in earnest. We looked at light apartments and dark
apartments--apartments on every floor, even to the basement. Though many
changes had taken place it carried us back to the day of our first
experience, and set us to wondering if we really had learned anything
after all.

We saw apartments that we would not have, and apartments which, because
of our Precious Ones, would not have us. Apartments that ran straight
through the house, apartments that, running down one side of the house
and back on the other, solved in a manner the Little Woman's problem of
having sunlight in both ends of the house at one time.

It was one of these last that we took. The building, which was
comparatively new, was located in the middle of the block, on a little
square bit of ground, and had on each floor a cozy octagonal hall with
one apartment running entirely around it. The entrance steps and halls
were not as unsullied as those of our present habitat, but the janitor
was a good-natured soul who won us at first glance, and who seemed on
terms of the greatest amity with a small boy who lived on the first
landing and accompanied us through. We saw also that the plumbing was in
praiseworthy condition, and the doors swung easily on their hinges.

To be sure, the price was a trifle more than we were paying in our
present apartment, and the location was somewhat farther from business;
but we said that a few blocks more or less were really nothing when one
was once on the car, which was almost as near as at the old place, and
we figured that the slight difference in rent we could save in the
gas-bill, though I had a lingering suspicion that to strike a general
average of light in the two places would be to cast but slight
reflection on either.

The janitor was the main thing--the good-natured janitor and the
landlord. We could even put up with slight drawbacks for the sake of an
apartment in good condition and the companionable soul down-stairs.
Then, too, we were foot-sore in flesh and spirit, and after the day's
experiences welcomed this haven as a genuine discovery. We went home
really gratified, though I confess our old nest had never seemed more
inviting.

I will touch but lightly upon the next few days. I would rather forget
the atmosphere of squalor and destitution that pervaded our household
when the carpets had been stripped up and we were stumbling about among
half-packed barrels upon bare, resounding floors. I do not seek to
retra