AT OUR HOMES 213 



whether to own or to rent, constitutes an increasingly difficult problem 

 in living. t 



Ignorance in the choice of a suitable diet for a family, and for an 

 individual, is not only thriftless but it commonly results in malnutrition, 

 ill health, and shortened lives. The well-to-do are perhaps as often 

 victims of this failure to regulate diet as are those handicapped by 

 poverty. 



Any rational manner of life takes account of whatever ministers to 

 the comfort, happiness, and welfare of individuals and of communities. 

 It seeks the highest efficiency in right living, and avoids whatever is 

 merely self-indulgence. A simple life is quite consistent with a high 

 order of living and in a measure is indispensable to it. 



It is to be remembered that in changes of styles in clothing there is 

 involved the financial gain of those who seek to market a new stock 

 of goods. It is not fundamental to well-ordered living to discard cloth- 

 ing of any sort while it is yet suitable and serviceable merely for the 

 sake of changing to something new. 



Exercises 



1. Who usually determines the selection of things needed in a household, 

 both as regards their quality and the prices paid for them? 



2. In what sense is the wife in a home, though not a wage-earner, as truly 

 a supporter of the family as the husband? 



3. Distinguish between, (a) waste and thrift; (ft) necessities of life and its 

 luxuries; (c} comforts in living and extravagances. What factor very 

 largely determines in which of these classes an outlay by any person or 

 family shall be put? 



4. What advantages may there be in cooking breakfast cereals the day before 

 rather than on the morning of their use? 



6. Where gas is used in cooking, or for laundry purposes, why is it wasteful 

 not to turn the gas low as soon as the wash water or food begins to boil? 



6. What precautions should be observed in the purchase of fruits other than 

 securing honest measure and fair prices? What further precautions are 

 necessary before use of these fruits as food? 



7. Aside from a garden, name various ways of reducing expenditures for 

 foods without sacrifice of proper quantity and wholesome quality. 



8. In what ways is there relation between the high cost of living and follow- 

 ing the fashions in dress? 



9. To what extent are "styles" in clothing properly followed? 



10. Give some arguments for the outlay involved in the maintenance (a) of 

 free public schools; (6) of churches as places of public worship. 



11. What is a wise rule to follow in the matter of outlays for amusements? 



