158 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE • ^ Off. Doc. 



with the book, often have marked success with hand-work, thus 

 awakening- their own self-respect and gaining the respect of others. 

 Those who are reared in homes of wealth, equally with those born in 

 povert.y, need this training. One of the great perils of this nation, 

 as of all others, is the close distinction between the rich and the 

 poor and the barriers that grow up between them. A part of this 

 dithculty arises from the fact that many have grown up to despise 

 those who labor with their hands. When the cultivated teacher is 

 seen in the garb of the toiler and when all pupils, rich and poor, work 

 with their hands together, labor is honored and ennobled and false 

 ideas are corrected before they become fixed. 



Undoubtedly, what can be taught in the schools will be but an 

 outline and a beginning, a foundation to build on in the future, but 

 even this foundation of domestic science will be well worth all the 

 time and trouble that may be spent in procuring its establishment. 



If possible, it will be well to have such scientific training given 

 equally to boys and girls, for such teaching will have a moral re- 

 sult as well as a technical value in teaching boys properly to esti- 

 mate what they are now apt to scorn as inferior work merely be- 

 cause they deem it woman^s work. 



The pupil should begin to learn by going through all the opera- 

 tions from cleaning stoves and building fires, to the more artistic ar- 

 rangements of the household. It is only by practical knowledge con- 

 cerning every branch of labor that is carried on in a household, that 

 a woman can have a feeling of real independence. It would seem 

 that every person who can hold a brush ought to know how to scrub 

 a pine table or floor. On the contrary, says one writer: "Imagine my 

 surprise when the domestic scientist who was my instructor proved 

 to me that the way I imagined it should be done was the way of all 

 ways the worst. I wonder how many present have learned that an 

 unpainted wooden table can only be kept in its most beautiful state 

 of whiteness when scrubbed with cold water. It was at any rate a 

 revelation to me who had supposed grease could be extracted only 

 with the hottest of hot water." 



What we need is to exalt the profession of home-making; to show 

 that it is as dignified and requires as much intelligence as other pro- 

 fessions. While much of the work of the house can be, and is done 

 by untrained women, it would be better and more economically 

 managed if these women had more and better training. There are 

 no talents too varied, no education too complete, no training too per- 

 fect to find use and exercise in household affairs. 



The number of these handcrafts in the schools grows wider every 

 year, and if the daily life can be made healthier and happier, what 

 matter if a little arithmetic and language get crowded out. There 

 should be no distinction of sex in the earlier lessons of the manual 



