September, 1909 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS vii 
ing shutters would be washed and hung, 
hinges being replaced here, as elsewhere. 
Broken porch and steps once attended to by 
the owner, the brown cottage would show 
most improvement for time expended. Should 
our home-seeker again visit it, she would 
find clean-swept floors, no traces of rubbish 
on shelves or in any remote cupboard, and the 
lighting of the rooms, an amazing factor in 
their appearance, would have been altered by >. Everett eile is the 
simply closing upper shutters and opening the 
lower ones, tempering the glare and a tiae Heart of Harmony 
all a friendly look, tempting her into plans 
for placing her furniture and allotting rooms. 
A girl with tact and enterprise would con- 
trive the nailing down of that loose board on 
the street crossing, coax the postmaster to 
mend his sign, and persuade the vacant lot’s 
owner to give its use to a tennis club, on con- 
dition that it be put and kept in order. She 
would certainly propose advertising the home 
town real estate in the religious weeklies and 
charming new suburban magazines, rather 
than in city newspapers. She might even or- 
ganize a crusade of neatness to shame resi- 
dents unwilling to join the forward move- 
ment, knowing that if surrounded on all sides 
by trim-kept premises, they must find their 
uncared-for abodes far too prominent. 
Good leaven set to work, the home town 
will realize that neglect cheapens all property 
—that anything worth having is worth caring 
for. Co-operation in small ways can be ar- 
ranged. Boards lying around, a nuisance to 
one man, may be what his neighbor needs for 
urgent repairs. Vines and seedlings thinned 
from one garden will almost stock another. 
An exchange of work for materials, through 
come central committee, would eliminate per- 
sonal obligation, and would not be entirely 
unfeasible were common sense used. 
Rank heresy, to suggest that for the cost 
of erecting one flimsy flat, a whole village 
could be “tidied up” and made attractive; yet 
it is true. Consider the fact at leisure. 
One last morsel of warning. In planning 
reforms make wise choice of tools. A ‘“‘new 
broom” will at once begin to “sweep clean,” 
but a “new towel” may take much _ hard = SORE eee 
rubbing before “wiping dry.” On such trifles ee. 1, 
will depend the ultimate victory of the home —> YHEJOUN CHURCH COMPANY 
aoe. CINCINNATI CHICAGO NEW YORK 
_ Owners of the Everett Piano Co..Boston Mass. 
ese Artists use and 
ungualifiedly endorse 
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Wall Coverings For nearly sixty-five years the 
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