The Wilmington morning star., 1944-11-23
.Teakettles


vey of the wants of $500 American families
ard prepared list Of household articles that
homefolk yearn Tor most.
At the top Of the list our Washington dis
patch says. are such trifles as heating-pads,
washtubs, wash boilers. alarm clocks, window
screening, garbage cans and lawn mowers.
Left off the high priority roll, though possibly
mentioned toward the foot OF the list, are tea
kettles.
Our frequent mentor, Mr.. Homer Dewsnap,
dropped in last Saturday to remark that this
failure to include tea-kettles in honorable po-
sjtion among the housekeeping needs OF the
hour seems to him to be grlevous.
Mr.. Dewsnap tells us he has lately conducted
survey of his own in and around New York
He has been searching for a new tea-kettle
In the course of the quest he has travelled
more miles, he says, than did the President
on that recent memorable rainy-day journey
among cur boroughs. He has crossed rivers.
worn cut three pairs of soles and visited 234
stores all for naught Day after day, as the
evening shadows lengthen. he turns honeward
fcotsore and empty-handed.
The marts of trade will sell him a steam
shovel, a ships boiler, fire engine, but never
a tea-kettle-at least, not one Of the kind he
longs for The tea-kettle factories, it seems,
are manufacturing something else now. Ba-
zo0kas, perhaps.
| His latest call was made at a select en-
porium that had been an unfailing source OF
| tea-kettles for Manhattan homemakers for
more than century, before this war. There,
in reply to his anxious inquiry, the foorwalker
advised him, mister, if you will tell us where
| to buy tea-kettle you will make us the hap
piest merchants in town.
It is time Mr.. DeWsnap believes, to inform
the Government authorities of this painful stu
alton facing the home front. Here, surely, is
matter that requires Federal attention
The home is the basic unit of human society,
the cornerstone of the American way of life.
And be the home ever so palatial apart
nlent in fashionable avenue a vine-cov-
cred cottage in the remotest suburb on the
| subway, the warm and singing heart thereof
is the tea-kettle. What is home without a
tea-kettle on the range?
The handiest and most nearly indispensable
utensl in the home is the tea-kettle 1t boils
the water alike for the morning coffee and
the morning shave. It prepares the evening
tea and the baby's bath. With its quick re-
sponsiveness it blesses the household all day
long, and it assuages pain in the darkest
! night.
We can live without heating.pads, washtubs
and wash boilers, if we must, yes, without
| even laWn-rnowers trash-cans and clocks' We
can even make do, in pinch, without screens,
but civilized man cannot live without tea-ket-
ties.
Pinned down, Mr.. Dewsnap agrees That tea
kettles of an attractive sort may be had. Glass
ores are plentiful, if you can learn to repose the
faith in them that you put in the honeher. num-
bier tea-kettle Of long ago. But the old-tash-
toned rough and-ready, knockabout tea-kettle
| of tin, iron, copper, granlteWare or aluminium
mas Well-nigh vanished from the mercantile
scene.
Here, Mr.. D. thinks, is social loss. Our
| ancestors and we, in turn, were com1orted no
end to hear the tea-kettle's gentle hu11lnalng on
the hob. Now we listen for its song IN vain
| lis voice is stilled in the land, save IN that
| f,wt,,nate home where the quaint OLD treasure
still holds water.
| Todav's statesmen assure him that muslcally
speaking, the transparent successor ol tne Old
| time tea-kettle is WondeIlul my oveineht
True they say, it is not given TO nummlng,
but 1t has a whistle that Coli w o0u aA
through the house. ,r:
~Yes. I know" signs Mr.. D.. Like the air.
raid siren down at the corner.
| II is wrong our visitor aol1ltts' W complain
| IT the lack of home comforts IN Time Wnen
millions of Americans are vallantly aolls With
out comfort of any sort SO that Alnellca may
! he preserved as land OF happy notieS WIN
pe ps.t1- -, a.,erv kitchen. He and his family
~ .aws will cheerfully continue to heat water
!s soyS, 1890, ~ dipper for the duration. if
All the same. they will ever keep bright
vision before their eyes: the VISION VI d oles-
sed day. sure to come at last, whell orand-
new oid-style tea-kettle will be huh'it'lng IN
their midst. +,,r, o,t ~ +.
They concede that it may tuin III H0s r; ~ NC
blown.glass whistling one, after all. 1llle' as
| Thomas Paine said, makes iiiA'
New York Times.
Tn tho European theater alone we are losing
xon +snlxs and 900 trucks a month. - Under