EIGHTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART X. 527 



They taught the importance of serving articles that were the most pala- 

 table together. They also brought forth the importance of economy in 

 cooking by making over into tasty and palatable dishes what was left. 

 We obtained some very practical and tasty recipes. In this school they 

 are not taught paultry fashion, either in cooking or serving. 



One of the greatest treats of the short course was Mrs. Blair from the 

 domestic art department of Minnesota. We all looked forward to her 

 talks from day to day. In her talks she dwelt largely upon home deco- 

 rations and dress. She says: "The greatest art of housekeeping is sim- 

 plicity." She advocates having tasty, plain and neat furnishings in the 

 home. In the sitting room restful pictures, and above all things have it 

 comfortable. In the dining room have a few tastily kept plants, con- 

 venient kitchen and flowers in the back yard. Will give you the article 

 she gave us on dining room cheer. 



"One set of fine, spotless table linen, sprinkled, not too thickly, with 

 pretty glass, china and silver and well lighted with brightness, tempered 

 to the right consistency not to dazzle. To this adtl a few sunny faces, 

 some good conversation, spiced with gayety. The unpalatable, distasteful 

 portions having been previously eliminated. Then quietly and by degrees 

 add food which has been carefully and daintily prepared and arranged. 

 Over all scatter little flecks of kindness and courtesy till an inward glow 

 is produced and keep at this point from half an hour to an hour or longer." 



Taking up the subject of dress, she says: "Do not follow fashions 

 and fads, but wear what is becoming, small figured goods always being in 

 good taste." She does not consider silk in good taste for children. In 

 her talk she referred to people who considered their appearance consisted 

 in the amount of money expended in their dress, making very forcible 

 the fact that it is not so much the expense they put in their apparel as it 

 is in having them tasty, neat and care in putting them on, and that they 

 are neatly attired throughout. They wish the girls in their schools of 

 domestic economy to dress neat and plain. 



Another good talk which we had was by Miss Fields, a county superin- 

 tendent, who stated that it was injurious to the minds of the children to 

 have teachers from the city go into the country to teach the schools; that 

 they were blue, oh, so blue, and lonesome; this was contagious and culti- 

 vated discontent among the children. She had had such teachers in her 

 county who had come to her and said they could not do anything with 

 those unruly boys and made a failure and gave it up. She then sent a 

 country girl to take her place, who interested the children by making 

 flower beds, etc., making the grounds attractive, interesting them on agri- 

 cultural lines, which brought about happiness and contentment. And she 

 heard no more of those unruly boys and it proved a success. She also 

 stated that we often read in the paper that Mr. and Mrs. So-and-So had 

 moved to town so that their children may have better educational ad- 

 vantages. She fully expects to see the day come when you will read in 

 the paper Mr. and Mrs. So-and-So has' moved into their beautiful country 

 home so that their children may have better educational advantages. She 

 says that she believes it more since she has been to the short course at 

 Ames and sees what kind of farmers Iowa has and what influence they 



