e-fifth of
what is left: say five per cent. of the whole expense. The doctor will
order porter or wine, when your back aches, or when Leander looks thin.
Have nothing to do with them till he does order them, but reserve
another five per cent. for them. The rest, Hero, it is mace, it is
yeast, it is vinegar, pepper, and mustard, it is sardines, it is
lobster, it is the unconsidered world of trifles which make up the
visible difference between the table of high civilization and that of
the Abyssinian or the Blackfoot Indian. Let us hope it is not much
cream-of-tartar or saleratus. It is grits and grapes, it is lard and
lemons, it is maple-sugar and melons, it is nuts and nutmeg, or any
other alliteration that you fancy.

Now, pretty one, I can see you smile, and I can hear you say,--"Dear old
Mr. Carter, I am very much obliged to you. I begin to see my way a
little more clearly." Of course you do, child. You begin to see that the
most desperate economy in lemons will not make you and Leander rich, but
that you must make up your mind at the start about beef and about
butter. Hear, then, my parting whisper.

Disregard the traditions of economy. What is cheap to-day is dear
to-morrow. Do not make a bill-of-fare, and, because everything on it
tastes very badly, think it is cheap. Salt codfish is cheap sometimes,
and sometimes very dear. Venison is often an extravagance; but, of a
winter when the sleighing is good, and when the hunters have not gone
South, it is the cheapest food for you. Eggs are dear, if they tempt you
to cakes that you do not like. But no eggs can be sent to our brave
army, so, if you do choose to make a bargain with your Aunt Eunice at
Naugatuck Neck to send you four dozen by express once a week, they will
be, perhaps, the cheapest food you can buy. What you want, my child, is
variety. However cheaply you live, secure four things: First, a change
of fare from day to day, so as to have a good appetite; Second,
simplicity, each day, in the table, so as to lose but little in chips;
Third, fitness of things there, as hot plates for your mutton and cold
ones for your butter, so that what you have may be of the best; and,
first, second, third, and last, love between you and Leander. This last
sauce, says Solomon, answers even for herbs. And you know the Emperors
Augustus and Nebuchadnezzar both had to live on herbs,--I am afraid,
because love had been wanting in both cases. If you have a stalled ox,
you will n