The San Francisco Examiner from San Francisco, California • 78

ems IN THE time of President Theodore Roosevelt, another letter carrier with a large family and a big problem became the center of news. He was John Nolan, the first uniformed mail carrier in Boston. One day, he had too many beers, and was fired. But the President learned, that he was the father of 18 children, 14 of them living, and put him back to work. The Nolan kids thrived; the girls grew into beauties.

George Holland, columnist of the Boston American, tells the story. After three of the girls married millionaires, including George M. Cohan and Sam H. Harris, Dorothy, the youngest, married Mr. Holland.

LN Wfce" fapa Was i52 9 Army, He Sent Home $320 a HE 7 Mont. Now His Wife Has to I 111 il; flT JISPP. Figure Out How 15 Persons in with our garden Mr. and Mrs. IN UNIFORM, Wilbert Fleury, 39, of Port Huron, was the Army's champion father.

As such, he drew the tops in allotments $352 a month, of which $320 was sent to his wife, Hilda, to feed, clothe and house their 13 children. Fleury's out of the Army now and back at his old job as mail carrier but at $200 a month, something of a pay cut for the family of growing appetites. Mrs. Fleury is hard put to make things come out even but she's doing it without complaint, and she tells how. By Hilda Fleury WE ARE doing the impossible.

Frankly, I don't know how we get along on our present income with a reduction that amounts to more than $1,400 a year. It takes a lot of figuring and making do. Food alone is a terrific expense. If we fed our 13 children as they should be fed, Wilbert's entire pay check would be literally eaten up. To get along we are forced to reduce the quantity of fresh fruits and vegetables In our meals and substitute bulk, such as cereals, especially oatmeal.

The children can fill up on these less expensive things and still keep healthy. All our children have been raised on canned milk, which we shall continue to buy, in addition to ten or more quarts daily of fresh milk. When Wilbert's allotments were coming through, I was able to feed the family plenty of fresh vegetables, fruits and meat, because he retained only $32 each month for his needs. Now I'm reduced to $200 monthly to pay for everything and the task of adjusting our living is a tough one. It's just about impossible the way living costs have skyrocketed lately.

Our present monthly expenses run about like this and doesn't allow for any savings account or emergency: Food, $105; gas, electricity, clothing, water, taxes, mortgage, $35; telephone, insurance, coal, $14; medical, $1, and laundry, $5. The year before Wilbert was inducted, we canned more than 800 quarts of vegetables and fruits grown in our own garden. Wilbert received the use of a couple of acres on the outskirts of town and every night used to go out there with the kids and take care of the crops. By inserting a false bottom in a large copper washboiler we were able to cold-pack 17 quarts at one time. We put up huge crocks of'pickles.

But these supplies Oidn't last long. The land isn't available this year, but if we can get a couple of acres somewhere we'll pitch Itt as soon as spring weather permits. People have the WJberf Fleury and 72 of Their If the Children idea that we saved a lot of money on our Army income, but that's all wrong. With that extra pay we were able to eat better and. to clothe all the children with garments they vitally needed.

What little money we could save went into house repairs. And we were forced to take out a mortgage and payments run $35 a month now. The house was given to us in the will of my stepmother, Mrs. Charles Noetzei, who died early in 1940. It is a two-story building with seven rooms on the lower floor.

xThe upper floor has not been completed and needs several hundred dollars worth of carpentry and material before we can use it. There is no stairway to it, either. We live in the rooms downstairs, three of which are bedrooms. Now that the, children are growing up, we critically need extra bedrooms. The house is heated by a central heating coal stove in the living room.

It burns more fuel than a good cellar furnace would. The children haven't quite arrived at the stage where they can help with the income. Joseph, 13, Illustrated by LOUISE ALTSON Were Fed as They Should Be Fed, Mr. Fleury's Pay Cheek Would Literally Be Eaten Up, Mrs. Fleury Says.

recently began a paper route and is earning a couple of dollars weekly. Occasionally Mary, 15, or Phyllis, 14, earns a few dollars caring for neighbors' children. I would like to revive a part-time job I had before Wilbert went into the Army. Before I married I was a secretary and typist and the work is easy for me. The older girls always help around the house.

WILBERT was inducted into the Army May 31, 1944. After tiring of the local draft board's indecision as to his status, he volunteered for duty. He was attached to the Army postal service and served 18 months before his discharge Dec. 2, 1945. Our family consists of Mary, 15; Phyllis, 14; Joseph, 13; Vivian, 12; Yvonne, Charles, Daniel and Dennis, Suzanne, Larry, Paul and Pauline, 3, and Virginia, 2.

And they're all eating. March 21, 1916.