298 The Farm Girl's Preparation for a Vocation 



A COLLEGE COURSE FOR THE GIRL 



At first thought it would seem that ability to pre- 

 pare a good meal and to do her own sewing might 

 constitute all the education in household economy 

 necessary for any young woman. But such proves 

 not to be the case. There are hundreds of home- 

 making problems, great and small, for which mere 

 knowledge of the two important affairs just named 

 will provide no answer. While the ability to cook 

 and sew well are doubtless essential characteristics 

 of the good housekeeper, they are not at all a guar- 

 antee that their possessor is a good home maker. 



Parents must learn to take the larger and more 

 liberal view of the future of their children. Not 

 merely practice in the culinary art, but also a de- 

 veloped and refined personality; not merely indus- 

 trial efficiency, but also constructive ability of a 

 social nature; not merely mechanical skill in man- 

 aging the details of housework, but a set of well- 

 matured, effective plans for making the home over 

 which she presides a place of joy and contentment 

 for the other members of the family these are 

 some of the evidences of character which the wise, 

 far-seeing parent might well desire for his daughter. 

 Now, it is the thesis of this chapter that the normal 

 woman is at her best only when she has become mis- 

 tress of her own well-managed household. But such 

 an exalted position can scarcely be reached except 

 through a broad, general course of preparation. 



