FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 129 



is "master of the situation," equal to any emergency, and that in her 

 own peculiar province she can by no means "be found wanting," and 

 best of all, that her husband and her children will rise up and call her 

 "blessed." 



WANTED TODAY— MORE HOMEMAKERS. 



BY MRS. CARRIE IVES SAUNDERS^ SAGINAW. 



Domestic Science and Home Making means a knowledge of something 

 more than just cooking, cleaning and sewing. It means, among other 

 things, that the fathers and mothers should realize that they are the 

 "builders of the home of the souls of their children." Think carefully 

 of all that this last sentence means and that it should be the desire of 

 the majority to produce and show to the world the best specimens of 

 manhood and womanhood possible. 



Fathers and mothers are appointed by God as stewards to care for 

 their children that He has endowed with life, and they will be account- 

 able to Him for that stewardship. More children go wrong through lack 

 of sympathy, confidence and appreciation from parents, than from any 

 other cause. A child should early be taught to obey through love be- 

 cause papa and mamma know best, never threatened with punishment, or 

 continually scolded. Parents should so live as to court the fullest con- 

 fidence of their children and then never betray that confidence. 



Furnish the home with plenty of good wholesome reading matter, dis- 

 cuss with the members of the family "current events," the news of the 

 day, looking up on some map the location of places where these things 

 happen. Give the children something to think about, and do with their 

 hands. Teach them to be self-helpful, change about and read aloud. 

 Give them books containing "History and Mystery of Common Things." 

 Tell them the why and wherefore of things instead of putting them ofif 

 with, "Don't ask so many questions," "Go out of doors and play," or. 

 perhaps, send them unattended into a remote part of the house where 

 they may get into unforgetable mischief. Teach your children early in 

 life that they are your helpers, that you could not possibly get along 

 without their assistance. God help the children that are so frequently 

 reminded that they are a burden, that it costs so much to educate and 

 clothe them, and that they are not worth bringing up. Such talk strikes 

 a blow every time that drives them farther and farther away from your 

 heart and home and in time of old age and second childhood, when the 

 parents perhaps have met with reverses, the children whose hearts were 

 starved in their infancy, will starve and neglect the heart and comfort 

 of the father and mother who bore them. 



Children certainly should be taught early in life the value of money 

 by letting each one purchase and keep account of the supplies for the 

 family. Take them with you to market, into dry-goods stores, show them 

 the difference between good and unreliable goods, give them a voice in 

 selecting material for their own wearing apparel, then, when thrown 

 upon their own resources, they will make fewer mistakes. The boys as 

 well as the girls should be taught to help mother with her work. It is 

 17 



