me by a scant twenty-four hours. He rubbed
about us in turns, happily purring.

"He's telling us all what a good time he had," said I, understanding at
last, "but he is adding, I think, that the best part of going away is
getting home again."

"But if we didn't go we couldn't get home again," said Somebody.

And somebody's cat purred his approval. Perhaps, after all, he finds us
a teachable family. Or perhaps he knows that once caught by the lure of
the hills, once having tasted the tang of mountainous ozone, we will
always go back--he has rare intuitions, has Sir Christopher. For,
already, I find myself figuring to fashion a detachable long handle for
the frying pan: Yes, next time, we shall plan to conserve both fingers
and face. Next time! That is the beauty of vacation days: We think of
them when the frost comes, when the snow drifts deep, when the arbutus
blooms again--and we plan, plan, plan! And are very happy--because of
memory, and anticipation. We have opened barred windows, and widened our
life's horizon. Does Sir Christopher guess? Wise old Sir Chris!

Homing-It in an Apartment

By Ernest L. Thurston

There were four of them--all girls employed in great offices. Alone, far
away from their home towns and families, they were all suffering from
attacks of too-much-boarding-house. Each was longing for a real, home-y
place to live in. And out of that longing was born, in time, an idea,
which developed, after much planning, figuring and price-getting, into a
concrete plan and a course of action. They were good friends, of
congenial tastes, and so they decided to "home-it" together.

Now this is nothing new, in itself. It was the thorough way they went
about it that was not so common. They applied the rules of their
business life, and studied their proposed path before they set foot in
it. They looked over the field, weighed the problems, decided what they
could do, and then arranged to put themselves on a sound financial basis
from the start.

All had occupied separate rooms in sundry boarding houses. Each had
experience in "meals in" and "meals out." Each could analyze fairly
accurately her expenses for the preceding six months. After study, they
decided that, without increasing their combined expense, they could have
comfortable quarters of their own and more than meet all their needs.
"Freedom, food, furniture, fixing and _friends_," said Margaret,
"without the boarding house flavor."

They l