Evening star., 1914-04-05
EQUIPMENT PLAYS LAE
WORK OF NEAT, SMOOTHLY

II Eht manufacturer VINO sue
r. ceeds puts aside a certain an
nual amount of equipment. Some
times the Young business man turns ali
his surplus income, beyond the barest
living expenses, into his business.
manufacturers and business men real
| ize that up-to-date equipment and eff
cient apparatus mean success
The story is told of a famous maker
| OF farming implements who equipped his
mandatory with the most p-to-date
! machinery he could find. A few months
| later some new invention made possible
a machine more efficient than those the
manufa cturer had pust installed. With
out hesitation he ordered that his fac
! tory be equipped with the new macine.
and sent those recently installed. good
| for many years. to the scrap heap.
His method is the one that the up-to
date housekeeper ought to follow.
1t sounds like extravaganza: in real
ity it is economy.
of course, there is one important diff
ference between housekeeping and busi-
ness or manufacturing that makes the
methods which bring success to the one
not always helpful to the other.
In business improved methods are al
most sure to bring monetary increase.
In housekeeping, the various wage
earning members of the household may
feel better and look better when they
are well fed and cared for: but they
do not always earn more because of
proper food and care. Hence. the house
wife sometimes must practice economies
that would be death dealing to a busi-
ness.
Nevertheless, it is every housekeeper's
duty to equip her house as thoroughly
as it is possible for her to do. Perhaps
the better equipment will bring a re-
turn in dollars and cents, for surely
it is easier for the wage Garner to do
his best if he is in good physical con-
dition. Surely the better equipment
will bring results in happiness. The
housekeeper herself will be happier,
and will feel that she is conducting
the work she has to do in a labor
saving and up-to-date manner. Her
servants will be more contented. Her
family will be healthier and happier.
1t is quite possible for some women
TO produce wonderful results. in health
and happiness, on very small equip
ment
There is cottage, for instance. with
out electric lights or gas lights, with
a stove that burns only wood which
must be chopped to fill it. with rough
wooden floors and only a fagot with
w
is spotlessly clean. and none of it's in
mates ever suffered from any of the
ills that dust and dampness and cold
produce. Perhaps the installation of
electric lights. furnace, hardwood
floors and vacuum cleaner would ruin
this cottage.
Then there is camp supper-With cof-
fee made in saucepan propped up on
stones, potatoes roasted in the ashes,
bread made of flour and salt. and water
from the brook. mixed up with stick
and baked on plank before the fire-a
supper fit for Jupiter and Juno. Many a
worse meal has been prepared in a white
tiled kitchen, fitted with an electric stove
and stocked with glass measuring cups,
modern egg beaters and a shelf six feet
long filed with books.
However. it is only the unusual woman
who can produce good results very
small capital. Most housekeepers are in
huenced by their surroundings to such
an extent that they founder in despair
If their houses are poorly equipped.
If we lived in a simpler age the COM
plex equipment of modern times would
not be necessary. If or neighbors ate
simply We might do likewise. If their
living rooms, clean .and spotless, We're
yet furnished with only few chairs, q
table and a chest of drawers We might
furnish ours in the same way. If they
dressed, daintily and becomingly, to be
sure, but in clothes that were made OF
durable material and in simple fashion,
SO that their making and laundering
would be easy, We might dress in that t
way.
But We don't live in a simple age, and
few OF US really desire to live in sim /
pie age. Complexity is the keynote to