Show I Just What Do You Hoard I t I By FLORENCE BITTNER j If II you need a good converS conversation conver toner S i I cation opener ask the people around you ou what they hoard I People keep the strangest things There are some fairly essential objects like husband husbands husbands hus hus- I bands band and the checkbook and the kids but in addition there are some things people conI consider consider con con- sider important to keep which I would really never be missed if U they were lost I AUNT Martha saves string and wrapping Tapping paper She threw away the Czechoslovakian cut cutglass cutglass cutglass glass vase which my mother rescued from her garbage pail 1 and which now graces the top of my ray piano She threw away all Uncle Jims Jim's fishing gear but he said saidI I he didn't enjoy fishing any anymore anymore anymore more anyway after she threw i out his bis fishing h hat t HE SAID his hat was what ff f made him such a good fisherman fisher fisher- man because the fish came 1 up tip for a second look not 1 j quite believing the first firsti i glimpse and he caught them themon themI 1 l on the way down what with I them being so busy shaking their heads about what fishermen fisher fisher- men were coming to But she says you just never I know when youre you're going to toI I need string and wrapping t paper so she will spend a half hall hour undoing the knots in m string and opening the I paper just so flattening it out outi i and folding it back into squares and tucking it into the closet where she keeps the f wrapping napping paper and string THE STRING is tied onto the end of the last piece she saved all rolled into a ball balland balland balland and tucked into the closet Uncle Jim says she's lots more I interested in what's on a package pack pack- age than what's in it He says the closet is so full of string and wrapping Tapping I paper the door will hardly cl close but she says Now you know that's not so Jim Just last week when you wanted to send off that book to Mardie i 1 you couldn't find a piece of P pa paper ar Pe r to fit fit I OH OR I finally found a piece but tot the mice mic had eaten a abole bole in the middle of it t Now Jim that's not funny k I 1 dont don't have mice I r t i YES YOU do Generations r of them have been born married mar- mar 1 ned ried and died in that closet I rat fat t and contented and you 1 I dont don't even know they're there i I hA Some ome people keep things just because le they cant can't bear to i throw wow throw them away Like lefto left- left o tiers ers My Marian i neighbor f says ays its it's lots easier to throw throwaway throwaway throwaway away that half cup of string tans bears ns after they have aged in the refrigerator a few days I r- r SHE SAVES bottles I have to have something ng to put leftovers leftovers leftovers left left- overs in George complains quite a bit about her refrigerator ator calls it the most uninspired uninspired un un- un- un inspired snack-box snack in town but she says she is always prepared to put on a meal at a moments moment's notice being well supplied with bits of this and some of that Lots of things come under the Cant bear to throwaway throw throwaway throwaway away heading Like the shade that went to the green lamp the kids broke Its It's an odd shape and if we ever get another lamp like that well we'll need a shade and well we'll never be able to find one Of course its it's even harder to find a alamp alamp alamp lamp to fit the shade but you never can tell THEN THERE are the un- un fir projects They take up quite a bit of room in our house My files for example Any well prepared speaker or teacher needs a file to back them up and I have the best collection of good intentions intentions intentions in town Boxes of things I cant can't bear to part with are irreplaceable ir irreplaceable irreplaceable ir- ir ir- ir replaceable and will be everso everso ever everso so valuable when I get time timeto timeto to get them filed so I can find them when I want them I HAVE a number of half embroidered pillow cases and begun crocheted table cloths I have a whole drawer full of quilt tops that my grandmother grandmother grandmother grand grand- mother started my mother worked at and I intend to get at one day soon Probably the best possible way to get rid of the accumulation accumulation ac ac- ac- ac of junk in the house is for husband and wife to cooperate on the clean- clean out He decides what she can keep and she decides what he can get along with with- out THEY 1 MAY Y never speak to each other again but the house will be practically empty The problem is the definition definition definition defini defini- tion of junk and precious possessions and its it's all a matter of who they belong to If its it's yours its it's precious possession if it belongs to someone else its it's junk SOME OF our friends say sayI I wait on Mr B B. B hand and foot and they're right I do What they dont don't know is Id I'd a alot alot lot ot rather get up and get it for him than have him rummaging around looking for forit forit forit it because long before he finds what he started to look for hes he's found a dozen things I should have thrown away years ago and by the time he gets out of my kitchen he has me organized on an efficiency basis again and it takes days for me to find anything I have to admit h hes he's s 's right though I do have a lot of things I should get rid of but the trouble is I cant can't find the one essential I need before I can get things cleaned out I can never seem to find the time |