Evening star., 1938-08-14

Reviewer Severes Critic Womens Periodicals Finds Value
Recent Ones-Is Cheered by Admission That Tomatoes
Are Best Served Plain With Salt.

~ SAANy w. fAl0 cAlCIC ClOlC ~
Is a good thing to warm them. 1t Is
gesture in the direction Of the per-
feet. and so admirable, though it Is
q gesture only. For tomatoes as they
were intended by their creator, how
ever. go to the patch, thou gourmand,
pluck, salt and eat. biting into your
specimen as If it were an apple, right
through the skin. Then get your Vita
minis out Of cans, II you love vitamins.
Tomatoes eaten this way are food.
A IL Of the magazines mentioned
above had, the reviewer noted,
pages given over to listing, with photo
graphs. the latest in gadgetry for mod
ern hearths and rooftrees. In all, the
items ran to impressive numbers. But
only one struck this writer as so SEN
sible that it should be had, if only
there were the slightest occasion for
1t. And that was pair Of asbestos
mltts, for use in open-fire cooking,
Some one really should have thought
Of that before
Another item, however. stood out
from the rest as a high in something
say, in complicated simplicity. 1t
was stake which you can stick down
in the ground. On the top of it is a
little rack for holding a glass and
cigarette. AS House Beautiful puts
1t, You spear your smoking stand
into the lawn and while you're SUM-
testing or watching a set of tennis
you have your cigarette and drink
within easy reach"
Why not hang thermos full OF
your drink around your neck and carry
supply OF straws behind your ears?
And as for the cigarette, the reviewer
has long ago hired smoking boy to
consume hers for her. That is even
easler-when "sun-festing" AS it were.
House Beautiful, the reviewer may
as we'll admit, pleased her the least
OF the four magazines. The reason
was that it contains a feature article
on the home Of Miss Shirley Temple,
who, though undeniably cute, Is still
drug on the market to a regular
magazine reader. Having been elabo-
rately informed by accommodating
periodicals of the nature of Miss
Temples education, of her tastes in
piaythings. of the beauties of her ward
robe, of the methods she uses in her
work, of her ancestry, of the happiness
OF her home life, Of the fact that
she is just dear little girl who does
not know that she is a famous actress
at all and would not be spoiled by the
knowledge if she had it-having seen
Miss Temples pug nose on l24 maga-
zine covers and even been deafened
by description of Miss Temples
movie lot bungalow, broadcast in the
| hairdresser's shop where certainly a
| person ought to expect to find peace
having endured all this. the reviewer
/ allowed herself to feel like Queen
| Victoria when she saw the House
Beautiful piece end simply was not
| amused.
RUT still the magazine contains one
sensible editorial. That deals
with the folly Of buying furniture
for no other reason than that it is
old. "As matter of fact" says the
writer, there were as many poorly
designed pieces of furniture or objet5
dart hundred or two hundred years
ago as are made now. The de-
sign, craftsmanship and finish should
be more than dates" And so they
should. But try to convince any
body Of it.
THE piece which caught the re-
viewers attention in Better Homes
and Gardens was called Il Don't
Want Your Husband and was writ
ten by Clair Ladd It is no more
than plea for married women to use
decent thinking toward their unmar-
ried sisters who are not-can you be-
lieve it?-all soulless mercenary home
wrecking adventuresses. 1t states the
case OF the spinster who finds herself
glared at by wifely eyes If she so
much as replies Thank you" to the
husband who hands her a plate of
sandwiches at a family picnic 1t
makes it plain that no amount of
simplicity. forbearance, honesty or
humor will disarm these never-resting,
SIREN -sleuthing ladies. who. after all,
were not always married themselves
And it will be enormously heartening
to other spinsters to read the piece
and realize that the insults visited
on their innocent heads are not, as
they may have feared due to some
popularity in their individual selves,
! but are the common lot Of their kind.
But it courteously does not raise the
question which has sometimes plagued
this reviewer. which is: What did
these married ladies do In their own
days Of single blessedness to make
them so suspicious? That. the re-
viewer thinks, is an interesting spec
! ulation.