SPECIAL PROBLEMS OF INVOLUTION 127 



significance of the manual training school, the cook- 

 ing school, the sewing class, the public playground, 

 the school garden? Simply this, that the home is 

 failing to function for the child as was its wont. 



That the home no longer fulfills the purposes of its 

 existence is due largely, I fear, to a blindness on the 

 part of the woman as to what constitutes her true 

 worth and significance in the life economy. Having 

 laboured for centuries in the preparation of the food 

 and clothing for the family, woman naturally thinks 

 that with the going of this work from the home has 

 gone her only occupation, and that she must follow 

 it or become a parasite in the system of things. She 

 overlooks the possibility of family needs other than 

 these physical ones, needs that she alone can supply. 

 With the increasing complexity and strain of indus- 

 trial life, the man requires as never before the quiet 

 of a well-regulated home. The children, compelled 

 to struggle for their individuality with the subtle 

 and amalgamating influences of school and play- 

 ground, are in growing want of the constructive 

 faith and direction of a wise mother. 



The conserving of the goods of the family has ever 

 fallen to the care of woman, but with the advance of 

 civilisation these goods have become largely spirit- 

 ualised. To this the woman has not awakened. In 

 her eagerness for activity she has emphasised the 

 superficial rather than the tender and more intimate 

 needs of her family. The woman has yet to see that 



