t article which could
be required in housekeeping was not overlooked. The groceries of the
different floors never got mixed, though how this separateness of stores
was accomplished will for ever remain a mystery to me; but that it was
successfully accomplished the smallness of our bill was the best of
proof,--unless, indeed, as we were sometimes almost afraid, we did now and
then eat up Dr. A----'s cheese, or drink the milk belonging to the B's
below us. We were a party of four; our fare was of the plain, substantial
sort, but of sufficient variety and abundance; and yet our living never
cost us, including rent, service, fires, and food, over $60 a week. If we
had chosen to practise closer economies, we might have lived on less.
Compare for one instant the comfort of such an arrangement as this, which
really gave us every possible advantage to be secured by housekeeping, and
with almost none of the trouble, with any boarding or lodging possible in
New York. We had two parlors and two bedrooms; our meals served promptly
and neatly, in our own parlor. The same amount of room, and service, and
such a table, for four people, cannot be had in New York for less than
$150 or $200 a week; in fact, they cannot be had in New York for any sum
of money. The quiet respectfulness of behavior and faithful interest in
work of English servants on English soil are not to be found elsewhere. We
afterward lived for some weeks in another lodging-house in Great Malvern,
Worcestershire, at about the same price per week. This house was even
better than the London one in some respects. The system was precisely the
same; but the cooking was almost faultless, and the table appointments
were more than satisfactory,--they were tasteful. The china was a
pleasure, and there were silver and linen and glass which one would be
glad to have in one's own home.

It may be asked, and not unnaturally, how does this lodging-house system
work for those who keep the houses? Can it be possible that all this
comfort and economy for lodgers are compatible with profits for landlords?
I can judge only from the results in these two cases which came under my
own observation. In each of these cases the family who kept the house
lived comfortably and pleasantly in their own apartment, which was, in the
London house, almost as good a suite of rooms as any which they rented.
They certainly had far more apparent quiet, comfort, and privacy than is
commonly seen in the arran