September 1951

Protect yourself against financial disaster

Back in 1946, an insurance representative called on Martin Howe to sell him a family health and accident policy. There was only one hitch. Howe, who was just getting started in his profession, wanted more protection than he could buy.

What's wrong with this family?

Nothing indicates Mollie is the "wild type." If Mollie, at 16, were too disinterested in boys, her parents would have more reason to worry. The boys' concern over whether Mollie's parents would object shows they are not wild and irresponsible either.

A dining table in bridge-table space

How much should your operation cost?

My friend, Herb, was flabbergasted. Convalescing from a serious abdominal operation. he had just received the surgeon's bill.

There's something new underfoot

If you haven't shopped for rugs or carpets recently, you've a big surprise in store. You'll learn that chemists have created special new carpet fibers. And you'll find the price is reasonable, too.

Give your lawn a September boost

No matter what's ailing your lawn right now, you can cure it in one of three ways. (1) If you still have 40 percent of your grass, prick, seed, and feed it. (2) If less than 40 percent is left, do a complete reseeding job, or (3) sod.

Tool carrier speeds your home repairs

Have you heard the Latest Garden News?

A new use of electricity promises to make control of plant diseases by dusting more effective. Henry D. Bowen, at Michigan State College, has charged dust particles with a "negative" electrical charge as they leave the nozzle of the duster.

What does her first teacher expect of your child?

The first day of school arrives. With a mixture of sadness that she's growing up, and pride that she's such a fine little lady, you present your Dorothy to her first teacher. Your hopes are high for that youngster of yours. You know what you want for her and expect her to gain from her first contact with school. But do you know what her teacher wants and hopes for from her and from all youngsters just starting to school?

Garden clinic

Make your home a Happy union of house and site

Whether you are building or remodeling, the best-looking house you can own is one that seems to have been designed specifically for its site. The site can be background against which your house will stand out, or your house can blend into its site, as does the Paul Beesons' Atlanta, Georgia, home.

Don't overlook those large, old homes if you want Lots of living space

A large family just doesn't fit into a bungalow. It takes a lot of space, inside and out, to make for comfortable, uncluttered living. But to build a home with all this space is often next to impossible with today's construction costs.

You plant these bulbs early

Mid-September, or soon after, is the time to get these particular bulbs into the soil. You'll be giving them time to make good roots before the really cold weather comes along. You'll be repaid with more even growth as well as a much more exciting show of flowers next spring.

Not too large; not too extreme

Many of you would rather not build an "ultramodern" home. But you don't particularly want a Colonial or Cape Cod house, either. You want a house that looks modest in size on the cost estimate sheet, but that looks comfortably large on your lot. It should yield more than just-adequate space within the limits of the building budget. And, more often than not these days, you want that space enclosed in a one-story house.

HOW TO FEEL UP AND AT 'EM!

Suppose that something you eat could keep you beautiful and bursting with vitality. Suppose it gave you immunity to many diseases, kept you red-blooded, added years to your life and vigor to old age. Suppose it made pregnancy safer, gave your babies a better start in life, banished that tired feeling, and kept your sex appeal at par or above. Just to make it more preposterous, suppose you could change this fabulous stuff into vitamins and hormones and glowing skin and shining hair.

Inexperienced as we were, We built our home

We're building our own house in Tyrol Hills, a suburb of Minneapolis. No contractors or carpenters are involved, and it's not a compromise crackerbox but the house we really want to live in.

More room on your ground floor?

Sure, your car needs shelter-- but so do you. Would an inexpensive carport do the job, giving you the garage for full-time living?

Best small workshop we've seen!

It's news when a handyman develops a complete home workshop in floor space the equivalent of a single-car garage! That's just what A. B. Bradley of Winnetka, Illinois, has done in a basement room only 14 feet wide by 17 feet long, pictured on these pages.

Let your living habits decide Where you put your furniture

Do you read in the living room-- or in your bedrooms? Do your children use your dining room for homework? When you arrange furniture, you are actually arranging for family activities. So your first step is to decide what you and the family want to do in a room.

Pretty in a pitcher

How you can short cut dishwashing

Frankly Fancy French-fried potatoes

You can cut most potatoes for French frying with a sharp knife. But in these pictures, you'll see inexpensive vegetable cutters that can do the job faster and more uniformly.

How to use accessories with patterned wallpaper

There's no price tag on originality!

We invite you to inspect this home as a place especially planned to cut down on housekeeping chores. Simplicity is the keynote. Furnishings are contemporary, with the floors and rest of background planned for easy upkeep.

Here are bedspreads that can take it

Bedspreads to fit any color scheme are yours for the shopping. The nice part about it is that these attractive, up-to-date spreads are as easy to take care of as your sheets and pillowcases. Just put them in the washer, and they come out as sparkling bright as they were the day you first used them. They're wrinkle-resistant, too.

Hang your gifts on a cheerio tree

Here's an idea for a clever centerpiece you'll use over and over to celebrate special occasions. Make a cheerio tree-- see directions below.

Good tops deserve top-notch care

Guest room in a bay window

Like a lot of us, Decorator Ruth Venable needed space for weekend guests. There was already a den in the home, but it was used in that capacity every day.

Why build a separate barbecue?

If you haven't yet built your barbecue, consider building it into the house where it's handy to your kitchen and living room. You may find it's cheaper than building a separate barbecue in your back yard.

Mine is a handyman's house

Most home handymen aren't born that way Many of them don't know how much they can do until they try.

Yon can put a desk almost anyplace

Yon can be an expert driver

This article was written in the cab of a petroleum transport probing its way through fog along the bluffs of the Mississippi; it developed on the loading docks of trucking terminals where highway drivers swap night-driving experiences; it was written on a Greyhound bus while the driver watched for accident traps the average motorist doesn't recognize.

Remodel for your children

Phil and Kay Creden did just that. Because both daughter and son reached the age of entertaining at the same time, they decided to finish their recreation room as quickly as possible. Working together with a "We'll do it ourselves" determination to reduce costs, they started right after Easter and did the job in three months of evening and weekend work.

Clean as a whistle and worth whistling about

There's a kind of house being built today that is worth whistles of appreciation-- and is getting them, too. It's the kind of house that's as easy to maintain as a streamlined kitchen, as efficient to operate as an electric clock, and even more attractive to look at than the popular house of 10 years ago.

Dramatic lighting for your china closet

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More space, less work

They turned garage into a family room

Is your youngster late for everything?

Does your child live by a different kind of time? Or does he want to be late to school? Three professors were talking about young Norris, who had climaxed four years of being late to classes by being an hour late to his own commencement.

How to build an overhead garage door

Want to modernize your garage with an overhead door? You can buy a handsome preassembled unit ready for installation, of course. Or you can build your own overhead door; you'll need only a few hand tools. If you use special overhead-door hardware, your project shouldn't take more than a single weekend. And your home-built door will be durable and easy to onerate.

Add a ready-for-anything room

Two years ago, like many another family, the C. E. McCauleys had a rather formal living room and an unprotected back terrace. Neither was comfortable. The living room was too stiff for relaxed, everyday living, and the terrace was either too hot or too cold during most of the year.

New outlook for an old home

If you live in a large, old home, you know they're fine for a big family. You don't have to drag in a folding bed when you have guests. But with all the space, they often are too cut up.

What's the truth about left-handers?

Ever since our son first took a determined grip with his left hand on a wooden hammer and whammed the pegs through his newly acquired peg board, we have been keenly aware of the fact that we have brought a "lefty" into a right-handed world.

For as little as $36, you can have a spot like this

A private outdoor spot for informal occasions--and for as little as $36. Sure, you can do it. If yours is a typical back yard with neighbors close on both sides, a garage and driveway, it will take careful planning and budgeting. But the young Marvine Gorhams of Los Angeles did it, and you can, too.

Rewards or punishments?

"Dick! If you don't stop that this minute, I'll..." "Dick! If you pick up your clothes and straighten your room, I'll give you a..."

Would you have dared to to remodel it?

"Dare" probably isn't the right word, although if the one the Kenneth Hesses use. They bought a piece of farmland near Wayne, Illinois, complete with farm house, intending to tear down the house and build country home. "But," explains Ken Hess, "it would have cost so much to get rid of it that we knew it would have to stay, ugly as it was."

Garden Clinic

Postscrift to a house plan

The proof of the house is in the living. When Benjamin Marshall, Jr., built this home in Winnetka, Illinois, several years ago, it was exactly what he wanted. It still is-- though this needs have changed. He wanted an extra room and found just the space for it in the garage. To keep pace with his current feelings on decoration, the living room, once cozy Co-lonial, is now smartly Modern.

The best side trip we ever took

It was a typical northern Arizona day. A brilliant blue sky was spotted with cottony white clouds. Arizona's highest mountains, the San Francisco peaks, stood massively behind Flagstaff. Perhaps it was the splendor of the scenery of this small lumbering town on U. S. 66 that confused us.

A whole family uses this kitchen

The Rex McBrides operate a ranch near Beatrice, California. The house is usually alive with people--neighbors, ranch hands, men on business, and the five McBrides themselves. As in most open-country houses, the kitchen is the meeting place. To make it so, the McBrides insisted on these features:

How to mend China and glassware

You needn't head toward the wastebasket when you break a favorite piece of china or glass. Or run up a bill having it fixed. Why not mend it yourself?

How to mend chine and glassware

To keep the cemented parts firmly in place, put on board. Place nails in pairs at opposite sides of the break, touching the rim. Drive them lightly and slant them out. Stretch rubber bands between nails to squeeze parts tightly together.

From old farm to show place

Garden clinic

Your pet and mine

Just about every boy or girl wants a dog. Many letters we receive from youngsters are pathetic in their appeal for pet companionship. We get quite a few too, from parents who want to know the pros and cons of becoming dog owners. First, let's take all the things against the idea:

These are can openers plus!

Kitchens should be bright and cheerful

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Too busy for their own good?

There is scarcely a parent who has not felt the pressure that can be brought to bear when a child-- 8 or 18-- wants to go somewhere. It matters little whether the particular destination is a Donald Duck movie or an out-of-town dance.

Garden clinic

September Garden Guide

Start new lawns, and reseed old ones showing bare spots. Few weed seeds germinate in fall to compete with young grass seedlings, giving them a clear field. Use two pounds mixed grass seed containing 35 percent or more of Kentucky bluegrass along with several other grasses. If your lawn shady and dry, the mixture should include a high proportion of creeping red fescue; if it is shady and damp, use good amount of rough-stalked bluegrass instead.

The diary of a Plain dirt gardener

Sept. 1 Mr. David arose at five o'clock this morning to go off on a trip, his vacation, with his friend Jack. They are going to Washington, D. C., and goodness knows where else.

Grow better roses

Four good ideas

Plants you'll talk about

Garden clinic

Home Fashion Time

THE MAN NEXT DOOR

Some of my sporting friends had two complaints at lunch the other day. One, that with so many young men in service, college football wouldn't be worth watching this fall, and two, that good seats were going to be hard to get.