266 What Schooling Should the Country Girl Have 



employed a music teacher. "You may think that 

 I cannot afford such things," said he. "But I can. 

 I am running this farm for the good it will do my 

 family." He was a true philosopher, as well as a 

 successful farmer. 



It is entirely practicable and most helpful to her 

 development to provide that the country girl be given 

 instruction in music, or art, or something special and 

 advanced in the form of needlework. In its best 

 sense this special instruction will not be thought of 

 as vocational training, but rather as a necessary 

 manner of giving permanent expression to her aes- 

 thetic nature. The author believes that the matter 

 should be stated even more emphatically. That is, 

 not to give the normal girl some such means of in- 

 dulging her aesthetic tastes is seriously to neglect her 

 education, if not to do her a permanent wrong. 



While vocational training and economic advantages 

 are important secondary considerations in connection 

 with the daughter's instruction in the fine arts, the 

 father who helps her become an amateur in one of these 

 lines thereby renders her a splendid service for life. 

 It is neither very difficult nor very expensive to 

 arrange to have the girl go to the near-by town or to 

 a neighbor's once or twice per week where she may 

 receive competent instruction in music or painting. 

 To make the arrangement most effective there will 

 need to be a musical instrument in her own home, a 

 conveyance at her ready disposal, and a regular 



