for due cleansing.

The tiny stove did its work wonderfully, and with water from a pump close at hand within the kitchen, and a drain beside it to carry off all that was used, Faith’s kitchen labors were not so very heavy. She found there was, indeed, no space to spare, although a table and a refrigerator were all the furniture of the room besides the stove and pump. However, Caspar made her a hanging safe out of some fragments of wood and a yard of wire-netting that triumphantly defied the innumerable ants- who came so inquisitively through every crevice, seeming to be trying to find out what this new departure among their wonted haunts meant. Then, with a set of shelves fast-

PRACTICAL HOUSEKEEPING.

cned against the wall over the table, and hooks in every direction — even under the steps that led up-stairs — Faith found opportunity to make quite a display of the few utensils she had, and to note dolefully the very many she must yet procure. She could manage very comfortably without them by herself, but the meekest, most unpresuming servant that ever lived would have been rebellious under such restrictions.

The pump was an especial comfort to Faith. Of course, it was rather hopeless to look for a spring on that bleak rock, although she shrewdly suspected even that would some day be discovered. In the mean time rain-water ought to be pure enough, and would do for most uses, but how to have a cistern? Near the kitchen -door persistent digging had revealed a diminutive pocket in the rock that would hold a barrel, or perhaps two of water. As blasting was impracticable, and a good deal of filling-up necessary on the steep slope at that side of the house, Faith had a cistern constructed in the pocket, and built up above it to the level of the kitchen floor. Then, when the final grading was completed, this was entirely covered in, leaving a platform on top for venti-

HOW SHE DID IT.

lation. It was very easy to have the water led that short distance through a block-tin pipe into the kitchen to supply the pump.

Another experiment of Faith’s had been to have a small cellar, of three by four feet in size, and four feet deep, made in one corner of the kitchen at the time its foundation was laid. Being constructed of bricks laid in cement, she believed it would be a cool place in summer for wines, vegetables, or other supplies, while in winter it would be an equally desirable refuge from frost, not only for these articles, but also for such tender plants as she might wish to keep through the cold months.

Thus in the humble sphere of the kitchen, with Caspar’s ready help, Faith found each need quickly met, and soon its cosy comfort was very noticeable. But the greater wants of the main house, the recollection of those unpacked boxes and trunks above-stairs, filled her at moments with dire consternation.