FRENCH THRIFT

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2566, 14 September 1915, Page 3

FRENCH THRIFT

SAVING IN THE HOUSEHOLD HIGH FOOD PRICES. Economy becomos' every day more of a national necessity, and thrifty Franco is settling down to her task witii her usual intelligence and common sense (says the Paris Fashion Correspondent of tho London "Times"). Individually, French people havo . been economising ever since tho mobilisation order was issued, and the country, in general has been run on economical lines. The French instinct to- savo makes all economical measures comparatively easy to carry out, and' there is a good deal of truth in the saying that many Frenchmen would rather eat dry bread all their lives than run the risk of having none in old ago by putting butter on it in tlioir youth.

In French middle-class housekeeping everything is expensive, and nothing is luxurious. The essential points are the kitchen and the linen ohest; the least essential arc the drawingroom aud the table decoraltion. Tlio first thins a I''rench bourgeoise sttends to in the day is her larder, and the last thing she spends mouoy on are tho flowers for her dinner table. She economises on service and household wear and tear at the least- excuse, but only on food when it is strictly necessary.

30 Per Cent. Higher Than in England. TIIO price of all necessaries is at least 30 per cent, higher ill Franco than it is in England. Coal is. now being sold at lOlf. <v ton for slow combustion stoves and 79f. for the kitchen range. The price of meat Tuns between If. 75c. and 2f. 50c. a lb. A chicken of very meagre proportions costs 6f. Fish is out of the question when salmon is from lOf. or 12f. a lb., and quite common fish is as expensive in proportion, and jjot good at that. Vegetables and fruit are also dearer than usual because of the difficulty'in getting them gathered and. delivered. Peas have been as much as 50c. a lb., and there was a long paragraph in one of the daily papers this weok headed ".Two sous for one turnip." My cook cut it out fon mo to prove that she had not been exaggerating when she told me that she had paid 75c. for a buncli of seven little caTrots tlio day before. Sugar is 75c. ".a lb., fresh eggs are 25c. each,, and butter is either 2f. 50c. or 3f. the lb. -With such problems to face the housekeeper of limited means is not a person to bo /envied, and although superficial observers have tried to prove that it is possible to buy at cheaper'rates, it is only so for those wlio liavo nothing else to do than to haunt the early markots or waylay the marchande do quatre saisons as slio pushes her barrow from gutter to gutter. And even supposing that timo has no price, the housekeeper of modest .means' has proved over and over again that cheap food is often the most expensive 'ill the end. Where the French housekeeper shows her cleverness and her thrift is in the way she cooks her food and uses every lettuce leaf and pea-pod to advantage. Moreover she simplifies her meals, much as she does her wardrobe. She has very few things, but whatever slio has is good. Her breakfast of tea or coffee with fresh rolls and butter economises not only food, but service " also, her ' luncheon of three simple, nourishing coursos is enough, to make tea a mere moment of refreshment, not a meal, and her dinner at 7 or half-past is a light repast of good soup,' followed by a- dish of eggs and vegetables or macaroni and stewed fruit.

The Secret of French Thrift. Without her instinct, cultivated, moreover, to a talent, for cconomy, cooking and dressing, the Frenchwoman would not find it easy to live inexpensively, well, and/prettily clothed, in the Paris of to-day, and hor natural genius is being tested to the utmost in her efforts to make both ends meet without in any serious way infringing on- her capital. In tlie rule of always having a nestegg you find the secret of the Frenchwoman's thrift and solidity. To economise with tho thought that there is a comfortable little sum in a safe place which can always bo used in a case of dire necessity is not nearly so hard as to practise self-denial when the least misfortune may land you into abject poverty. Under these last conditions

it is so much more tempting to "take the cash and let the credit go," whereas, with the incentive of adding to that nest-egg;, or the dislike of seeing it grow less, it is more or less easy to turn your back when the tempter charms unwisely. _ The Frenchwoman knows this, and avoids complete penury as long as ever slio can. . The idealist who preaches tlie gospel of the grasshopper finds few followers in France, but tho ant is rich in disciples, and the' middle-class housekeeper is one of the most ardent. She watches with' the .utmost vigilance to see that she is not cheated, and if she is too heavily charged for her food and her rent she strikes a balance by paying minimum prices for all things over which slio has personal control. Her household service is so arranged that one . servant does the work 'of> two, her contrivances for being fashionable at a relatively low price defy 'description, her firm stand against any hospitality except tliat wliich comes within the family traditions, and her supremo indifference as to what outsiders think df her, stand her in good stead just now. Anyone who knows middle-class France knows well that it is strong enough to 6tand- heavier financial strain than it has, and if tho national prudence prevents trade opening out as much as it might, it also stands as a tower of strength against folly and extravagance, fortified by the power to save_ which seems to he as much a national inheritance as the courage which has enabled the people to stand steady through the most trying year in the history of the' nation.