February 1942

YOUR Home IS A Weapon

PERHAPS the Japs winging over Pearl Harbor did America an unwitting service, because they awakened with the noise of their bombs a resolution in the heart of each of us to be an American of whom America can be proud. No longer do we quarrel pettily among ourselves. We have a common enemy, and all Americans have become friends.

Grow Fresh Vegetables in Five Days

DOES this sound incredible? In any season, without sun or soil, you can produce a fresh, vitamin-rich vegetable in four days, five at most, from seed.

The QUESTION Before the House

For appearance's sake the top of our chimney is just below the peak of a roof ridge. Frequently the fireplace smokes badly. Shall we raise the chimney?-- Mrs. L. M., Canonsburg, Pa.

What Ho! Four Treasure Homes

Cream of the All-Americas

WHEN planting your garden, you naturally want the best possible return for the time and money you put into it; especially the time, for money can be replaced, but time can't.

from HOVEL to HOME

DON'T ask why we ever bought such a hovel in the first place! We tried to figure that out right after we'd signed the papers, and the only explanation was that the country air had gone to our city-weary heads. The two acres of rolling land near Deerfield, Illinois, which were part of the deal, were beautiful to see. But the house--!

Indoor GARDENING

AT THE dime store I found a small jardiniere which I chose to use as a flowerpot. It didn't have a hole in the bottom for drainage, so I turned the pot upside down and with a BB gun shot a hole thru it.-- Mrs. R. Pool, Henderson, Tex.

GUIDE Outdoor

NOW that everyone is receiving new seed and nursery catalogs filled with brilliant colors and adjectives, it seems a logical time for me to flow on plant material. You don't want everything, but you can become acquainted with what is avaliable and some day you may find a niche where a certain variety will fit gloriously.

Sure, You Can Make Music!

MY FRIEND, you've been fooled. You're being fooled every day of your life by a bunch of musicians feeding you and the American public the greatest inferiority complex in mankind's history.

12 Ideas From a Cottage by the Sea by

Let's Go ANTIQUIING

DO YOU adore auctions? And unexplored junk yards? Does a crooked sign on a country road: "ANTIQUES-- ½ MILE" set you jittering? Do you scurry past shiny, modern store-fronts to rummage by the hour in dusty, musty little shops on back alleys?

MAPLE BEAUTIES for Rooms Quaint or Modern

More Lessons in Charm for Your Home

This Bildcost Beat the Budget

THE young F. James Swits went to Mexico on their honeymoon trip. "Nothing unusual about that," you'll say.

Article

Article

Help yourself TO HOUSEHOLD HELPS

How to Live Happily Without a Maid

YOU'RE maidless again? Stiffen up those jelly knees! The law of diminishing returns can apply to maids as well as to buildings and elevators. There's a point beyond which the strain of keeping Emma anchored happily to her job may exceed her considerable services.

Article

Cupcakes--Cupcakes 4 Cents a Dozen!

Little Rooms With Motives

Bows to the right of you-- bows to the left-- in this young-at-heart bedroom all yellow, white, and blue! Soft yellow wallpaper wears a design of dainty white bows. Broadloom carpet is a nice grayed blue. White bedspreads, crispy curtains, and chair covers flaunt more hairribbon bowknots in blue, with the little pinafore vanity chair trig in a slip-on that buttons down the back.

The Man Next Door

Well, the b.w. has converted me into a milk drinker by the simple expedient of leaving four or five quarts of milk to form an unbroken front in the refrigerator.

YOUR BOY OR GIRL- Employed or Jobless TOMORROW?

IT'S a question our youngsters have posed to them from the "I'm going to be a fireman" stage right up until they're out on their own. And if you've a teener, it's a question that's right now causing you-- and I hope causing your boy or girl-- plenty of thoughtful concern. For a mere diploma --high school or college-- is no longer a guarantee of a meal ticket.

GIVE AN All-American Party

FEBRUARY'S such a red-blooded, all-American sort of a month it's got us plumb excited about a Patriotic Party! This one, besides being lots of sport, promises to send guests home well brushed up on points about their country every American ought to know.

Flower Prints IN THE GARDENED HOME

Your Attic May Be Your Fortune

IN THE winter of 1859 five young men seeking gold were plunged into dark disaster in the wilds of Kansas. They ran out of food, and some of their number fell ill and died. Faced with total starvation, the stronger members of the party resorted to a dreadful expedient-- cannibalism.

FINE Furniture FROM AMERICA'S WOODLANDS

TIME was-- remember? --when distance lent enchantment to our sources of supply. Far pastures were greener. Some strange quirk in our American way of thinking made us imagine that things derived from far-off places held more charm than did those domestically produced-- that foreign cabinet-woods were more romantic than those grown here at home.

HOW TO READ PAWPRINTS

WHEN brooks and ponds are locked with the great glass key that is ice, when trees are stripped of every talking leaf, and overnight a snowfall blots out the known face of the earth, then indeed Nature seems asleep. Life in February seems to have retired, like the sap gone down in the trees, like the furry hibernators curled at the bottom of their burrows.

Article

2 Old Scandals Covered Up

UNTIL recently, both Litchfield, Illinois, and Marietta, Georgia, had an old scandal. The scandals were remarkably similar because each concerned a former Victorian belle that had fallen into sad disrepute!

Scratch Pads FOR KITTENS

Up Goes Your Clean-up!

WHEN Allan A., a business executive in northern New York State, figured out his probable Federal income tax for the coming year the other night, he got quite a shock-- particularly when he began thinking about it in connection with the "clean-up" insurance he bought five years ago to take care of that and other possible debts he might leave behind him.

Make Their Picture Books at Home

PICTURE BOOKS always have been, always will be, the delight of childhood. While gorgeous ones are available, it seems that those made at home-- by parents, relatives, or friends-- always win the youngsters' votes. So why not a picture book for your child, for that young cousin, or your littlest neighbor friend?

Furniture Styles And How to Recognize Them

ONE of the most exciting furnishing style revivals of recent years is English Regency, which takes its name from the time when Prince George Augustus Frederick ruled as Regent of England from 1811 to 1820. Actually, however, this classic style prevailed both earlier and later than the period of the Regency, as it was fairly well established by 1790 and continued in vogue until about 1830.

MOVE-ABOUTS You Can Make

THE DIARY OF A PLAIN DIRT GARDENER

Feb. 1 It was a bit warmer this Saturday. Bright sun thawed the ice a bit around the edges, and this afternoon, tired from sitting at the typewriter, I put on my heavy brogans and set out for a tramp about our plantation.

You Can Still Grow Your Vitamins

IN OUR vegetable "kindergardening" days we grew tomatoes and chives in our flower border. Space for a vegetable garden didn't even exist, except in the flower borders around our speck of a back yard-- 30 by 40-- lawn, garage, driveway and all.

Article

Ask the Birds Over

Article