The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-05-19

This is the time when. revisiting
familiar neighborhood. We say i
don't remember that house" and some
one has passed the place oftener an
swers: Few would recognize It. IL
has been SO improved"
II IL a season Of building and OF
rebuilding. and the rebuilding is of the
two the more wonderful -
We see one-story cottage grown
to a two-story house. A small house
reveals its owners new prosperity by
spreading over twice as much lawn
with It's bay window extension on the
east side. Its GUNNER veranda that
they may convert into a gun parlor
next winter, but where the family may
have breakfast this summer. and call
in the neighbors for inipromptu ice
cream in the evening The face OF
that house is utterly changed. 1t is by
means a new veranda! NO, only the
building of balcony overhead. But
tho former window has been deepened
into a glass door that opens upon the
balcony. and there are little reading
| table and 81 lounging chair beside IT
| like those used on the decks OF sea-
/ glimpse of skeins of bright silk in the
work basket and a magazine or two
I ,t-sftis tt.----
THE Robinson house looks better.
YOU say. and you hear in explanation
that Mrs Robinson Is happy beca use
at last she has her long deferred new
| kitchen and her husband has built a
neat little laundry at the end of the
kitchen. You would not think so small
| a thing would make a woman look SO
| much more content. SO much younger,
| and more at peace with the world.
t but IL is thus when We achieve some
| thing for which We had long been
striving. and the neighbors said Mrs.
| Robinson has done good deal of
/ striving, for her spouse keeps the
/ strings of his money bags knotted
| tight
| THE Grimes house seems stranger
! to itself" YOU remark. for its smoked
spotted Wilderness has been replaced by
light gray with trimmings of darker
/ gray 1t has a roof SO moss-iike in
color that the painter is being con-
| graduated upon his art, which has so
+ closely followed nature. -, A. bed OF
I bright geranums tn front OF the house
give Ii a CHEEKY aspect The Grimes
| house. for the first time. looks up-to-
| date. 1t looks as Il woman does who
/ overheard someone call her a TRUMP,
+ and who has bought Il smart. new
! frock and who looks ten years young
| er and twice as happy because OF
I her triumph.
| The bleak looking house of the
! Bradleys. What on earth have they
/ done TO II YOU ask The straight
| outlines. severe as an unsmiiing face,
! have been somehow changed. All!
Mrs BradreV has attained her hearrNs
desire. She has what her city cousins
call conservatory but she has low
ngly named 1t MY flower house ana
when YOU pass fl the evening and see
her giving the flowers she loves a
shower bath, YOU wonder why you
ever thought her face repellant. It
looks 40 soft and sweet In the RED
leht ~ sunset.
Rebuilding time! The face of the
neighborhood has changed. How
much better it looks What an In
spring thing Is Improvement, even
though its agents be only few boards,
some nalls and paint brush.
There's a lesson In that REBUILDING
a lesson FOR you ana me. for every
one feels q bit worldworn. n little
tired, somewhat inclined TO fold the
hands iistlessly and mutter, WHATS
the nse?" That mood is only spring
tiredness Of the spirit and the remedy
for spring tiredness is what is In the
air In your neighhorhood. Hear the
hammers driving in new nails? See
the carpenter carefully fitting on a.
new siding2 He ~ giving us a friendly
hint OF what TO do with our cnarac-
ters. No house is beyond repair while
ii stands on its foundation, That old
cabin belonging to the washerwoman
who lives at the edge Of town. You
would have thought il quite impos-
sible to improve that, wouldn't you?
HIT they make new craft of the tim
bers of wrecks at sea. and old Mollie,
sitting on the new doorstep Of her re-
propped and whitewAShed house re-
turns your look OF wonder with a
cheerful smile.
We're never impossible Of recon
struction while our grave clothes are
unworn. IL our temper testy Let US
get a stronger grip on our nerves, for
unsteady nerves are the cause of Ill
temper. Are We ~ gloomy habit OF
mind? Brown may have turned "A
bad business trick today. but White
did a fine. unseifish thing In Offering
us a helping hand. The good deed
should cancel the bar In our memory.
Are we inclined to withdraw into
ourselves and cultivate isolation? That
wasn't the intent Of the Designer Of
that strange, complex pattern. human
nature He intended that we should
relax the. spirit and sun the mind Ia
occasional companionship with our
kind. Find the point OF Interest la
the character of some acquaintance
There IL one. Be interested In him
and he viii be interested m you.
whatever that leak Of character
has LET in SORROW Won car hoard ~