HOUSEHOLD ARTS IN EDUCATION 2850 HOUSEHOLD ARTS IN EDUCATION 



tries by sailors for the purpose of measuring the 

 time during which the logline is allowed to run 

 out. However, the device is now practically a 

 curiosity, which emphasizes the later inventive 

 genius of mankind. 



Writers use the term hourglass figuratively 

 to denote the passage of time. Shakespeare 

 says, in The Merchant of Venice: 



I should not see the sandy hourglass run 

 But I should think of shallows and of flats. 



Longfellow has a poem on Sands of the Des- 

 ert in an Hourglass, and Douglas Jerrold, in 

 Time, varies the usual reference: 



To the true teacher time's hourglass should still 

 run gold dust. 



HOUS ATONIC, hoosaton'ik, a river of the 

 United States that is of great ^importance in 

 supplying water power to numerous textile and 

 other manufactories. It rises in the Berkshire 

 Hills in Massachusetts, about two miles south 

 of Hinsdale, and flows southward through Con- 

 necticut, entering Long Island Sound about 

 four miles east of Bridgeport. The tide as- 

 cends to Derby, fourteen miles from the Sound. 

 Throughout its course of 150 miles the river 

 flows through a country noted for its scenic 

 beauty. Among the important industrial cen- 

 ters on the Housatonic are Shelton, noted for 

 its brass works, and New Milford, with its 

 large hat factories. In the valley of the river 

 are several small limestone quarries. 



OUSEHOLD ARTS IN EDUCATION. 



To teach how a home may best be conducted 

 is the purpose of the household arts in the 

 schools. It means the application of science 

 to the preparation of food, the cleaning of the 

 house and the clothing of the family. .It means 

 that the nation recognizes the importance of 

 good homes and has directed its schools to 

 provide more skilful workers and more effi- 

 cient managers for them. It means that the 

 housewife is to be trained for her work as the 

 doctor or lawyer is trajned. for his profession. 

 * As studied in schools and colleges, the house- 

 hold arts have usually included four general 

 subjects shelter, food, clothing and household 

 management. The 'first three of these are evi- 

 dently the chief material factors with which a 

 family deals in a home the house itself and 

 its furnishings, the daily service of food and 

 the providing of personal clothing; and each 

 of these is a matter of concern to the family 

 from three points of view, as regards, first, its 

 selection, or the original choice of house, food 

 or clothing; second, as regards its preparation, 

 or the household processes of making things 

 ready for use, and storing, repairing, renewing 

 after use; and third, as regards its actual use 

 in supplying the recurring needs of the family. 



Management, or the fourth topic in household 

 arts, considers the general problems of organiz- 

 ing and directing the immediate business of the 

 household, the performance of its work, the ex- 

 penditure of its money, the care of the mem- 

 bers of the family, and the supervision of 

 the home life. Foods and clothing have been 

 chiefly emphasized in household arts teaching, 

 but recently shelter, and especially manage- 

 ment, have received increased attention. 



Why It Is Important. As the household 

 largely controls the health, individual efficiency 

 and character of its members, housekeeping is 

 evidently a matter of vital national concern. 

 From the family each of us receives at birth 

 the gift of life, and through the family group 

 largely each receives his religious beliefs, his 

 ideas of right and wrong, his fundamental vir- 

 tues, and especially that ability to cooperate 

 with others which makes possible social life 

 and organized business and government. In 

 connection with the study of household arts 

 this broader significance of the family may be 

 at least suggested, and the ideals that underlie 

 the modern home, such as the essential part- 

 nership of husband and wife, the equality of 

 woman with man, the rights and duties of 

 children, may be impressed upon young people 



