596 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



fit a girl for a higher and nobler life it should be given a place even if 

 it means the omission of some other study. The school life of a person 

 is short at best, and only the studies which are going to help in the life 

 work should be included. There are many useless things in the course 

 today, — many things which to the student carry no meaning, which have 

 no connection with their life. Instead of this useless cramming of facts, 

 let us apply these facts to the life of the pupils. Give them science with 

 practice and these facts when applied to the work they are doing daily 

 will give them a new meaning as well as add new dignity to their work. 

 Then for the final answer let us turn to the schools which have adopted 

 such a course. It has been demonstrated that the girls in grammar and 

 high schools will spend two or three hours a week in the school kitchen 

 without any loss in their other studies. This is the unanimous verdict 

 of all schools having adopted it. The work comes as a diversion and 

 relieves the mind from the strain and worry caused by purely mental 

 work. It also giveg, them something to which they can link their other 

 studies, for there is scarcely a branch taught that does not apply, either 

 directly or indirectly to domestic science. 



The second objection — that it would lower the standard of intellec- 

 tual education — has also been met and answered by experience. Pro- 

 vided always that it is given on scientific principles, and in the right 

 proportion, it is found a help to mental progress instead of a hindrance. 

 A prominent educator says: "The change of thought and physical exercise 

 starts the blood in a healthful circulation and brightens and strengthens 

 one's mental faculties. Every study which a person takes up should be 

 worth infinitely more to him all through life because it will become a 

 living thing to him in connection with the work of his hands." * * 



"It is a sad fact that the pupil who begins work at the end of his course, 

 begins to lose the knowledge acquired, there in that course, which has 

 no visible connection with his work. Thus in a few years it has faded 

 almost entirely away. If, however, the pupil had received enough manual 

 training to demonstrate the scientific principles which he was taught he 

 would retain his scientific knowledge and use it through life. A close 

 relation between an intellectual and practical training must of neces- 

 sity elevate and strengthen the mind." 



The importance of domestic science in the education of a girl is very 

 great. Her whole life, as well as the lives of the generations who come 

 after her, will be influenced by her knowledge or lack of knowledge of 

 this subject. It is ini the homes of this nation that her power lies. It 

 has been said that poor food is the cause of more deaths than alcoholic 

 drinks, and who can estimate the bad tempers, the fretfulness and general 

 discomfort and misery which is in multitudes of our homes today — the 

 direct result of improperly nourished bodies. It is a recognized fact that 

 insufficient or improper food is responsible for much of the intemperance 

 in the world. And not only our health and strength is dependent upon 

 the care we give our bodies, but our intellectual life, and even our morals 

 are directly dependent upon the same course. 



If then, so vastly much depends upon the food we eat, and the homes 

 in which we live, how important it is that the women who have this 



