The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1957-03-21
Il Runs Through
My Mind
By FOLLY ]. HANSr
With The Grain

Those who work with wood know
how important it is to go with the
grain in planning the rough surface
to the final sanding job. Moving
against the grain only fuzzes the
surface, leaving scratches and lit
tie to be desired in the finished
product
The same thing is true with fab
ric. Those of us who sew know how
necessary it is to cut to grain per-
lection and sew every inch with
the grain, even if we have to
change our course two or three
times on what to an amateur would
be only straight sewing.
When clothes are made grain per-
feet they hang better, wear better
and are bought at greater price.
don't know what other raw ma
terials have grain but | do know
we humans have bit of it built in
us, although we don't understand
its nature like the seamstress does
fabric, or the cabinet maker does
wood.
What woman hasn't gone to her
kitchen and stirred up cake that
every move hasn't been with the
grain. She knew the cake would be
good when she poured the batter
into the pan. The fat creamed and
fluffed just right when the sugar
was added She even sifted flour
to the exact measurement.
But woe to the day she cooks off
grain. Il always do when / take
dish to the church, for some Un-
known reason. She lets the milk
boil over, gets bit of she'll in the
broken egg, lacks a tablespoon of
having enough brown sugar, or
lukewarm is stone cold or red hot,
and the gravy gets Jumps. May you
and the gravy gets Jumps. Maybe
you never cook off grain.
Surely though you do something,
something off grain. Yesterday l
made shell. Had | been in the
9th grade and turned it in for
score | would have been lucky to
have barely passed. A shell is
muslin garment intended to take
the place of a dress form and it
fits the body the way custom
made garment would 1t requires
the most elementary kind of sew
ing. Although the machine moved
with the grain, l moved against it.
| would cheerfully have given up
the job for washing ceilings or re-
moving paint.
How different the day | made
wool shirt on which | travelled
every stitch of the way on grain,
both literally and figuratively And
it looked it, One could almost tell
the garment had been made with
affection in the finger tips.
How exciting life can be when
we're on the grain Teen-agers
know it in their relationships. I'VE
got on together from the first" or
I'VE clicked"
1t makes all the difference in the
world in running home. Did you
ever set out to find an address and
end up with a cleaned dish? Clean
ing closet with the grain" is
joyous experience, against the
grain, chore.
A career woman of outstanding
note told me just this week that
she disregards Saturday as her day
off from the office. "Oh, l work
my full quota of hours all right.
| also take my day off, but Satur-
day may be my best day for Gre
alive thinking which my job re-
quires."
Then there's that little science
OF family relationShip-the most
intricate of all sciences. Just TO be
able to chuckle with ones mate
any time of the day is grain per-
fiction, or to have little moment
of understanding with a child is
another.
Do you suppose the time will
ever come that we'll understand
ourselves well enough that we can
pick our activities according to our
moods? Or is living with the grain
like grace, a gift of God, to be had