Needed most in the poorest home, the help of the grandmother is often appreciated in inverse ratio to the income.
In the circles above the poverty line there is much variety in the estimation and in the treatment of grandfathers and grandmothers.

The ideal picture of a family always has in its background, if not in the very front, an old man and an old woman, benevolent and sweet-natured, who can be depended upon to be more indulgent to the children than even the father or mother and who appear always in family emergencies to renew their youth of service in behalf of the younger generation.
What is thus ideally pictured is a fact in thousands of families.

No one can say that it is always best to have three generations under one roof, but all who have had a happy family experience believe that the grandparents should be "handy by," to use the Scotch phrase.

The grandparents' house in the country is best of all, where all family and national holidays can be celebrated with due form and in accordance with ancient tradition.

The grandparents' house for the city children is next best, if in a suburb near by where more space and independence of movement are possible than in the city residence.
The grandparents' house or apartment in the same or a near-by city is, however, not at all to be despised as a refuge when "Mother does not understand," or "Father is so particular." =Is Any House Large Enough for Two Families ?=--Although the proverb says, "No house was yet made large enough for two families," the residence of one grandparent (oftener the mother than the father) within the family circle has often proved highly successful if only a few rules have been observed.