What Diantha Did by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
page 32 of 238 (13%)
page 32 of 238 (13%)
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To clothing, in full . . . $1,130.00
To board and lodging at $3.00 a week . . . $2,184.00 To incidentals . . . $100.00 -------- $3.600.00 He studied the various items carefully, stroking his beard, half in anger, half in unavoidable amusement. Perhaps there was a tender feeling too, as he remembered that doctor's bill--the first he ever paid, with the other, when she had scarlet fever; and saw the exact price of the high chair which had served all three of the children, but of which she magnanimously shouldered the whole expense. The clothing total was so large that it made him whistle--he knew he had never spent $1,130.00 on one girl's clothes. But the items explained it. Materials, three years at an average of $10 a year . . . $30.00 Five years averaging $20 each year . . . $100.00 Five years averaging $30 each year . . . $50.00 Five years averaging $50 each year . . . $250.00 ------- $530.00 The rest was "Mother's labor, averaging twenty full days a year at $2 a day, $40 a year. For fifteen years, $600.00. Mother's labor--on one child's, clothes--footing up to $600.00. It looked strange to see cash value attached to that unfailing source of family comfort and advantage. The school expenses puzzled him a bit, for she had only gone to public |
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