xes!" said Jenny.

"Yes," said I, "that is my thesis, which I shall nail up over the
mantelpiece there, as Luther nailed his to the church door. It is time
to rake up the fire now; but to-morrow night I will give you a paper
on the Economy of the Beautiful."

* * * * *

"Come, now we are to have papa's paradox," said Jenny, as soon as the
tea-things had been carried out.

_Entre nous_, I must tell you that insensibly we had fallen into the
habit of taking our tea by my study fire. Tea, you know, is a mere
nothing in itself, its only merit being its social and poetic
associations, its warmth and fragrance; and the more socially and
informally it can be dispensed, the more in keeping with its airy and
cheerful nature.

Our circle was enlightened this evening by the cheery visage of Bob
Stephens, seated, as of right, close to Marianne's work-basket.

"You see, Bob," said Jenny, "papa has undertaken to prove that the
most beautiful things are always the cheapest."

"I'm glad to hear that," said Bob; "for there's a carved antique
bookcase and study-table that I have my eye on, and if this can in any
way be made to appear"--

"Oh, it won't be made to appear," said Jenny, settling herself at her
knitting, "only in some transcendental, poetic sense, such as papa can
always make out. Papa is more than half a poet, and his truths turn
out to be figures of rhetoric when one comes to apply them to matters
of fact."

"Now, Miss Jenny, please remember my subject and thesis," I
replied,--"that in house-furnishing there is nothing so economical as
beauty; and I will make it good against all comers, not by figures of
rhetoric, but by figures of arithmetic. I am going to be very
matter-of-fact and commonplace in my details, and keep ever in view
the addition table. I will instance a case which has occurred under
my own observation."

THE ECONOMY OF THE BEAUTIFUL

Two of the houses lately built on the new land in Boston were bought
by two friends, Philip and John. Philip had plenty of money, and paid
the cash down for his house, without feeling the slightest vacancy in
his pocket. John, who was an active, rising young man, just entering
on a flourishing business, had expended all his moderate savings for
years in the purchase of his dwelling, and still had a mortgage
remaining, which he hoped to clear off by his future successes. Philip
begins the work of furnishing as people do with whom mo