Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-02-18
.McEvoyC Calls
Dining Room
A Mistake
CondIeIieht Proves
Complete BIoekout
For Guests, He Says
Ry j. p, McENOY.

Here 7 am-big as life. pounding
the old pulpit again, This time I
have decided to destroy, once and
for All, that maudlin myth that
women know what 10 do about
making the little home more home
like.
Because It Is dearer to = mans
heart than any other place in the
house, let's start with the dining
room. This, I contend, Is COM
pletely artificial and useless room.
tackled on by women just to set
themselves off from other women
whose husbands eat In the kitchen.
Which is by all odds the best place
in the house to eat-because you
cannot only see what's going on
and keep a close check. but you
can smell the food in the process OF
being prepared-and for a lot of
food. that's the best part of 1t.
Internationally, might add that
these same women, when they travel,
are the ones who insist upon going
to that very chic restaurant in the
Bots or on Mount st Michel. where
they broil those delicious chickens
| before an open fire or make those
famous pancakes on the hearth
right in front of youD
Just as Chic at Home.
Now as far as this man is con-
cerned, 1t is Just as chic and ro-
mantle to fry those bacon and eggs
or broil that steak over an open
fire right in front of me. here at
home in the kitchen. Besides, the
pleasure Of watching the little
woman at work preparing a mans
food, gives a spice and zest to the
vittles that cannot be obtained
otherwise.
The epic spectacle Of little wom-
an rassling with big stove appeals
to something elemental in a man.
1t stirs up atavistic depths of salts
faction which can never be tapped
by the man who sits stiff1y at a
dining room table in another part
OF the house and sees only the fin
ished product carried in, and none
of the interminable struggle that
went into the preparation of 1t.
Obviously, the mere existence of
a dining room is a mistake. But
| that isn't all. What else are wom-
en- doing about dining rooms. Let
me tell you what they are all try
ing TO- do. While a thousand lab
oratories are busy researching i'm
proved methods of lighting a room
by electricity, women are turning
back the clock and substituting can
dies, And this at time when you
really need light to see what new
form Of sabotage might be going
on In the kitchen. Candles-and the
fewer the better.
Complete Blackout.
Tonight, thousands OF men will
| SAoPC III Vic Odi n lUl lnelE plates
or their mouths-or their dinner
partners-while the women guests
carry on a gay banter in the gloom
and congratulate the hostess on the
almost complete blackout she has
achieved.
If you ask your wife why-after
she has driven you crazy putting
in floor plugs, ceiling inlets and
Sidewalk outlets-for direct lighting,
indirect lights. incandescent light
ing, fluorescent lighting she'll
gaily answer, "Oh, you men just
don't understand Women prefer
candlelight-it's so f1attering."
And that, my lads, ends the dis
cussion. 1t is what experienced
husbands call stopper" But it
won't stop me. The next lecture
In this course will be Windows and
Wives" or Give Me the Sun, Moth
err"
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