MRS. L. N. MONMOUTH. 437 teen ; " says this interesting little document, adding that " No gentlemen unaccompanied by ladies will be admitted, and strangers must bring an introduction." It also states, very prudently, that " Ladies are requested not to come with horses they cannot manage. Such as wish to remain most of the day can do so by 'bringing lunch and paying twenty-five cents." Besides her other labors, Mrs. Monmouth has written a small pamphlet relating her experiences, which she entitles, " Living on Half a Dime a Day." Let no one undervalue these trifling details, for they convey to this extravagant age a lesson of which it stands in need. Some of the brightest spirits of our time have passed or are passing their lives in miserable bond- age, solely through disregard of Mrs. Monmouth's princi- ple of preserving her independence by living within her means. An English poet of great celebrity has a costly mansion unfinished, which has for years made him a bond-slave to publishers and architects. The French novelist, Balzac, as we see by his Letters, spent his life in a mere struggle to pay off enormous debts incurred in building, improving, and furnishing. He was a man of almost unequaled strength of constitu- tion, one who could work sixteen hours a day, for- months at a time, without obvious exhaustion ; but it killed him at last. The disease of which he died was called . con- sumption, but its correct name was House and Grounds ; and he seemed quite helpless in the clutch of this dread malady. When he began to write he used to receive for a small volume one hundred and twenty dollars, and he endeavored to write one of these every month. In the course of a year or two his price rose to four hundred dollars for a volume, which would have yielded him a tolerable income without excessive labor. But now, presuming upon his strength and ability, he began to get
