We all grow lazy when she is about;
but there are worse things than indolence. No, we did not mean to drop
out of anything worth while; but we were pretty well provisioned against
a siege, if inclement weather or some other accident should lock us up
at the farm.
To keep still better hold of the city, I suggested to Tom and Kate that
they should keep open house for us, or any part of us, whenever we were
inclined to take advantage of their hospitality. This would give us city
refuge after late functions of all sorts. The plan has worked admirably.
I devote $1200 a year out of the $5200 of food-and-shelter money to the
support of our city shelter at Kate's house, and the balance, $4000, is
entered at the end of each year on the credit side of the farm ledger.
Nor do I think this in any way unjust. We do not expect to get things
for nothing, and we do not wish to. If the things we pay for now are as
valuable as those we paid for six or eight years ago, we ought not to
find fault with an equal price. I have repeatedly polled the family on
this question, and we all agree that we have lost nothing by the change,
and that we have gained a great deal in several ways.
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