“No, nor will it be; but what is my time good for, except to make your income go as far as it will? I get all the time to read I want; I am not fond of plain sewing; and as clothes ready made can now be bought so good and cheap, I don’t mean to do more than keep the buttons sewed on,”—here she smiled as she thought of the favorite grievance,—“the stockings well darned, and everything mended; so; you’ll never have the satisfaction of seeing me stitch long white seams, nor wear a shirt made by me.”
“Thank heaven!” ejaculated Harry.
“No, nowadays that I consider real waste of time. And then I’ve no gift for fancy work, pretty as the modern version of it is, so I’d like to know what I should do with the whole day if I didn’t do something in the kitchen? I expect, when Marta is trained, never to spend more than an hour and a half each day there, and an hour besides for the other little household duties; that leaves a margin for visiting, reading, and the sewing I may have.”
“Very well, Molly dear; that programme sounds very easy, but whether it works in practice I don’t know.”
“Everything depends on Marta,—if she shows intelligence and cares to learn, things will go as I have planned after the first month; but supposing she actually never proves capable of doing the cooking alone, I shall simply make up my mind to spend the hour between five and six every day in the kitchen. I shan’t like to do it, because it ought not to be necessary, but one has to accept some shortcoming with any servant, and I would sooner this than some others; but to make it worth while to keep her under those circumstances, she must be very good in other things. There! I’m talking instead of attending to business,” said Molly; “here is an account of our expenditure.”
| Monday— | Meat and sundries | $2.90 |
| Cream | .10 | |
| Yeast | .02 | |
| Tuesday— | Oysters | .12 |
| Steak | .30 | |
| Lima Beans | .05 | |
| Wednesday— | Extra milk for soup | .04 |
| Thursday— | Smelts | .10 |
| 3 pounds beef | .35 | |
| Pork | .10 | |
| Lettuce | .05 | |
| Friday— | Cauliflower | .10 |
| Milk for soup | .04 | |
| Clams | .15 | |
| Soup bone | .15 | |
| Saturday— | Veal cutlets, 1½ pounds | .27 |
| Chicken | .50 | |
| Bacon | .14 | |
| Extra butter | .25 | |
| Milk for week | .56 | |
| Ice, 100 pounds | .40 | |
| Fuel | .50 | |
| $7.19 |
Molly had added to the supplies she had ordered for the month, which, it will be remembered, amounted to $9.86, the following articles:
| Macaroni | $0.20 |
| Nutmegs | .10 |
| Lemons | .20 |
| Carrots, turnips, onions | .36 |
| Apples | .40 |
| Parsley | .05 |
| Thyme | .05 |
| $1.36 |
which brought the amount to $11.22; one fourth of which, $2.80, added to $7.19, made the week’s expenditure $9.99.