A city man who had inherited a 40-acre tract of pasture land from his father’s estate, and whose failing health rendered it necessary for him to get out into the country, concluded that about the only use he could make of this land was to raise a few sheep.
He therefore built a cabin on the tract, together with a shed for sheltering the sheep, and bought twenty head of well-bred animals, which he placed in the pasture. This pasture was well seeded in grass, was all fenced and had a fine stream of water running through it from a spring that came out of a small hill upon which the cabin was built. It also contained several shade trees.
He had a few hundred dollars in cash, but the living expenses of himself and wife were light, so that his small savings were sufficient for a year or two, especially as they had planted a fine garden with berry bushes, besides plants and shrubs of various kinds, and had also bought a cow and a few dozen chickens, so that the greater part of their living was taken care of.
In the meantime their flock of sheep increased rapidly, and the cost of raising them was small in money and labor. This man and his wife were agreeably surprised at the end of the third year to find that their little flock had earned for them over $1,500. That amount has been greatly increased with each succeeding year, and has brought them a larger yearly income than would the highest salaried position in the city. And their health has also been completely restored through the out-door life they have led.
PLAN No. 155. MAKING COZY CORNERS
Not one woman in ten thousand would ever have thought of the plan which this talented woman living in an eastern city thought out and adopted as a means of earning a very comfortable living, when confronted with the necessity for doing so.
Possessing artistic tastes and tendencies, she began by arranging delightful cozy corners for people who were able to pay good prices for the charming effects she designed and produced, yet who lacked the originality to plan them with the delicacy and harmony that characterized her designs.
Many of these she originated, while others were taken from the homes of her friends.
These she photographed, arranged them in a large album, and carried them from house to house. In most of the homes visited, these designs created a profound impression, owing to their originality and beauty, and when she submitted estimates of the cost of duplicating these, or where desired, of making a special design, which of course included her own services, she usually received an order at once, and soon found she had all the work she could possibly do, at prices that in the aggregate brought her a revenue of several thousand dollars a year.
When the cozy corner was finished, she would impress upon the lady of the house the satisfaction it would afford her to have the same photographed, so she could send pictures of it to her friends, and as she was herself an expert with the camera, she earned many extra dollars by making these photos.