Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-10-31
Kitchen in a Virginia Immigrant Home
Aided by Uncle SAM Has Inspired Others

She had had little time to think of
her house in the dark days that lay
behind, but it had always been
source of unhappiness in her heart.
Her kitchen was the worst spot in 1t,
and she had been born with the
thought of kitchens that were the de-
light Of entire families. In her moth
er's home in Issy-les -Moulineaux the
floor had been of tile, with blue and
white tile walls, and a blue stove.
Around that kitchen hearth had
grown the intimate life of her child.
hood. The feel of home was there.
But in this new world home she
was having to see her children de-
veloping in ugly rooms, where the
best of her skill could only keep away
the dirt and cook them the food that
they needed.
Here was her real problem, as a
mother, and she went at it with a
fierce joyousness. Room by room
changed before her onslaught, with
new paint and new wall paper, and
new furniture as 1t could be afforded.
Nearly everything she and her hus-
band did themselves. But there re-
manned at last that awful kitchen, the
kitchen that should have been her
pride.
Everything came into the kitch-
en-" she cried, with an expressive lift
of Mortified shoulders ."Mr. del Vigne
did not realize how I felt about It.
Manlike, and because it was con-
venient, he brought into it his horse
feed, the vegetables to be cleaned for
understanding l could not keep
the mud out. Oh, hated it! The floor
was bare: the plaster was peeling
from the walls. l have never seen a
worse ROOM"
So the attack on the kitchen began.
She ordered the things that belonged
in the barn put there, and she taught
the men to take off their shoes on the
porch. The old plaster came down
and new went up; Wainscoting was
put on the lower part of the walls;
sink came next, and built-in cup
boards; and then dazzling white paint
everywhere, with Sky-blue trimmings
of curtains and linoleum and oilclOth.
Blue rugs were bought for the shining
floor, and rocking chairs with cush-
ions, as well as the straight chairs to
go with the round white breakfast
table in the center. Then the result:
eve eat here all the time now, be-
cause it is SO pretty and bright"
Over some six years this improv-
ing stretched out, and the end is not
yet. Lest it sound like an ordinary
-
the starved passion of q good house
wife has gone into it's building. Where
formerly she had nothing, now she is
accommodating as nearly everything as
it is possible to get. Where other
people collect antiques, or snuff boxes,
or old coins, Mrs. del Vigne is col
Letting kitchen wares. This year the
entire house has been wired for cleo
trictty and water has been brought
inside. That these two things alone
mean a tremendous saving in energy
goes without saying. And there is
now beautiful electric stove with an
automatic oven that does the cooking
quite safely while it's lady goes peace
fully about her work in her beloved
flower garden and her fields. All day
long she is outside, but the recent
loss of a maid had not worried her
1T Is ridtculously easy now to do the
housework," is her comment. "In
fact, that was why the maid left. She
said I had too many things to work
with"
land is all clear now and we are hap
Ply. Now, sometimes. we stop work
and go on picnic. We are like chill
dren about picnics. Mr.. del Vigne and
l. And the real children are in school
and doing finely. The America has
been good to U.S."
And, like the grain Of mustard seed,
the example of Mrs. del Vigne's kitch-
en- is spreading. Many Of her friends
from the city have come to see and
marvel, and have gone home to try
some of her ideas in their own houses
AT least a dozen of her farm neigh
bors have been directly affected by
her enthusiasm and by what she has
achieved. She is very grateful for
the encouragement and the friendly
guidance she has received from the
Agricultural Extension Service. Bet
ter Homes week, when 1t comes
around, Is a red-letter time on her
calendar. But we may not forget that
without her own fine courage there
must have been shipwreck in those
troubled seas, and no home to help.
Truly ''the America" has received AZ