FOURTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VIII. 597 



work to do be educated in housekeeping and home-making. They should 

 be able to supply their households with food which is nourishing — which 

 not only sustains life but meets the requirements of that life and builds 

 up the part which needs it most. She should be able to choose her food 

 intelligently and economically and to know when she is buying it just 

 what its value is in terms of bodily vigor. She should also be able to 

 look at her house from a sanitary standpoint and recognize the import- 

 ance of attention to small details connected with the planning of a 

 house, the disposal of all waste matter, its heating, lighting and ventila- 

 tion as well as its cleansing. 



Moreover, she should be able to clothe the body in such a manner 

 that it is pleasing to the eye, and at the same time not forget the com- 

 fort necessary for every active person. 



"Why not let them learn these things at home?" do you ask? That 

 may be all right in theory, but they do not learn them at home. "There 

 are still old-fashioned homes, mothers and daughters, but there are in- 

 creasing numbers of children, both of the poor and well to do, who for 

 one reason and another are not doing things at home, and in face of the 

 serious results of such a condition it would seem to devolve upon the 

 school to supply the lack. 



Another question which has arisen is the place where such instruc- 

 tion should be given. Nearly all of the agricultural colleges throughout 

 the country have courses in this work, as well as many of the colleges 

 and universities. This is all very well as far as it goes, but only one girl 

 out of every five hundred in America enjoys the advantages of a college 

 education, and shall the four hundred and ninety-nine be deprived of 

 this work? Certainly not. The place for the teaching of domestic 

 science is in the public schools, and in response to this need many of 

 the grammar and high schools in our cities have a thorough course in 

 cooking and sewing in connection with their other work. The work has 

 been in operation long in the colleges of our country and it has been very 

 successful. To give you an idea of the work which is being done along 

 this line, I would like to tell you of our work at Ames. The work we 

 are doing there ought to be understood by the people of our State for 

 the college is the people's college — your money helps pay the expenses 

 of that college and we want you to know how we are using your money. 

 We want you to understand the work you are supporting and we would 

 be very glad if you might visit our institution and see these things for 

 yourselves. There are two courses offered young women who wish 

 to take the work in domestic economy. One a four-year course, the other 

 a two-year teacher'a course, designed especially to meet the needs of 

 those who have had previous training in college work and who wish to 

 teach this special branch. In the four-year course the cooking and sew- 

 ing are given alternately throughout the whole course, one term be- 

 ing devoted to cooking, the next to sewing, etc. In the freshman year 

 the girls take up the study of foods from the standpoint of their compo- 

 sition, nutritive value, digestibility and cost. In the laboratory work 

 they are taught to prepare some of the simpler dishes in the best way, 

 and are given experimental work to determine the effect of different 



