Page:The Girl Who Earns Her Own Living (1909).djvu/324

 pared cereals and eggs. During that entire summer our table cost us five dollars or less for two, and our room rent was one dollar and twenty-five cents, which represents individual living expenses of a trifle over three dollars. We had paid four dollars and fifty-cents per week at the 'home,' and enjoyed life less.

"With the first of September we realized that there was absolutely no way of heating the attic adequately. We spent four entire Sundays in flat-hunting. By this time our salaries had been raised to ten dollars per week, and we had saved quite a neat sum during the summer. We decided that our new home should be a permanent one.

"We moved here October 1st, two years ago. We pay twenty dollars per month, or less than five dollars a week, house rent; our gas bills average one dollar and sixty cents per month; we do our own washing, and almost the first important piece of furniture we bought was a sewing-machine, which we got, second-hand, for eight dollars.

"Next I remembered mother's attic in the Berkshire village, and wrote, stating that if she could spare us anything from the old boxes and chests we would be glad to have them for our new home. Carrie's aunt received a similar letter, making it very clear that we did not ask for new things—we were both too proud of our