“If you found her, one of the bachelor stockholders would promptly marry her, and that _would_ settle it. And so from the kitchen you went to the school for housemaids?” “No, Larry, we did _not_. Teresa telephoned one of the ladies interested in the school, and she was getting ready to go to a tea, but said if we would telephone Mrs. Somebody else, she would be delighted--” “If she didn’t happen to have a tea on hand also.” “So then we all suddenly decided that we wanted to come home. Teresa remembered an appointment with her tailor--you know they are going to take the Panama trip, don’t you? And Mrs. Norton wanted to fill in her dinner set at a china sale, and I--well, Larry, I had the funniest sinking sensation when I happened to remember that I’d been away from the children almost five hours. And we ran like mad to catch the next train?” “A fine, dignified quartet of investigators, you are! Now, what did you learn as the reward of your trip? Just tell me that!” “I learned that I’d rather have a real steak from my own broiler than a thermos stove on my back step.” “Good little wife! And as a reward for that sensible answer, you shall read this letter, which may or may not confirm your findings.” Mr. Larry drew a bulky envelope from his pocket, slit it open and tossed the contents in Mrs. Larry’s lap. “You see, my dear, I have an old friend living in Carthage, Missouri, where once a very successful cooperative kitchen flourished. He and his wife were stockholders but dropped out. I asked him to tell me why, and here is the letter in reply.” “No, it’s from his wife, and, oh, what pains she has taken! Just listen: * * * * * “My Dear Mr. and Mrs. Larry: “It is so nice to have an excuse to write to one of my husband’s old classmates and to his wife. So let us talk together as if you were here in our living-room instead of several thousand miles away. “If you were to ask any one who was a member of the defunct Carthage Cooperative Kitchen why it failed, he or she would immediately answer, ‘Why it never failed!’ It was a great success, yet it was discontinued because it was not possible to find enough members to keep the cost of the operative expense within the means of the members who still wished to continue the kitchen. “Of the fifteen families who joined when it was organized, five families dropped out because they could no longer afford to belong. Two families dropped out because they grew tired of walking such a distance to their meals. One couple left because an invalid mother came to live with them. Another because they wished to set a better table than the kitchen’s. This couple frankly said they could afford luxuries, but did not expect the kitchen to furnish them, as the others could not. It was true, and no one minded, especially as this couple were very hospitable. You see, in, no case was it dissatisfaction with the cooperative kitchen management that caused the withdrawal of members.