Page:Home labor saving devices (1917).djvu/20

 duties of her present position, she has had abundant facilities for becoming familiar with the conditions prevailing in country homes. Having maintained sympathetic relationships with country women for many years, she knows their problems and their needs, and she is also familiar with the sources from which help may be drawn.

There can be no real improvement in social life in the country unless there is leisure time to be devoted to uplifting, cultural, and recreational purposes. The only way in which this may be obtained is by means of labor-saving and time-saving appliances. The articles here described are intensely practical and may be readily made in any home at a nominal cost. To make two blades of grass grow where one formerly grew is certainly a very valuable achievement; but to save muscles and nerves, and to give time and energy for mental and social and spiritual development, is far more valuable and desirable. If the information given in this book serves to lighten the burden and shorten the daily drudgery of a single housewife, its publication will be justified; and it should find a cordial reception in a multitude of homes.