In the early 1950s Mr. A, by then in his mid forties, found construction work too hard ("I couldn't stand being in the cold no more") so he changed occupations again, getting a job as a general kitchen helper in a catering firm. The daughter graduated from high school and got a job as a bookkeeper in a laundry. Mrs. A's mother moved in. They paid $50 on the mortgage every month. Their lives settled into a simple routine built around their jobs, their home, and their church. Mr. A stayed with the catering firm for twenty years, until he retired. In his final years he was a waiter, making as much as $120 a week. Mrs. A still cleans schools.

The As paid $168 between May 1972 and May 1973 for electricity and $184 for gas. The $352 total for both—plus $63 for heating oil—represents over 10 percent of their income, a large amount in view of their energy saving habits. Mr. A, as we have noted, has shunned many of the little conveniences of the age. He saves money and energy by keeping his thermostat at 50°. He has eliminated the auto from his life, taking the bus to church, to visit friends, and to shop. "If there was no bus I'd walk. I walk half the time anyway. I get out and walk and it's a pleasure to me, looking in the windows and things. It's fun to me to walk."

He regards the world, the government, and the energy crisis with a jaundiced eye. He believes that President Nixon is responsible for the fuel shortage—Nixon and the fact that "they're burning it up in the air with them missiles. They burn it a lot faster than an automobile." Mr. A watches the big world from a distance and grapples with his own problems—the cost of food, taxes. He and his wife dry their clothes by hanging them in the back yard and they serve meat only five times a week. They do not go out to restaurants or carry-outs and they have taken no air or long auto trips, ever. They buy only dim light bulbs, 75 watts or less. Of all the modern conveniences, the one they would miss most is a TV. Since neither Mr. A nor his mother-in-law can read or write, it is their only channel to the outside world.