Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-11-12
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRAcEKELL.

There still remains much to be done
in the application of business methods
to the home.
If some men ran their business or
profession as they do their homes they
would be in bankruptcy in no time.
To put 1t another way, II they man.
aged their homes the way they do their
businesses they would have much more
pleasant and profitable homes.
In no matter of household economy
does this apply more than to the run
ming of the furnace.
Ninety-nine persons out of a hundred,
offhand, would agree to a general
proposition that anything which con-
tributes to the health and happiness of
the family would be worth putting a
little time, work and attention on.
Yet specifically applied to the fur
mace, many otherwise capable citizens
seem to think that the matter Is
beneath their dignity.
Somehow they have got the notion
that to show any interest in the matter
Is either effeminate or mental.
Evidently because any old colored man
can run" furnace these Supercilious
citizens believe that the work is beneath
them.
When this state of mind is combined
with the usual inability of the average
human being to admit that there is
nothing he does not know, we have a
situation all too common.
We have spoken before in this column
OF the strange reluctance of men to ad-
init that there is any matter of which
they are ignorant.
This can be put to the test by any
one, any time, in very easy way Sim
ply think up some outlandish name for
q famous French poet" and ask the
victim whether it Is spelled with one
81" or two.
Instead Of replying, at don't know"
as he doesn't, because there is no such
poet, famous or otherwise, he will reply
why, think 1t Is one T." or he may
say with two, but he will not say he
never heard OF the name. He instinc-
livery thinks that you are one ahead of
MIN on French poets, and that he will
DISPLAY his ignorance If he admits he
does not know.
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Pretense to wisdom will do no harm
when 1t comes to the spelling of the
names OF poets, real or faxed, but when
1t comes to furnaces we are in another
realm entirely.
A household furnace Is hard, some
times difficult appliance. or instrument.
or apparatus. It works according to
certain well known laws, but such little
matters as the type Of coal used, its
cleanness, the drafts, the chimney. etc,
play large and important parts.
Yet many a man plunges out Of an
apartment, where he did not have to lift
hand TO be comfortable, into a home
without so much as asking O question
about the heating plant
Evidently he believes that this knowl-
edge Is God-g!ven. The truth Is that
while almost any one can run a furnace,
after some fashion, very few run them
either economically or entirely salts
factorily.
Yet the health and happiness OF the
entire family depend upon the heating
system for at least eight months of the
year.
In his business or profession the aver
age man will put his mind to every
little problem as 1t comes up until he
has mastered them one by one.
He will not turn the Job over to the
ONCE boy or expect the outfit to run
itself in some magic manner.
He viii not begrudge an hourly in
spection IL necessary, or even oftener,
If 1t gets results.
y +
Yet when it comes to his home fur
mace he begrudges 1t time, study or
work, and seems to go on the aSsump-
ton that the whole matter Is distinctly
beneath busy man of affairs.
Often he does not know whether the