h a little of the grape juice.

* * * * *

Shelving Responsibility

"I'll ask my husband."

"I don't think my husband would allow me to do that."

"I'm sure Jack would say 'No.'"

Do you know the wife who, whenever she does not want to do anything,
always places the responsibility on her husband's shoulders?

She knows quite well that she can do almost anything she likes with her
husband, and that there are really precious few things that he _would_
say "No" to her doing, but she finds that to say her husband would never
allow her to do this, or that, is a very easy way of saying "No" to
people without offending them.

But it's not quite fair on the husband really, because, after a time,
people begin to think that he really must be rather a bear to be so
strict with his wife.

And he gets disliked, very often, accordingly.

If you don't want to do a thing, _say_ so; don't make your husband the
scapegoat.

Of course the wife who does this kind of thing never dreams that people
will blame her husband: it's just a convenient fiction to her.

But people are apt to think less of her husband because of it.

So you'll be wise to find some other excuse when excuses are
necessary.--_Exchange._

A Necessity in the Pantry

"How can you get along without a ham in the house?" asked one housewife
of another; "to me it is as necessary as anything we ever have in our
pantry."

This housewife, in saying the above, echoed the sentiments of many
others. There is no meat more "necessary" in the house than good ham.
Not only is the meat there in all its nutriment but it is
preserved--that is, cured and smoked--in such a way that there is given
to it a piquancy which whets the appetite and gives a stimulus to the
gastric juices, thus aiding--so the doctors tell us--the process of
digestion.

In so many cases of convalescence where the appetite is flagging and the
digestion weak, ham and bacon are prescribed, both for their tonic and
nutritive value.

On the crisp snappy mornings of autumn when a hearty breakfast is
necessary and the appetite has not yet recovered from the jading effects
of the hot weather what could be more tempting and more nourishing than
a slice of broiled ham--broiled just enough to be thoroughly cooked and
yet not enough to discolor the delicious appetising pink color of the
meat. Even the aroma thrown out in the process of cooking sends a
tempting appeal t