The prices of all these things are very low as prices go these days. In some of the realms, however, the prices vary so from day to day that one is afraid to mention them. But, whatever the prices are, the devices are worth the cost in helpfulness and service. And, strange as it may seem, the kitchen denizen, imperial though she be, rarely dowers herself with the time-saving, step-saving apparatus. SCALES AND SHARPENERS Kitchen scales, good ones, are really indispensable to the careful housekeeper. The balance type is the most accurate and costs from $8 up. Very often you can test your purchases and if under weight you can scold the grocer (what fun!) and if over weight--but what’s the good of dream stuff here? The hanging spring scale is accurate and costs from $2.50 up. (See Chapter XL on Measures.) “Oh, for a sharp knife!” A feminine and hopeless cry often ... but the carborundum knife sharpener (30 to 50 cents) would obviate the humiliation and let the lady cut a big swathe with her menfolk--if they found sharp carving knives set before them. There are many types of sharpeners on the market. Some of them, of course, are quite expensive. Buy the best in this case as in every other case. The best is an investment; less than the best is an expenditure. Nothing can cut down the antagonism between time and service like vegetable slicers. They slice any vegetable and cost about $2.50 up. Do you realize what such a donation could mean? Could any little fluffy-ruffle pincushion mean so much to anybody, be she cook or pauper? If you want to give something in the realm of a card for Easter, Christmas or New Year, or some trifle in the case of another sort of anniversary, why not send some of the silencers for kitchen chair and table legs at 10 cents a set? Or the permanent gas lighters for 25 cents. They are convenient and amusing. Owning a rotary fruit parer ($1.50 up) saves energy and caters to your sense of form, as the fruit can be served unangular and with little waste, and besides, the cook’s imperial temper is not stirred. TABLE BELLS AND GRIDDLES Table bells of sweet tintinabulation save the nerves. At any rate there is poetry in such a gift, and one can spend from $1.50 to any price at all on these romantic things, as they also come in the precious metals. There may be many domiologists with doubts about cake, bread and mayonnaise mixers, but if you ever gave any of these articles to a household, you would go down into history as a benefactor. I wonder often why so many of us forget that such gifts are really gold mines. No one likes to do unnecessary cleaning and scraping of utensils, so the aluminum waffle and griddle are presents of unusual pleasure-giving potentialities. The prices here are prone to fluctuation but there are always sizes to be had around $4.50. The electric ones cost three or four times as much.