330 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



taken from place to place. The pupils in each school are instructed 

 what supplies to provide for each lesson, and if the whole is arranged 

 systematically, the work is most successful. 



Better still is it to have a packing box equipment in each school 

 house. The boys can be pressed into service to construct cupboards 

 from packing boxes easily obtained, and the necessary utensils can be 

 packed conveniently away between lessons. If the building is so ar- 

 ranged that a separate room can be provided, so much the better, but 

 if not, a table at one end of the regular room must do. If a perma- 

 nent one is not possible, one constructed by means of boards placed 

 on wooden trestles, or on the desk tops Avill serve the purpose. Often 

 the stove used for heating the room may be utilized for cooking. 



The question naturall}' arises as to whether such work will not in- 

 terfere with other classes in the same room. It need not, if discipline 

 is properly maintained. Another question is regarding the cost of 

 such an equipment. It can be provided according to its completeness, 

 at from |10 to $100 ; I have seen a satisfactory one for less than |30. 

 If there is sufficient interest in the matter, donations of utensils and 

 supplies by the people of the community often reduce the cost of equip- 

 ment and maintenance. 



The object of such a course in cooking and a study of food prin- 

 ciples, as of all else included in the broad term Home Economics, is 

 two-fold ; to train efficient home makers, and to raise the standard in 

 the home, so that the dignity and importance of household tasks may 

 be better appreciated. We have false standards when we feel that per- 

 son who works in a kitchen is performing service less worthy than the 

 girl who manipulates a type-writer in an office. 



A direct result of this course may be the solution of one of the 

 serious problems of school life — the noon lunch. We nearly all recog- 

 nize as injurious the cold luncheon, consisting often of a combination 

 of indigestible food, served in an unappetizing manner. Nevertheless, 

 it has seemed impossible to avoid this entirely. Even though we may 

 chose more nutritious articles and see that they are packed so care- 

 fully as to be palatable when lunch time comes, still a cold mid-day 

 meal is poor sustenance for growing children. With the introduction 

 of cooking into our schools we may hope to improve conditions very 

 materially. Each day the lunch brought from home may be augmented 

 by some one hot, nutritious article served at a trifling cost. The plann- 

 ing may be done by the teacher, the work by the pupils, those only 

 being allowed to help whose lessons are prepared. The ever useful 

 fireless cooker is of assistance here as a means of cooking and keeping 

 hot, cocoa, meat stew, beans, maccaroni and cheese or other wholesome 

 articles. Another bad feature of the usual school lunch, aside from its 

 effect on health, is carelessness regarding table manners, and a general 

 disregard of order. This also may, to a large extent be welcome if 

 a more regular noon meal, served neatly indoors, takes the place of the 

 contents of a lunch pail hastily devoured on the school house steps. 



Some of you are ready to object that the school program is already 

 over-crowded and that the introduction of subjects hitherto considered 

 a part of home training will over- work both teachers and pupils. When 

 a special teacher can be hired by several schools, no additional work 

 need be put upon the regular teacher, and even if this is not possible, 

 most teachers who have undertaken the work have found that the 

 children enter into it with such zest, and return to their other studies 



