American Agriculturist, June 30,1923 
545 
Aunt Janet Writes About Getting In a Rut 
Making Our Homes Better Places to Live In, by Taking Thought of Ourselves and Our Work 
W HO was it said that a rut is only 
a longer and shallower grave? 
In any case, it has the faculty of 
digging itself deeper all the time. The 
unfortunate woman who, years ago, 
fell into a comfortable groove, not so 
deep but that she could easily see over 
the edges—and of course could turn 
out if she wanted to—suddenly finds 
that all she can now see is the high 
wall of the rut which has completely 
shut her off from the great world 
around her. 
A man said to me with a sigh the 
other day (and he is the sort who would 
loyally defend his wife’s every act) 
“Jennie’s an awfully good cook—and 
of course I know it’s hard to plan new 
things—and then too, she gives me the 
things she knows I like—” 
“What’s the matter?” I interrupted. 
“Meals getting a little monotonous? 
Same desserts coming around pretty 
often?” 
He looked at me as though I were 
a mind reader. 
“Well—how did you guess it?” he 
asked. “But since you have. I’ll admit 
I can’t look chocolate pudding with 
whipped cream in the face any more— 
and it used to be my favorite and there 
are other things too. But Jennie’s a 
wonderful cook—I didn’t mean—” 
Learn to Take a Hint 
Of course he didn’t mean anything 
else. But I knew that Jennie needed 
to turn out of that rut, to turn sharply 
before the sides get any higher. It 
may be that he’ll drop a wistful little 
hint, or being a “mere man” make it 
not quite so gentle a one as she might 
like, and then Jennie’s impulse will be 
to flare up and declare she wishes he 
had to plan the meals, he’d see then 
how hard it was. And he used to like 
her chocolate pudding, and anyhow, 
she’d only had it two or three times,— 
not more than three times—all this 
winter. Beware, Jennie! That hint 
ought to be very useful to you—it’s a 
little like the flick of a whip, perhaps, 
but if it makes you break into a trot 
and turn sharply out, your little spurt 
of energy won’t do you a bit of harm, 
now will it? (No, that metaphor 
doesn’t mean that your husband rides 
behind and cracks the whip, though it 
may sound that way. He’s your feam- 
mate, going right along beside you and 
if you sprint up a bit, he’ll have to 
break into a trot too. So it will be 
good for you both. And goodness 
knows, he has his pet rut too, and next 
time you’ll give the fillup that makes 
him see how high the sides are getting.) 
There is only one way to get a wagon 
or automobile out of a rut in the road. 
Get up a good speed and make it by a 
sharp, quick turn that brings the 
wheels out at right angles. It’s not 
always easy to manage but anything 
half-way is worse than useless—it may 
upset the 'whole rig. 
The man who figures that he can 
take the rut very gradually, easing 
the wheels over, finds that the sides 
just crumble in and his wheels keep 
slipping back into the deep cut in the 
road. He’ll never get out at that rate. 
And neither will the woman who plans 
to make her break to-morpw or the 
next week or a little at a time. 
Does Your System Run You? 
It may not be your menus; it may 
be the entire system with which you 
run your house. It was a good system 
once; it enabled you to get your work 
done more easily, more quickly, and 
gave you more free time. How did 
you once use that free time? To read 
the latest book, to chat comfortably 
with your neighbor, to take a walk or 
a trip to town just for a rest and a 
change. ' Do you use it now just to 
cram in Liore work? Do you feverishly 
think ahead to the extra things^ you 
can accomplish in the once cherished 
hour or so that had no especially piece 
of work assigned to it? Then your 
system is now I’unning you, and all you 
see is the wall of your rut. 
As a matter of fact, a slight rut is 
not such a bad thing. It helps one to 
drive steadily and that means greater 
comfort and speed. No one admires 
the driver who wobbles all over the 
road or the scatterbrained woman who 
dashes from one thing to another and 
never finishes anything. 
But there’s a dangerous time, in life 
ruts especially, when the groove gets a 
little deeper each day, when each varia¬ 
tion from the routine is a little more 
annoying and when one first finds it 
difficult to plan for variety in the pro¬ 
gram of the day and. finally resents 
any interruptions. 
Don’t Grlorify Your Rut 
A housewife—and she was a mar¬ 
vellous housekeeper, there’s no doubt 
of that—was once quite displeased with 
me because I suggested that she drop 
everything, hop into her little car and- 
drive over to the nearby town, where 
a really worth while sale was in 
progress. 
“You need the things, the drive will 
do you good and you can clean the silver 
or whatever you planned for the day 
some other time.” 
She drew herself up proudly. 
“I believe that housekeeping is a 
business and should be run in just as 
systematic a way as any man’s office,” 
she said. “If I did that it would throw 
out my entire routine for the week and 
I consider that most unbusiness-like. I 
have an afternoon a week for shopping 
and this is not it.” 
There was no use telling her that no 
office in the world is so inflexible that 
it cannot change its system or dis¬ 
regard it if there comes a sudden 
opportunity to profit by doing so. This 
woman’s husband lost money by her 
much-vaunted system, because she 
bought the things later and paid almost 
twice as much for them. But the 
sacred rut was undisturbed and that 
was really what mattered. 
Do you try a new dish at least once 
a week? Have you the moral courage 
to leave the dishes or the beds because 
you have a chance to' ride into town 
with a neighbor whom you don’t often 
see? Can you lay the mending by to 
read the magazine article which your 
husband and son are discussing with 
such heat and then to join in the con¬ 
versation by giving your own opinion 
in the matter? If you don’t want your 
rut to close in on you, you must first 
admit that you are in one—which some¬ 
times - is more difficult for the “model 
housekeeper” than to get' out of it 
after the fact is appreciated—and there 
you must make that sharp turn which 
will brin^ you up on a level again with 
life’s broad highway. 
“WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF?” 
which side of the plate should 
\J the knife go?” and “Should the 
hostess be served first?” are but two 
of many bothersome little questions. 
Specialists at the state college at 
Ithaca, say that whether a meal is 
elaborate or simple, its success often 
depends on the care with which it is 
served. The dining room should be 
swept, dusted, and aired before setting 
the table. 
The table should be covered with a 
silence cloth, which may consist of 
table padding, a thin white blanket, or 
heavy cotton flannel. The center of 
the table cloth should be placed exactly 
in the center of the table, the edges 
falling from nine to twelve inches be¬ 
low the table. 
The handles of the knife and the fork 
are placed with ends one inch from 
edge of table, knife at the right with 
sharp edge tovrard the plate, fork at 
left, tines turned up. The other pieces 
to be used first farthest from the plate. 
The, knives and spoons are at right and 
the forks at the left. 
Serve the Hostess, Then the Guests 
Place the glass at the tip of the 
knife. The butter plate is placed at 
the tip of the fork and a little to the 
left. The napkin should be placed at 
the left of the forks with the folds at 
the upper and left hand sides. 
The hostess should be served first. 
Dishes should be served at the left so 
the right hand may be used. Every¬ 
thing relating to a course should be 
removed at its conclusion. Glasses 
should be filled three-fourths just be¬ 
fore the meal is announced. Butter, 
relishes, etc., may be on the table when 
the guests are seated. 
The knife should never be used to 
carry food to the mouth. It should be 
handled with the right hand and held 
only by the handle. A large portion of 
food should not be cut off at one time. 
The fork is used for carrying all 
dry foods and many semi-solid foods 
(salads, vegetables, chee.se dishes, etc.) 
to the mouth. It should be held between 
the thumb and first finger. Only one 
kind of food should be taken up on the 
fork at one time. The knife and fork 
should not be held in an upright posi¬ 
tion on the table. When not in use the 
fork and knife should be placed parallel 
across the right side of the plate and 
should be left in this position at the 
end of the meal. Never lean the point 
on the plate with the handle resting on 
the table. 
The spoon is used only for food too 
soft to be easily handled with the fork. 
It should never be left standing in the 
cup. After stirring or sipping a bev¬ 
erage, the spoon should be removed and 
placed on the saucer or, if no saucer is 
used on the side of the plate. The 
spoon should be dipped away from one, 
and food should be sipped from' the 
side. 
THE PICTUKES ON OUR WALLS 
E hear much about good reading 
and good music in our homes; but 
rarely anything about good pictures; 
yet they are a great factor in home 
influence. I remember reading of the 
woman who went to her pastor say¬ 
ing that her oldest son had gone to 
sea and now the second son wished to 
FLYING SUMMER 
AIR June hath lightly run her 
race. 
While running it, her sweet, bright 
face 
Was wet with tears and wreathed 
in smiles. 
Her tears were rain-drops, none 
the less. 
Her smiles, Sunshine and Happi¬ 
ness. 
And of them each she’s freely 
given 
To make bleak Earth resemble 
Heaven. 
( 
For June, all through her fleeing 
hours 
Hath scattered Joy and Cheer 
about. 
List! Hear the children laugh and 
shout 
A-romping gaily mid her flowers. 
So hasten! Let us choose a gift 
And gaily on sweet June bestow it. 
But quickly! Quickly! Time’s 
adrift! 
July will be here ’fore we know it. 
^Herbert Logan Clevenger 
go also. She could Tiot understand it 
and asked if he had any explanation. 
The pastor asked to see the room where 
the boys slept and the first thing he 
observed was a fine painting of a ship 
on a sunlit sea. “There,” said he, “is 
the influence that calls your boys.” 
Day in and day out, early and late, 
the picture was silently and uncon¬ 
sciously wooing them. 
I know a mother who cut out pictures 
and pinned them on the wall of the 
wee boy’s playroom and many a lesson 
of kindness to animals, love of flowers, 
and appreciation of beauty he learned 
from them. 
Too often our walls are portrait gal¬ 
leries, and our children gaze on dead 
and gone ancestors whom they never 
saw. How much better to keep these 
photographs in the family album, ac¬ 
cessible to those who wish to view them 
and concealed from those who do not. 
Then there ai’e the gaudy, high- 
colored lithographs that have a way 
of stealing in our collections. "When 
we rearrange our houses, let us in¬ 
spect our pictures carefully. 'We need 
not be artists to discriminate between 
the trashy and the good. I^et the first 
que.stion be: “is it natural, does it look 
like real things in life and nature?” 
and again, “does it harmonize with its 
surroundings?” 
Choose for Simplicity and Beauty 
Too many pictures spoil a good effect. 
Two or three really good pictures are 
much better than many that are in¬ 
ferior. As I write, I look at the walls 
of my living room and see a copy of 
Mona Lisa, one of the Madonna and 
Child and a pastoral scene in a plain 
chestnut frame. They are not over 
crowded and each stands out for our in¬ 
spection. Special care should be taken 
in the selection of our frames. We 
should remember they are simply to 
contain the picture that we may be able 
to look at it, so they should be plain 
and neat, harmonizing with the colors 
in the picture. The chestnut frames 
are excellent for many pictures and 
plain gilt and white frames are adapted 
for bright water colors for the living 
room. 
We do not need great wealth to pro¬ 
cure good pictures. Copies of the 
masterpieces are obtainable at reason¬ 
able prices. If I were to suggest some 
for the living room I would include 
The Last Supper and Mona Lisa by 
Leonardo Da Vinci. The Sistine Ma¬ 
donna by Raphael seems to cast a spell 
on all who behold it. Pharoah’s Horses, 
The Angelus, Hanging Of The Crane, 
and all landscape and pastoral scenes 
which are true to nature are appropri¬ 
ate.— Mrs. George Gray. 
“DID YOU EVER TRY?” 
O NE of the greatest helps for the 
busy housewife is the use of an 
old-fashioned piano or organ stool in 
the kitchen for work that can be accom¬ 
plished while sitting as well as stand¬ 
ing. It is invaluable when ironing 
since it can be raised or lowered to any 
desired height. One can turn to the 
table or stove more readily than when 
standing. 
* * * 
If varnish is spilled on white goods 
moisten the stain with ammonia, then 
put on a few drops of turpentine and 
roll up. In fifteen minutes it can be 
washed out with warm, soapy water, 
leaving no stain. 
* 
When there is considerable strain on 
a button, sew a small button on the 
under side, pulling the thread through 
the holes in the smaller button the same 
time it is pulled through the holes in 
the larger one. This takes the strain 
from the cloth. 
* ♦ * 
Here is a good way to clean wall 
paper: Take equal parts salt, flour, 
and vinegar. Stir while, cooking until 
thick enough to work like putty. When 
cool take a piece in the hand and work 
as you would dough and rub on wall. 
It cleans coal smoke and other dirt 
very well. 
**!(■' 
An old shirt makes a good cover for 
garments that are to be hung in a 
closet. Cut the shirt off under the 
arms and sew up to slip over garment. 
Enough opening is left to slip hanger 
top through. 
* * ♦ 
Old wool garments that are to be re¬ 
modeled should be ripped open and 
cleaned before storage. The chance 
for moths to destroy them is not so 
great.— Mrs. W. E. Farver. 
Mother keeps discarded safety razor 
blades in the sewing basket and usei 
them for ripping and cutting threads. 
Ever^ng About 
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