34 The Bulletin. 



UNDESIBABLE CONDITIONS. 



What are some of the conditions in the home-life of our people which are 

 calling for attention? Remember that my fight is not against unavoidable 

 poverty, but only against the hard conditions of life which can be remedied. 

 I have been in more than one farm-home where at meal-time the children 

 lined up at the table on a bench without a hack, which they had to step over,^ 

 or squeeze around the end, in order to get to their assigned places, and iu 

 order to get away from the table again each child (unless he be on the end 

 seat) must choose between swinging his feet up and around almost into the- 

 faces of his brothers and sisters or turning a sort of backward summersault. 

 This may be a slight exaggeration on the truth as to the method of escape, 

 but it is no exaggeration on the seating arrangements as found in many of 

 our homes, oven of those who could afford to do much better. A separate- 

 chair, even though a cheap one, for each person would be much better. 



Upon one occasion I was in a home in this State to take dinner. The house 

 was old and in poor repair, and I suppose it was out of courtesy to the com- 

 pany that the children were given the poorer places at table. Be that as it 

 may, a ten-year-old boy sat down in his chair (he had a chair) and simply 

 leaned his back against the back of the chair as if to rest — did not tilt the 

 chair at all ; but the floor beneath was so uneaven and the chair so rickety 

 that it fell over backward, and he was reproved for his carelessness. 



I have been in many a farm-home where the cracks in the floor allowed 

 too free and too unhealthy ventilation. We speak of our mild and healthful 

 climate and our good wiijter season, but I spent a winter in Canada two 

 years ago (1905-'06), and wish to tell you that in my candid opinion the peo- 

 ple in the region where I was suffer less from cold in the winter than our 

 people do iu this State. The houses are built warmer, provided with extra 

 doors and shutters ; the winter season finds a huge wood-pile at the back 

 door, and the cold season, always expected and even hoped for, finds the 

 thrifty Canadians prepared to make it the leading season for home comforts 

 and social gaiety, as indeed it is. 



Any of you may find homes, I am sure, where you may know, judging from 

 the size of the family and the size of the house, that when night comes the 

 children are crowded three or four iu a bed, and then probably some others 

 scattered about on mattresses or blankets on the, floor. And how frequently we 

 see houses of the poorer class where the space left by the breaking of a win- 

 dow-pane is filled with an old pair of dad's last years breeches. Let con- 

 sumption or some other deadly infectious disease get into these unsanitary 

 homes and we find one after another dying of the affliction, until the dis- 

 tracted mother and father conclude that the hand of the Lord is heavy on 

 them, when in reality the affliction is the inevitable result of simple ignorance 

 or wilful neglect. 



These matters I bring to your attention to show that there is much need 

 for us to improve our homes with reference to physical comfort and health, 

 not to mention the mental development which we will consider later. I know 

 that I have just mentioned some extreme cases, but even our extremes should 

 not be such. We have many very comfortable farm homes, but let not those 

 who live in them imagine that the problems of squalor, poverty, ignorance 

 and indolence are confined to the slums of London or New York. 



SOME HOUSEHOLD CONVENIENCES. 



Not to encroach on the subjects which are properly discussed by the ladies 

 at their own meetings of the Institute, I wish to mention only a few of the 

 conveniences which the man of the house should insist on providing (always, 

 mind you, if his Dicans ivUI permit), for they count in a marked degree for 

 the well-being of the wife who might otherwise -deny herself too much. There 

 are three implements which should be in evei'y house where the family does 

 their own work, and these should be of the best make possible to secure. 

 They are: (1) a flrst-class cooking-range (not a mere stove); (2) a good 

 sewing-machine, and (3) a washing-machine. These cost money, and you 

 must buy them to the best advantage. If you can do just as well with the- 



