February 1953

When should you consult your lawyer?

Almost every American family gets into a legal snarl at some time or other. Faced with time off the job, court costs, and perhaps a big judgment to pay, they rush to a lawyer and are often told, "I'm sorry, but there's little to do now except go ahead with a lawsuit. If you'd only come in sooner, we could have avoided all this trouble and expense."

What's wrong with this family?

It's a healthy attitude for parents to be concerned over what happens to their children and also for children, like Sue, to be con-cerned as to the effect of their actions on their parents. Mrs. Man-son's statement that John and Sue can't really afford to buy the house may well be true.

Keep your windows to yourself

Latest Garden News?

If you're looking for a brilliant color combination in flowers, consider the new verbena variety, Sparkle, an annual which is being introduced this spring.

More use from the room you have

Modern medicine's newest problem

There are more people pushing wheelchairs, or limping, or walking with crutches or canes or artificial limbs than ever before in history.

Make the most of paint and paper

What is the biggest area in any room? Not the sofa or the carpet, but the walls themselves. Even a small 10x10 bedroom has about 200 square feet of wall space. Quite a sizable chunk of color!

Here's leeway in size and cost

Readers who build homes from Five Star plans don't always follow these plans exactly. That's as it should be, usually, because it shows these readers are carefully analyzing their needs in advance.

Good gates and fences

How to plan a successful room

Here's how roses grow!

If you like to look behind scenes, if you like knowing how and why as well as what, take a quick look at all that must be done before you can have a rose.

1-Remodeling by updating

2-Remodeling by expansion

3-Remodeling by conversion

When you buy a used building for conversion into a house, just what do you get for your money? In most cases, all you are buying is secondhand material at the going rate.

How to keep a family together

One afternoon last summer, I sat in a boat speeding across a lake in California and looked back at the man and woman we were towing. They stood on water skis, zipping along as if on ice, throwing silvery spray and creating countless little rainbows. They'd shift weight a bit, leap over the boat's wake and hit the water again-- splat!-- like the slap of a beaver's tail. Presently the man discarded one ski, lifted his free foot and wrapped his tow rope around it.

Ready-to-copy ideas for built-ins

For your laundry area

With today's handsome washers, dryers, and ironers, you can have a laundry almost any place you want it. See the pictures for possibilities.

What's the truth about power steering?

This year power steering-- like automatic transmission-- is being taken for granted by many of your friends. Power steering is popular and by the usual process of evolution, it may soon appear on lower-priced models.

Silver patterns of today

How lovely the table setting that is highlighted by elegant silver! And how smart-looking when the flatware is in harmony with the china. There are many distinctive silver patterns, each the result of years of fine craftsmanship and design.

The questions you ask about crooked teeth

Here is an authoritative guide to help you help your children have well-shaped jaws and straight teeth. No dental treatment yields higher dividends than does the correction of crooked teeth, if both parents and children cooperate faithfully.

Best way to vacuum a rug

Big ideas for the small fry

Solving the sewing storage problem

Repair it with a rivet

Next time you're prepared to discard something that's broken around your house, think twice-- may be you can repair it very easily with a rivet or two.

How a house is put together

Your pet and mine

Distemper is a vicious affliction. It kills thousands of dogs each year. Although distemper is similar to in-fluenza, because it unbalances the dog's entire system, its severity is far greater and its aftermaths are often deadly.

How do you rate as a traveler?

On a map you probably can point out many famous cities and places that you have visited. How many of the following famous tourist attractions that you have visited or plan to visit, can you locate, without a map and with only the following clues?

When ordering by mail...

Safe ways to thaw that frozen pipe

Many a home fire has been started by a handyman who tried to thaw a frozen water pipe with a blowtorch. Such drastic action is dangerous and unnecessary. There are several ways to do the job cleanly and safely.

They heat their house with sunshine

Many of us don't happen to live where sunshine is a dependable daily commodity. But, for those who are so favored year round, the home pictured here puts this cheerful warmth to moneysaving use. It's a home designed so the sun will foot much of the wintertime fuel bill.

Get more out of your radiator

Metal furniture

Use a "one-pattern" look

Escapists or realists?

They are nice, normal youngsters, your Susan and Johnny, sturdy, bright-eyed, and healthy. They do pretty well in school, too, passing grades always, sometimes a little more. And, socially, they're popular with their own crowd, polite and pleasant to yours.

For spots that take wear--Brick garden paving

Comparatively simple and inexpensive surfacing of outdoor areas where sod can't take the wear will add immeasurably to your family's convenience and comfort, and make your whole place look smarter.

The diary of a Plain dirt gardener

There's a great day coming, by and by. That big red sun went down north of the elm tree west of the house tonight.

Now's the time to...

Finish planting roses-- the sooner the better, especially in Florida and along the Gulf Coast. Feed rose beds along the Gulf Coast-- feed later in the month in the Middle South.

Keep tire chains snug

The modern American car has become a family necessity during winter. It offers protection and comfort as well as a means of transportation during the cold snowand-ice months. Therefore, knowing how to "baby your buggy" in bad weather is a subject that gets considerable attention from the average motorist from November through March.

Roses for special uses

Roses are quite a bit like food. You're saying nothing against desserts when you call for bacon and eggs at breakfast. It's nothing against climbers when we choose hybrid-teas and floribundas for a border we need to keep low. For each spot you want to plant roses, there's a type best suited to fill it. Below we suggest outstanding candidates.

THE MAN NEXT DOOR

Rosie had her high-school club at our house one evening, and from what we gathered the meeting was a big success. What we gathered included 14 pop bottles, 14 ice-cream plates, and 3 potato-chip dishes-- most of them under the living-room chairs-- next morning.