Metal weather strips! So important are they in relation to comfort and peace in the house that they should really be included in the specifications for the building of a home. Besides keeping out wintry blasts, they contribute much to a quiet atmosphere. In the first place, they help to keep the din of the street from indoors; also when they are applied to the interior of doors, the noise from one room doesn’t easily reach another. Windows that carry weather strips slide up and down easily. And a good word can be said of the weather-stripped door. A door with this silencer about it closes quietly and surely; even if one is in a hurry, the door does not show it. Another device for lessening the sound of doors shutting is a piston noise retarder. It has an air cushion which is attached to the frame of the door and the piston is fixed to the door. This keeps the door from slamming. Screen doors, which are of no use unless they shut quite tightly, should be fitted with this device. Children will bless it and so will the servants in the house. All these things should be considered both as to price and comfort when you are planning your house, so that when you first begin to live in it you find peace and quiet, instead of a succession of irritating worries. A small device but one not to be regarded lightly, is a set of rubber or glass furniture protectors which, when affixed to the legs of any piece of furniture, make it possible to move it about without noise and without any especial effort. These protectors also save the floor and keep the carpets from being worn and torn. They are easily attached and not expensive. The “silence cloth” on the dining table, whether made of cloth or asbestos, is another means of lessening disturbing sounds in a house. And in some homes I have known it to be a rule that all the servants must wear rubber heels. This not only lessens the noise in the house, but it mitigates, to a very great extent, the weariness felt by busy maids who are on their feet practically all day long. A great deal of the clattering sound in a kitchen can be avoided by lining the cutlery drawers with felt, so that when silver and knives are put away the clashing of pieces together is avoided. Pantry dresser drawers should be lined in the same way. This lining felt can easily be installed by pasting or tacking, and it is not expensive. A place for everything and everything in its place is an especially good idea in connection with the pots and pans in a kitchen. Much of the annoying sound from this source can be obviated by hanging the utensils, because most of the sound is due to the falling together of pots and pans as they are piled on top of each other when being put away on the shelves after use.