FARMERS' MONTHLY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY 



HOME MAKING 



MRS. EVER WELL'S 



MEDICINE CHEST 



As Shown At The Tri County Fair 



"Mrs. Never Well's Medicine Chest" 

 and "Mrs. Ever Well's Medicine Chest," 

 were the basis of a nutrition exhibit pre- 

 pared recently by the home department 

 of the extension service for the Tri Coun- 

 ty Fair. It was planned to emphasize 

 the importance of eating more vegetables 

 and fruits instead of depending on patent 

 and other medicines to keep well. 



The center of interest was an arrange- 

 ment of two sets of shelves, connected by 

 signs which indicated "iron tonics and 

 blood purifiers," "headache cures," "ca- 

 thartics," "antiacids," "antifats," and 

 "cough cures," topped by the question 

 "which is yours?" On one side the 

 shelves contained typical medicines often 

 taken under these heads. This was "Mrs. 

 Never Well's Medicine Chest." On the 

 other side a corresponding shelf showed 

 Mrs. Ever Well's "cures," consisting of 

 fruits, vegetables, and whole cerals con- 

 sidered valuable in place of drugs and 

 medicines. 



For example, opposite "iron tonics and 

 blood purifiers," the shelf showed spinach, 

 Swiss chard, raisins, and prunes. Among 

 the laxatives foods were bran, figs, oat- 

 meal, spinach, apples, rhubarb, prunes, 

 tomatoes, apricots. Milk, celery carrots, 

 turnips, beets and string beans were pre- 

 sented as good antiacid foods and so on 

 down the entire list. 



Signs placed below the display urged 

 sick people to consult the family physi- 

 cian rather than to attempt to prescribe 

 for themselves, and advised everybody to 

 eat more vegetables and fruits and take 

 less medicine. Among the many inter- 

 ested persons who visited the booth and 

 studied it carefully it was noted that men 

 predominated and asked more questions, 

 apparently with lively hopes of reducing 

 expenses for sickness. 



Mrs. H. D. Stanton, West Chesterfield; 

 Mrs. Earl Howlett, Southampton; Mrs. 

 Robert Schoonmaker, South Amherst; 

 and Mrs. C. E. Barney, South Hadley; 

 members of the advisory council, assisted 

 in caring for the exhibit. 



size, and shape, balance, right material 

 and similar points. It is better to have 

 a variety of material rather than all 

 aluminum, for instance, or all enamel or 

 agate ware, since the best materials to 

 use is often determined by the cooking 

 process. 



ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETS 



Plans Fall Program 



The members of the advisory council 

 held their first meeting at the Extension 

 Service rooms September 13. The coun- 

 cil consists of the following ladies: Mrs. 

 Clifton Johnson, Hadley; Chairman: — 

 Mrs. Earl Howlett, Southampton; Vice 

 Chairman: — Mrs. H. D. Stanton, West 

 Chesterfield; Secretary: — Mrs. C. E. 

 Barney, South Hadley; Mrs. Robert 

 Schoonmaker, South Amherst; and Miss 

 Hazel Ross, Smith Agricultural School, 

 Northampton. 



The business meeting consisted of mak- 

 ing plans for the exhibits at Cummington 

 and Northampton Fairs, reviewing the 

 subject matter of the new project outlines 

 and approving the Home Demonstration 

 Agent's fall program of work, which will 

 consist of two training classes in felt 

 hats, two in machine attachments and a 

 demonstration group in the living room 

 project beside the usual community work 

 in clothing, food selection, furniture ren- 

 ovation and kitchen improvement. 



YOUR LIVING ROOM 



Does it speak well of you? Does it 

 express your highest ideals of character? 

 Is it only a haphazard collection of furni- 

 ture, rugs, draperies, pictures and bric-a- 

 brac or is it a neat, well planned room, 

 expressing beauty and comfort — a place 

 where your family would rather be than 

 any place else on earth, a place which 

 draws you and holds you and makes you 

 happy? 



Man is generally like what he lives 



sible in order that their impressions are 

 I for good and not for evil. The child is 

 I building character and he needs all the 

 assistance possible to build in the right 

 direction. Are we helping in every pos- 

 sible way? 



And then, too, a woman's living room 

 tells people what she is, what her ideals 

 are, whether she is neat or untidy, af- 

 fected or sincere, orderly or disorderly, 

 a lover of beauty or one who is satisfied! 

 with ugly things. We surely want the 

 world to know that our ideals are the 

 highest — don't let your living room tell 

 ugly tales about you. 



Beauty and refinement are almost im- 

 possible to that child whose parents have 

 given the usual wall papers, rugs, hang- 

 ings, pictures, and other objects a chance 

 to do their work. Most of these unat- 

 tractive things have been made to sell 

 i but people who use good judgment do not 

 buy them. How often we think of the' 

 comfort of an article, but seldom of the 

 ' colors, patterns and beauty. We so often 

 combine an unthinkable, unharmonious 

 jumble of things in our living rooms 

 which produce a reaction on an impres- 

 sionable person that is almost criminal. 

 If this is true then is it any wonder that, 

 we Americans are apt to be satisfied with; 

 inferior things or that we do not compete' 

 with other nations in creating better 

 ones? 



One often hears women say, "Well, I 

 could have an attractive living room if I 

 only had the money." It is not a case- 

 of money. One can get lovely effects and 

 good results with inexpensive furnishings. 

 Possibly there need be no expenditure of 

 money, only a rearrangement of things. 

 There are many homes where very 

 little is spent on furnishings Lut the 

 homes are comfortable and beautiful. 

 On the other hand, there are many homes: 

 where hundreds of dollars are spent on 

 pictures, rugs, hanging, and furnishings- 

 and in which one feels more that he is 

 in a furniture store than in a real home. 

 However, this beautiful living room 



with. If the home he lives in is beauti- I that we are talking about does not "hap- 



HINTS IN CHOOSING KITCHEN EQUIPMENT 



1. Sincerity. Be sure that what you 

 buy is what it claims to be. We want 

 nothing which simply adorns our top 

 shelf. 



2. Serviceability. A serviceable pur- 

 chase is an investment. A quickly per- 

 ishable purchase is an expense. 



3. Simplicity. Every utensil should 

 be easy to keep in order and easy to keep 

 clean. 



4. Suitability. This includes suitable 



ful, comfortable, orderly, he will be in 

 fluenced toward the best things of life; 

 joy, beauty, refinement, honesty, order- 

 liness. On the other hand, if he lives in 

 an unattractive home with bad colors, 

 poor pictures, loud noises and a wrong 

 arrangement of things, he will be in- 

 fluenced toward ignorance, brutality, in- 

 difference, disorder. 



It certainly is easy to see what effect 

 is produced by living in the wrong sur- 

 roundings. As a person gets used to 

 them he grows like them. When he is 

 like them, he -will admire only that kind 

 and whatever he does will be like his en- 

 vironment. 



We owe it to our children at least to 

 have their surroundings as fine as pos- 



pen all of a sudden". It requires 

 thought, study, work, practice and a test- 

 ing out of ideas. 



What kind of pictures have you in your 

 living room? How are they hung? 

 What are the colors in your living room? 

 Are they harmonious? What kind of 

 furniture is in your living room and how 

 is it arranged? What is you wall cover- 

 ing? Is it quiet, modest, inconspicuous, 

 a good background? Does it harmonize 

 with the other things in the room? 



Bertha Knight. 



V. 



EAT APPLES 



With so many of the early apples ma- 

 turing at this time of year, it is well to 



