Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-05-29

How much happier human beings are
when the necessary tasks are the In
| teresting tasks!
There is nothing. more delightful, for
instance, than moving a lawn when
one happens to like the exercise; and,
on the other hand, there are few things
more distasteful II the householder
does not like 1t.
| If it is possible for any one who has
anything to do to enter into the spirit
of the doing, and get some pleasure as
we'll as profit from it. he Is in much
better shape and state of mind than If
he cegrudges every minute he puts on
the work.
| This applies with peculiar force to
Nall. domesticalities, as some one has
hailed the necessary chores around a
house. Even in this so-called machine
age there remain many jobs which are
best done by hand.
Cooking. and washing, and sweeping
off the front walk, and moving the
grass, trimming the borders, washing
| WindoWs-these are a few Of the more
toilseme domesticalities.
No woman is to be pitied more, GER
tainly, than the city girl who has never
been taught to cook, yet who upon mar
rage is pitchforked, as it were, into the
position of chief cook and bottle washer.
|
she often works herself into true in
terest and pleasure in these necessities,
so that when the time comes when she
may have a paid cook and maid, she
refuses to give up what has become
real part of her life.
There are such people, but no one
who has not gone through a similar
experience will be able to credit them.
Ali knowledge, in the last analysis, Is
1 ali 10 theory
and simple.
Moving the lawn is best approached
as a duty. This attitude will keep one
| in the right mood when suffering from
a headache, or inclined to shirk the
| Job on account Of a good book, or
something on the radio one particularly
desires to hear.
The time element bulks large in
duties. A duty is something to be done
| or said which may not be put OH until
another time. Its call is imperative.
In the case Of lawn. time is the es-
sence of duty.
1t is the passage Of time which has
conspired with the growing elements In
\ the grass, with the sunshine and the
rain, and the warmth of the days, to
call the blades into superactivity.
Now they have grown so big, and
| the practiced eye OF the householder
says too big, SO that there is nothing
| for him to do, If he values the external
| appearance of his home, but buckle
| down to the lawnmower.
Some people, Of course, are fussier
about lawns than others. There seems
to be large group Of law-abiding,
God-fearing persons, the members of
which do not mind mud and weeds at
all.
Most do, however; and for them there
is nothing quite so good as green grass
| and plenty of 1t. All this takes time
and work, and sometimes money. To
get good grass, in most instances, means
constant reseeding, plenty Of fertilizer,
watering and cutting.
Some ardent lawn enthusiasts insist
that the grass should be raked every
time it is cut. The other group declare
that the clippings should be. left on, to
form mulch to protect the grass roots
from the heat of the sun.
AS far as we can see, there Is little
choice between these methods. Long
| grass. Of course, may be taken of, else
| it will wither on top of the green and
present white appearance in the sun
| shine. The rest will do no harm, and
may do some good.