13S STATE BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. 



interwoven with the comfort or discomfort of the community. Therefore, it is that 

 women today as well as men— nay, far more than men— need and are seeking and 

 demanding a' training that they may live a true, full life. 



I will limit my remarks to the value of training to the women Avho are the home 

 makers, it seems to be just dawning upon womankind that the care of the house- 

 hold and of the children is a profession for which the best training is not too much. 

 What, then, is the training that the woman at the liead of a home needs, and 

 why? First and foremost, I believe she needs a liberal education. I would not 

 limit liberal education to mean a college education exclusively. Travel with the 

 right sort of companion may bring it. "But," you say, "that is just as far out of 

 our reach as a college education." Then be content to live simpler and have some 

 leisure time to sperTd on literature, music or art, and with refined, educated peo- 

 ple. Some of the happiest, most useful women we know have been self-educated, 

 and that, too, done largely after marriage, and often done with their children. 



But of what value is this liberal education to the home-maker? First, it en- 

 riches the woman herself, hence the home. It hardly seems necessary to dwell upon 

 this point. Even the child feels it. I kneAv a little girl who, when her mother was 

 debating the advisability of taking a European trip and leaving her daughter with 

 her grandmother, exclaimed, "Oh, yes, mamma, do go. You will be so much more 

 interesting when you return!" 



Second, the homemaker needs a liberal education to retain the sympathies of 

 her children. How blessed it is that our admiration and love are based more on 

 character than on education, but it is true that, other things being equal, we trust 

 more, and so love more, those who are intelligently interested in our work. So the 

 child will unconsciously be drawn more to the mother who has the knowledge which 

 enables her to be intelligently interested in the c-hild's interest and need. 



Further, the wife and mother needs a liberal education that she may store up 

 within herself resources for times of difficulty, loneliness or sorrow. An education 

 gives one a perspective, a power of discriminating between the values of conflict- 

 ing duties and attractions; between what is small and must be overlooked, for- 

 gotten, and what is serious and must be encountered, battled against; between 

 what is but a passing attraction, a fad, the attainment of which is of no lasting 

 value, and that which promises to be of permanent value, and so may be profitably 

 striven for. With this power of discrimination she can throw off small disappoint- 

 ments. Large ones may be tided over by spiritual and intellectual resources 

 within. 



The fourth advantage which an educated woman enjoys is that it facilitates her 

 in the acquiring of a special training. She may forget, and probably will, many 

 facts learned in her study of history, mathematics and language, but her mind has 

 been ti-ained to do accurate work. Quickness of perception has been gained. These 

 habits will be of great help in taking up domestic work. A college graduate, now 

 wife of one of our State University professors, once said to me after her marriage, 

 that although before marriage she had never cooked or performed any duties of a 

 housekeeping nature, she had experienced no difficulties in managing her house- 

 'hold. She attributed her success to her college training. I only half agreed with 

 her, but I think there was enough truth in what she said to be worth the thought. 

 A well trained mind takes up and masters any work easier than one that has not 

 had the training. 



I said that first and foremost a woman needed a liberal education. In addition 

 to this, it is quite important that she have a special training for domestic life. 



Under the special education comes, first, the training in cooking. One need 

 hardly enlarge upon the joys and far reaching effects of a wholesome meal, appe- 

 tizingiy served by one whodoes it with perfect ease. Confusion and worry on the 

 part of the server destroys the wholesome effect of the meal. Ease can only come 

 from consciousness of good cooking which comes from training. Besides, a train- 

 ing in cooking, a training in elementary physiology and hygiene, is quite as im- 

 portant to the woman at the head of a home. The statement is made that five per 

 cent of all children born in the United States die under five years of age; that it 

 costs one hundred dollars to bring a child into the world in a family of the laboring 

 class. This includes loss of labor on the part of the mother, doctor's bill, medi- 

 cine and nursing. In families of a higher class the expense will be more. How im- 

 portant, then, it is that a child which costs so much in money and vital energy should 

 be reared. The ignorance of parents is largely responsible for the great loss of life. 

 No one is fit to be married till a good knowledge of applied physiology is theirs. A 



