170 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



perhaps because his wife has been too busy with home duties to satis- 

 factorily entertain him of evenings, and he would have his daughter 

 so trained both for himself and her possible husband, forgetting 

 that his wife has had to learn her science of home making in the 

 hard, slow school of experience after marriage, and to spend the 

 time that he wishes were free for music on these homely lessons. 

 He should be made to realize that his daughter will have the same 

 trouble if she doesn't study home economics as well as music. 



On the other hand, many a mother's idea of the last of her girl's 

 schooling is that it should be such as not to interfere with her hav- 

 ing a good time, "for," as she says, "she will have to settle down 

 all too soon" (i. e., she will if she marries as young as her mother 

 did) "to the hard drudgery of life." Such a mother needs to be 

 told that her daughter need not find housekeeping a drudgery if 

 prepared for it professionally, and that by giving up some good 

 times now she may hope to have time and strength for good times 

 all the rest of her life. 



Summarizing, then! 



Due to increasing standards of living and the increased time 

 necessary for a man to become prepared to earn a living, the aver- 

 age age of marriage is getting later and later. While she waits, 

 the girl in society frequently gets sick and tired of life, sometimes 

 becoming a nervous invalid if kept with nothing to do. At the 

 ordinary college the domestically inclined but not scholarly girl 

 often wastes both her own time and that of her instructors because 

 she fails to elect home economics. If the waiting girl goes to work 

 she frequently does it with only a hasty preparation that lowers 

 the standard of woman's work and makes her discontented with 

 her lot, but she generally lives up to her income, acquiring such 

 high standards of living that she is not willing to marry a man who 

 is earning, perhaps, but little more. 



Parents and advisors are slow to realize the change in condi- 

 tions, and frequently recommend short-sighted remedies. The 

 lengthened time of waiting is very valuable and should be spent 

 in preparing for home making in its broadest sense as seriously as 

 any man prepares for his life work. In addition to this, the young 

 woman should also prepare professionally to earn money, not only 

 that she may be able to live happily and independently if her 

 partner never comes, but that she may be able to choose him freely 

 if he does, and in case of widowhood, she may have resources ready. 

 It is easiest, in many cases, to prepare for all this at the same 



