end it
all at once. His wife performs greater miracles still, for she has to
buy a winter gown and a summer gown, a hat and gloves, for her L2.
These are not fancy figures. The miracle is performed by tens of
thousands of German women every year. They buy a few yards of cheap
stuff and get in a sewing-woman to make it up, for as a rule they are
not nearly as clever and capable as Englishwomen about making things
for themselves. Your English maid-servant will buy a blouse length at
a sale for a few pence, make it up smartly, and wear it out in a month
of Sundays. Your German she-official will have a blouse made for her,
and it will probably be hideous; but she will wear it so carefully
that it lasts her two years. Under-raiment she will never want to buy,
as she will have brought a life-long supply to her home at marriage.
You easily figure the children who are dressed on twenty marks a year,
the girl in a shoddy tartan made in a fashion of fifty years ago with
the "waist" hooked behind, and the boy in some snuff-coloured mixture
floridly braided. But the interesting revelation of this small
official budget is in its carefully planned fare made out for a
fortnight in summer and a fortnight in winter. In winter the
_Hausfrau_ may spend about 17s. a week on her food and in summer 19s.
That leaves only 2s. a month for the extra days of the month, and for
small expenses, such as soda, matches, blacking, and condiments.
Breakfast may cost sixpence a day, and for this there is to be 3/4 litre
of milk, 4 small white rolls, 1/2 lb. rye bread, 2 oz. of butter, 1 oz.
of coffee. Nothing is set down for sugar, and I think that most German
families of this class would not use sugar, and would eat their bread
without butter. On Sunday they have a goose for dinner, and pay 4s.
6d. for it, and though 4s. 6d. is not much to pay for a goose, it
seems an extravagant dish for this family, until you discover that
they are still dining on it on Wednesday. Not only has the _Hausfrau_
brought home this costly bird, but she has laid in a whole pound of
lard to roast with it, white bread for stuffing, and cabbage for a
vegetable. Pudding is not considered necessary after goose, and for
supper there is bread and milk for the children, and bread, butter,
cheese, and beer for the parents. On Monday they have a rest from
goose, and dine on _gehacktes Schweinefleisch_. German butchers sell
raw minced meat very cheaply, and the _Hausfrau_ would probably