The money we'll save

Pa brings home a little turkey baby, assuring Ma that this will save the family money in the difficult times of a nineteenth century New York tenement building. But will the turkey save the family money, when he messes up the ironing and steals the baby's biscuits?

“There were so many complaints and so much extra washing that when Pa and the children caught Alfred there was nothing to do but bring him back into the flat.

‘It's just for a few days, now,' Pa explained to Ma. ‘And that idea you had about the bedroom was a good one. We'll move all the beds into the kitchen and the parlor and give the bedroom to the bird. That way he won't be a bother, and remember the money we're saving.'”