She looked as startled as though I had told her someone had stolen the savings. "What do you mean?" she asked. I pointed to the basket. "Coal costs about eleven dollars a ton, down here." When she found out that this was all that caused my remark, she didn't seem to be disturbed. "Billy," she said, "before we touch the ginger jar it will have to cost twenty dollars a ton. We'll live on pea soup and rice three times a day before I touch that." "All right," I said, "but it does seem a pity that the burden of such prices as these should fall on the poor." "Why do they?" she asked. "Because in this case," I said, "the dealers seem to have us where the wool is short." "How have they?" she insisted. "We can't buy coal by the ton because we haven't any place to put it." She thought a moment and then she said: "We could take care of a fifth of a ton, Billy. That's only five baskets." "They won't sell five any cheaper than one." "And every family in this house could take care of five," she went on. "That would make a ton." I began to see what she meant and as I thought of it I didn't see why it wasn't a practical scheme. "I believe that's a good idea," I said. "And if there were more women like you in the world I don't believe there'd be any trusts at all." "Nonsense," she said. "You leave it to me now and I'll see the other women in the house. They are the ones who'll appreciate a good saving like that." She saw them and after a good deal of talk they agreed, so I told Ruth to tell them to save out of next Saturday night's pay a dollar and a half apiece. I was a bit afraid that if I didn't get the cash when the coal was delivered I might get stuck on the deal. The next Monday I ordered the coal and asked to have it delivered late in the day. When I came home I found the wagon waiting and it created about as much excitement on the street as an ambulance. I guess it was the first time in the history of Little Italy that a coal team had ever stopped before a tenement. The driver had brought baskets with him and I filled up one and took it to a store nearby and weighed into it eighty pounds of coal. With that for my guide I gathered the other men of the families about me and made them carry the coal in while I measured it out. The driver who at first was inclined to object to the whole proceeding was content to let things go on when he found himself relieved of all the carrying. We emptied the wagon in no time and the other men insisted upon carrying up my coal for me. I collected every cent of my money and incidentally established myself on a firm footing with every family in the house. Several other tenements later adopted the plan but the idea didn't take hold the way you'd have thought it would. I guess it was because there weren't any more Ruths around there to oversee the job. Then, too, while these people are far-sighted in a good many ways, they are short-sighted in others.