FIFTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VI. 591 



breakfast unless the breakfast is at a very early hour, and ev n then I believe 

 it would be better for all concerned to have the children go to bed early 

 enough at night to awake and breakfast with the others. When once we 

 ascertain the amount of sleep our children need, we should plan for it with 

 the same regularity that we do for their food and clothing. 



I have been speaking with the thought in mind of one woman who does 

 the housework for the family, but in many homes there are others who are 

 willing and anxious to share her burdens. Shall our plans extend to them? 

 By all means, be they relatives, children or hired help. There will be less 

 friction and more leisure for all if each has her allotted task, and holds her- 

 self responsible for it. Then it is indeed a help to the housewife, whereas, 

 if she is helped a little here and a little there, and must look to the finishing 

 of everything herself, she might as well have dispensed with the other's as- 

 sistance. This applies to grown up help. In the case of children, the rule 

 must be taken with some exceptions. Not that I think children may not be 

 held responsible for the performance of certain light pieces of work, for I do 

 most emphatically, and think they may learn a valuable life lesson thereby, 

 but in many cases, I believe, a child's dislike for work would disappear, in 

 fact might never appear, if instead of giving her a task to do alone , we 

 should arrange the work so as to have her help us about our work. In this 

 way we should not only avoid the child's acquiring a dislike for work, but 

 at the same time teach lessons of neatness and dispatch. The time will 

 come when you will have to assign your daughter tasks which she must do 

 without your help and supervision, but if she has had this careful prepara- 

 tion she will not disappoint you. 



Did you ever stop to ask yourself why girls "just hate to wash dishes?" 

 Try the plan just mentioned and see if their dislike does not vanish. Where 

 there are several daughters, let each take her turn in helping you or one of 

 the older sisters, and when proficiency is attained in one department of 

 housework, let another be learned, and so on. The best education in 

 domestic economy which any girl can have is to work for years side by side 

 with a mother who seeks to ' 'look well to the ways of her household" from 

 garret to cellar. 



One more word before I pass from this branch of my subject — whatever 

 work you assign your daughter, be it much or little, let it be the unwritten 

 and unspoken constitution in the family, that when that work is finished, 

 she will have some time to herself. Do not call her to do some trifling 

 service for you unless there is real need of it. 



All that I have said so far has to do with the common, everyday work, 

 he problem that confronts us three hundred and sixty-five days every year, but 

 we all know there are times when the work is more than ordinarily strenuous. 

 Take the semi-annual h©use cleaning periods, times when the farmer's work 

 is rushing him and extra farm help must be kept, the spring days when the 

 little chickens need so much of our time and attention, the fruit season with 

 all its canning, pickling and preserving, the sewing which in large families 

 is an ever-present question. As these busy seasons multiply, methinks the 

 ticks of the pendulum grow fainter and fainter until they cease in the house 

 of some weary sister who has tried to carry too heavy a burden. 



These periodically busy times must be planned for just as our everyday 

 work is, we must know our own strength, and decide what we shall do, and 



