County in 1947 they put light in the barns as well as light in
the house. The hand-cranked phone remained until 1968. The life
style of the Ts surprises the outsider from the city. In prospect,
at least, Mr. T is a wealthy man—the 520 acres are worth
around $104,000. But a hand-run farm is not a particularly
profitable investment. It is difficult for the Ts to put an
accurate figure on the farm's net cash income, but they guess about
$15,000. Whatever it is, it supports five adults and four children,
and it allows for a few luxuries. Mrs. T has an electric
refrigerator and a sewing machine. They have a big freezer full of
meat. If wealth is measured by the control of energy, then the Ts
are comparable to the As in Baltimore. Both have the same basic
appliances and a house. The Ts eat better but Mr. A has more and
better furniture. Mr. A has no car; the Ts have the old station
wagon and a couple of horses, but Mr. A can use the bus.
The Ts are
well off by the standards of Linn County but those standards are
still the standards of another time. They live in a time pocket.
Most families grow smaller, move a number of times in a lifetime,
acquire time savers and labor savers, two or three cars, and bad
air. But the Ts have never budged. The air is clean and little
labor is saved on the farm or in the kitchen.
PETER
AND SHELLY B—INCOME $8,000 —MID-CITY WASHINGTON,
D.C.
Peter B is 25
and Shelly, his wife, is 24. Peter is a student at Georgetown
University's School of Law, where for three years he has been rated
"distinguished" in all but one course. He plans to practice
criminal law. He has chosen summer jobs that have paid less but
taught more: in the summer of 1973 he was an aide at the Criminal
Justice Center. He has a pleasant wit, an amiable manner, and high
ideals protected by an air of smiling cynicism. The cynicism is
focused on the performance of the system rather than the failings
of people. Although Peter is only five feet nine, he went through
college on football scholarships.
Shelly is a
pretty girl with a gentle, sentimental nature. She works with
retarded children and finds the work rewarding in her association
with the children and irritating in her association with the
bureaucracy.
The Bs have
strong feelings about the energy crisis and about pollution, and
they try to conserve energy. Shelly does not turn the air
conditioner on until Peter comes home.
The Bs have
an uncertain income status that varies from relatively poor, when
they are living on Shelly's salary alone, to relatively well off,
when Peter is working in the summer. They will presumably become
permanently comfortable when Peter graduates from law school,
although his penchant for the less well paid fields of law may keep
them from growing rich in a hurry. During their school years,
Shelly and Peter have been subsidized to a great extent by Shelly's
parents.