home. Every time Dick or I
put on our good clothes we were as carefully inspected as troops on
parade. If a grease spot was found, it was removed then and there. If
a button was missing or a bit of fringe showed or a hole the size of a
pin head was found we had to wait until the defect was remedied. Every
Sunday morning the boy pressed both his suit and mine and every night
we had to hang our coats over a chair and fold our trousers. If we
were careless about it, the little woman without a word simply got up
and did them over again herself.

These may seem like small matters but the result was that we all of us
kept looking shipshape and our clothes lasted. When we finally did
finish with them they weren't good for anything but old rags and even
then Ruth used them about her housework. I figured roughly that Ruth
kept us well dressed on about half what it cost most of our neighbors
and yet we appeared to be twice as well dressed as any of them. Of
course we had a good many things to start with when we came down here
but our clothing bill didn't go up much even during the last year when
our original stock was very nearly exhausted. She accomplished this
result about one-half by long-headed buying, and one-half by her
carefulness and her skill with the needle.

To go back to the matter of food, I'll copy off a week's bill of fare
during this month. Ruth has written it out for me. You'll notice that
it doesn't vary very much from the earlier ones.

Sunday.

Breakfast: fried hasty pudding with molasses; doughnuts, cocoa
made from cocoa shells.

Dinner: lamb stew with dumplings, boiled potatoes, boiled onions,
cornstarch pudding.

Monday.

Breakfast: oatmeal, baked potatoes, creamed codfish, biscuits.

Luncheon: for Billy: brown bread sandwiches, cold beans,
doughnuts, milk; for Dick and me: boiled rice, cold biscuits,
baked apples, milk.

Dinner: warmed over lamb stew, baked apples, cocoa, cold biscuits.

Tuesday.

Breakfast: oatmeal, milk toast, cocoa.

Luncheon: for Billy: cold biscuits, hard-boiled eggs, doughnuts;
for Dick and me: warmed over beans, biscuits.

Dinner: hamburg steak, baked potatoes, graham muffins, apple
sauce, milk.

Wednesday.

Breakfast: oatmeal, griddle-cakes with molasses, cocoa shells.

Luncheon: for Billy: sandwiches made of biscuits and left over
steak, doughnuts; for Dick and me: crackers and milk, hot
gingerbread.