May 1943

The Unspent Spirit

WHEN I was very small, the wonder of living would at times suddenly flow like a torrent thru me, and I would be filled with a joy at this marvel so that I shouted and ran about without other reason, savoring the feeling of cool air on my face and the sound of rushing breath in my nostrils.

Who's Going to Take Care of Me, Mother if You Take a War-plant Job?

Ought I to take a war job? You've probably pondered this question, if you're a woman between the ages of 18 and 44, and live in one of the 103 great areas where the munitions of war are made.

Asparagus, Rhubarb, and Horse-radish, planted once, will give you crops year after year

ASPARAGUS at its delicious best can be had only by growing it at home, where you can cut those succulent spears and rush them to the steamer with the speed of Paul Revere. In markets it wilts and grows tasteless rapidly.

GIFTS THAT SAY "We Love You, Mom!"

What Your Boy at the Front Is Thinking

THIS is a letter your son asked me to write you. He knew I'd written for you before in this magazine, articles and things like that; and he asked me, the next time I wrote you, to tell you that I'd seen him. Mail takes a long time coming from a battle front, sometimes.

Share Croppers YOU WON'T WANT

THIS year loss of perfectly good food isn't to be tolerated. Dusts and sprays to outwit the garden pests must go on regardless of whether there are enough dust guns and sprayers to go round.

Quick Looks at Things to Come

Speedometers and other instruments you can see at night without light's shining in your eyes are likely coming on your postwar car. Bomber pilots already fly with instruments visible under near infra-red or "invisible" light. Your days of fumbling for keyholes and tumbling down stairs in the dark may end, too.

Landslide of Color

YOU feel as tho all the seed-catalog dreams had come true in one garden when you stand on a breezy summer day, spellbound by the spread of color and the sturdy health of the flowers crowding the Randall Kleins' terraced garden.

New Curtains and First Aid for Your Old Ones

Our Home Grew Up Around Us!

Nifty Ideas to Perk Up Your Rooms

Keep Warm

OUR first long, cold, fuelrationed winter is over-- and never have Americans given spring such a glad-hand! We've all had a struggle to keep warm, even with benefit of sweatshirts, snuggies, and Junior's golf socks. On the other hand, we've discovered that a 65-degree temperature in a home properly equipped isn't bad.

Young America Steps Out!

WANT to find a home design that's a standout for style, good planning, and low cost? Then pick a young couple-- most any young American couple with more good taste than dollars to spend-- and follow them home. Up-and-coming young Americans have a knack for getting distinction and practicability under one roof-- and getting them at a price that makes oldsters gasp, "How do they do it?"

Things You Can Do With Ground Meat

Baby's Ration Card--How to Get the Most From It

MRS. SHULTZ has written the two articles on this page fresh from an extended trip thruout the country, during which she interviewed many persons as to the way the diet of babies and children would be affected by rationing.

Rationing and Your Older Youngsters

Is your child in one of the three rapid growth periods? First Rapid Growth Period-- birth to 2 years. The crowns of the molars are laid down; the child makes a greater growth than at any other time in his life.

It's the Pay-off FOR COOKS!

HERE they come-- those prize Meat Ration Masterpieces and Sandwiches to Boast About voted tops in our contest set rolling last October. First to snap the tape was contestant Mrs. Louis L. Glodt of South Edmeston, New York, $5 winner with her Beef Roll-ups that take one pound of meat and fill up six hungry people. Page 49 supplies the how-to-do.

We'll Pay Cash for Your Christmas Treats

It's a $5 check for the winner, you know, and a dollar apiece for the 20 runners-up. Let's go.

GET THE MOST FROM Your Kitchen Fats

Quick Way to Win Friends

NO, IT'S not any new-fangled sort of posies that I grow, but the simple, old-fashioned kind of introductions --to people.

You Can Do a Lot With a Little

"SAY-- I've got an idea!" Any time you hear that one at our house-- you better watch out. The sofa you're sitting on may be unceremoniously yanked out from under you and turned into a couple of love-seats before your astonished eyes.

THE MAN NEXT DOOR

The best answer to our enemies' philosophy is that Doctors Hingson and Edwards, who've just developed a new technique for painless childbirth, have more likelihood of immortality than the greatest of the Nazi generals.

HOW TO Wash Table Linens

DO YOU pat yourself on the back when you lay out your table linens? Bouquets to you! Table beauty is the complement any good meal deserves. But sparkling smoothness with never a trace of stain doesn't just happen. It's got to be won by tackling wash day with head as well as hands.

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Splash Spring in YOUR Kitchen

SURE enough you're up to your ears-- who isn't? But don't let your kitchen go to seed in the rush. These hard-hitting days it rates all the fresh, gay touches you can dream up. You're in there less, now you've streamlined meals and food fixings and dish-doing. But it's still your bailiwick-- so make it a heart warmer!

We Remodeled With More Taste Than Money

DON'T tell us that it takes a lot of money and materials to remodel a creaky old house into something that's good to look at and wonderful to live in! We know better. We know from experience that good taste and hard work-- plenty of both-- are fine substitutes.

Valances--Make 'Em Yourself in Jigsaw Time

VALANCES-- already sporting more clever uses and tricks than you can shake a stick at-- have acquired a brand-new reason for being. Now they camouflage our blackout paraphernalia! Behind their smooth lines you can tuck the whole clutter of rods-- for glass curtains, blackout curtains, and draperies, the blackout curtains hiding, when not in use, behind the overdraperies.

Streamline Your Spring Gardening

THIS year organization of all the garden work will be of infinite value. Here's my plan: Set Mondays aside for spraying. Vary the spray according to the season and the pest at hand. You'll need to do some spraying and dusting every week during the summer, especially with roses and vegetables. In this manner you'll keep diseases from getting started and will have a definite time to smack down the insects as soon as they appear.

SWEET PEPPERS! HOT PEPPERS!

NOW'S the time to set out your pepper plants. There's a new pimiento in the trade this spring that ripens early. Anyone can grow it. Or you may prefer that big, mild, sweet Bell type for salads and stuffing, or maybe Red Chili, Tabasco, and Red Cayenne, with their untamed bite.

THE DIARY of a Plain Dirt Gardener

May 1 Out in the dewy morn before breakfast to look things over. Dog trotting at heels. Alexander, the duck that lays eggs, quacked a greeting as it stuck up its head from beneath the Andorra Juniper, where it has made a nest.

MAKE YOUR Dreams Come True

Dear Editors: We're a young family --our two children are still preschool-- but we've had enough experience to know what kind of house we want. We expect to have it by mixing three ingredients: experience, work, and saving.

BROCCOLI IS TOPS

GREEN Sprouting Broccoli is the one for home gardens. This also goes under the names Branching Broccoli, Asparagus Broccoli, and Calabrese, all referring to its fortunate habit of producing succulent green heads on side branches after the center heads are cut.

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Your House--Keep It Up

Yes. First apply one of the paint-and-varnish removers sold at paint stores (protect hands with gloves), and then peel or scale off the paint with a putty knife. Take off the remainder with more remover, and wash with a damp cloth wrung out of water containing a small amount of muriatic acid (1 teaspoon per gallon).

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Two Crops From One Row

NO MATTER how good your spring garden is, you'll want more carrots, more crisp lettuce, more of those delicious snap beans, more-- well, more of everything.