156 ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE ^ Off. Doc. 



and Arabian hospitality, and it means, in fine, that you are 

 to be perfectly and always 'ladies,' 'loafgivers.' " Such is Ras- 

 kin's definition of cooker}'. But how are our daughters to learn all 

 this carefulness, economy and science. In former years their only 

 chance for obtaining it was at home, and many a child's home sur- 

 roundings were such a^ to deprive her of proper instruction. At the 

 present time the demand is being made that the State, through its 

 public schools, shall offer to every child a chance to learn the funda- 

 mentals, not only in cookery, but in the other subjects that come 

 under the head of domestic science. 



All arguments in favor of manual training in schools apply equally 

 well to domestic science. Each of these implies more than mere 

 dexterity of the hand. They include an expansion of all the senses, 

 and enable the brain to express itself through the hand to the gen- 

 eral improvement of the individual. Education of this kind should 

 give keenness of observation, deftness of touch, and also develop 

 the senses of smell and taste. In the past, domestic science was 

 unrecognized and the whole trend of education was away from 

 home-making. Good citizenship and good government are possible 

 only as the result of good homes; and our public schools can have 

 no higher aim than to Sid in placing the home life of the nation upon 

 a higher plane. 



Food is the pivot on which the temperance and labor questions 

 revolve. A better use of money in providing wholesome well-cooked 

 food would do much toward the solution of both problems. Foods 

 which stimulate rather than nourish tend to produce intemperance, 

 strikes and anarchy. The French Revolution has been ascribed to 

 the half-starved condition of the people. What a man eats, that he 

 is — or as the French have it, it is the "soup that makes the soldier." 



If, then, our food forms so large a part of the basis of our happi- 

 ness, what more important subject for study can be introduced into 

 our educational system. But the study of domestic science means 

 more than the mere question of food. It means the consideration of 

 the best conditions and methods of home life; how to feed, clothe and 

 shelter the human being in accordance with the laws of his whole 

 nature. These laws of life form part of other sciences which are 

 considered essential to be taught in schools, such as physics, chem- 

 istry, physiology, biology, etc. Why should not the relation of these 

 sciences to the welfare of the home be taught also, especially to the 

 daughters of the race, the majority of whom will be the home-makers 

 of the future. Indeed, domestic science is synonymous with home- 

 making. 



What will be the advantage of raising household economics to the 

 high rank of a science and what will it profit to dignify it thus? 

 Much everyway. To make household science worthy the name will 

 dignify household labor. Domestic work will then become the carry- 



