My Neighbor’s Way

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 27, 1910

My Neighbor’s Way

New neighbors are always interesting, and a great deal may be learned from them. Mine is a frail little woman with three hearty children, and a robust, happy-looking husband. She keeps her pretty house in order, and her pretty children trim and neat. The frequent whirring of her sewing-machine attests to her doing her own sewing. Yet she finds time to look very comfortable and pretty on her porch in late afternoons and evenings, and to be friendly and social.

When I became well enough acquainted, I could not resist asking her how she did it.

“Indeed I do not mind telling you,” she said with a smile. “I am never very strong, and last year I was threatened with a serious breakdown. Plan the best way I could, the work for a family of five was becoming too much for me, yet I did not feel that we could afford hiring much done. ‘I could stand the housework if it were not for the cooking,’ I told my husband when we talked it over, ‘but when I am tired from the morning work, it seems as if I could not get dinner!’”

“Why not simplify the meals then?” he suggested; “leave out the salads and cakes and desserts that take so long to prepare. We shall be just as well off, and it will be better for the children.”

“At first I thought this impossible, as we are all so fond of such things; but the more I thought of it, the better the plan seemed to be.

“We have fruit and grains for breakfast, with one warm, substantial dish, fresh brown bread and butter, milk for the children, and cereal coffee for us grown-ups. We do not miss the absent cookies and doughnuts.

“We have our dinner at one o’clock. This meal consists of a simple soup, potatoes, and one other vegetable. The dessert is varied; sometimes it is fruit and cream with bread and butter. We frequently use custards; at other times nuts or home-made candy; and occasionally dried fruits, such as raisins, figs, and dates. At supper we let bread and butter with fruit take the place of the time-honored cake.

“On special occasions such as holidays and birthdays we have a cake with beautiful icing, or a real pie with two crusts, and value it accordingly.

“All this makes a great difference with my work. I have almost forgotten the trials of baking day, and I am sure we all feel better for our simpler living. The increased amount of fresh fruit and vegetables is very good for us, and our desire for sweets is satisfied with something simple and wholesome. I wish more busy mothers would give my plan a trial; for in this case ‘seeing is believing.’”—American Motherhood.