HOME ECONOMICS 



2816 



HOME ECONOMICS 



then gave him a kiss on the cheek and raised 

 him to his feet (see CHIVALRY). Homage was 

 abolished by statute in 1660. In modern 

 English law the term is still used to describe 

 the oath of allegiance taken by the nobles on 



the coronation of a new ruler; it also applies 

 to the oath taken by a newly-appointed bishop 

 or archbishop to the head of the Church. 



HOME DECORATION. See INTERIOR DECO- 

 RATION. 



OME ECONOMICS, ekonom'iks, or 

 HOME-MAKING . Home-making is the oldest, 

 best-known and most inclusive profession the 

 world has ever known. Because it is largely a 

 labor of love, beyond the province of com- 

 mercialized calculation, it has failed to receive 

 the recognition awarded other skilled profes- 

 sions from state and national bodies. It has 

 for many years been studied, if at all, under 

 the name Domestic Science, but such a term is 

 forbidding rather than inviting. Home-making 

 is not a standardized profession, but therein 

 lies its charm. The home is the only place in 

 all the world in which there is an opportunity 

 for untrammeled growth, without fear of criti- 

 cism, in all that goes to make men and women 

 great. The home should be the centralizing 

 power of all that love and hope and joy are 

 capable of bringing together. 



The home-maker, more than any other indi- 

 vidual, is governed by circumstances, condi- 

 tions and environment. One of the greatest 

 resources of the home-maker is the ability to 

 meet all of the foregoing conditions and emer- 

 gencies graciously and efficiently. 



The duties of the home-maker in the various 

 departments of home-making known as home 

 economics, domestic science, child study, physi- 

 cal development, interior decoration, first aid, 

 etc., are as diversified and important as those 

 of the general manager of one of the great rail- 

 road systems of the country to whom is in- 

 trusted the transportation pf men and women. 



Such a "general manager has gained his posi- 

 tion through actual experience in the discharge 

 of various duties in each division under his 

 control. His business is so to correlate and 

 harmonize those departments that they will, as 

 a whole, serve the people safely and well. The 



successful home-maker gives her family the 

 same efficient service. 



The general manager must understand and 

 be able to meet the many unexpected condi- 

 tions and emergencies that cannot be scheduled ; 

 so must the home-maker. If there is a col- 

 lision or a washout the manager of the railroad 

 must have his forces so well within his grasp 

 that repairs may be made without undue loss 

 of time or energy; in a like manner must the 

 home-maker meet the everyday emergencies 

 of the home. The railroad manager deals with 

 both the theory and practice of technical con- 

 struction in material things, in order that human 

 life may be safe. The home-maker, who deals 

 with the growth and development of that 

 human life, should have as great an under- 

 standing and as definite a knowledge of the 

 many materials and processes that go to make 

 up the efficiency of the home and the life of 

 its inmates. 



The home-maker should be as thorough and 

 efficient in the management of the home as the 

 business man is in the management of com- 

 mercial affairs, and added to that great field of 

 systematic efficiency must be that love and 

 human sympathy of which the commercial 

 world is oftentimes forgetful. The home- 

 maker, to whom is intrusted the development 

 of human life and growth, must understand the 

 needs of human construction; must understand 

 that the mind is made to plan and command 

 control; and must understand the function of 

 the brain forces, and their capacity and ability 

 to control the physical being. 



The home-maker cannot conceal inefficient 

 service in the home, for sooner or later the 

 school and the business world must harvest the 

 home crop. It depends upon the home-makers 



