TEE WELL-ORDEBED HOUSEHOLD 



41 



MISS TAX EEXSSELAEE'S IXTEODUCTORY 



THE editor says that Home axd Flow- 

 EES is to have a woman's department. 

 Shall we have recipes for cake and 

 pudding, advice to girls in love, fashion 

 notes, suggestions upon how to feed the 

 baby? These are all good and sometimes 

 necessary. This magazine aims to show 

 how to live the life beautiful even under 

 difficulties. Fashions, recipes and advice 

 are easily acquired, but the spirit in which 

 they are carried out is the true indicator of 

 the beautiful life, and the comfort which 

 should be every woman's possession. 



We shall go at once into the domain of 

 the kitchen. We want to meet you there, 

 chat over the dish-pan, and then, when the 

 work is done, we may go out into the cool 

 of the afternoon shade and talk over some 

 other matters. 



Is it worth while- to look for beautiful liv- 

 ing and high thought in the kitchen, or does 

 3uch living belong only in the library and 

 in my lady's drawing-room? We shall be 

 governed by the principle that it is well to 

 take culture into the kitchen and the kitchen 

 into culture, "What we need most is not so 

 much to realize the ideal as to idealize the 

 real." Some good man of your acquaintance 

 does a great deed, pleads his case brilliantly 

 DT performs so-called menial labor well. We 

 are proud of his efficiency, but this is based, 

 to a great extent, upon the conditions found 

 in his home in the morning when he made 

 preparations for his day's work. Womanly 

 poise, a successful cup of coffee, oatmeal 

 thoroughly cooked, mealy potatoes and bread 

 that is wholesome and light have more than 

 3nce been important factors in great achieve- 

 ment. It may be the wife or daughter who 

 contributed to the success of the day, or it 

 may be the maid in the kitchen whose break- 

 fast was appetizing. Many a girl grows up 

 with a longing for what she considers higher 

 life than home life either for herself and 

 family or in other homes. She looks long- 

 ingly toward the factory in larger towns, 

 where some companion to whom she may 

 chatter will sit at her side. She wants free- 

 dom to spend her evenings as she desires. 

 The idea of having many companions lends 

 a charm to such a life, and seems to her mis- 

 guided soul more delightful than the daily 

 round in a kitchen, separated so far from 

 social opportunities. Has she grown up in 

 the country? She "likes people better than 

 stumps." 



Whether you are in the factory and long 

 to breathe country air, or in the kitchen and 



are tired of the monotony of its routine, we 

 ask for your co-operation in this department. 

 It is not the editor's department; it is not 

 the writer's. It is ours — ours to study how 

 we, as women, can make the most out of 

 life as it is about us, and ours to see how 

 we may aid one another in doing this. 



You must write us, then, addressing, Ed- 

 itor Woman's Department, Home and Flow- 

 EES, Springfield, Ohio, in order that we may 

 know you better and in order that you may 

 be a part of this department. 



Readers outside of New York state may be 

 interested in the same line of study that 

 twelve thousand women of that state are 

 pursuing. The New York legislature makes 

 an annual appropriation by which nature 

 study is carried to the teachers and children 

 of the state, and the scientific study of farm- 

 ing and the farm home is carried to men and 

 women who are interested. This fund is 

 administered by Cornell University under 

 the extension department of the College of 

 Agriculture, and is free to residents of the 

 state. The Nature Study Course and a 

 Farmers' Reading Course iiad been in prog- 

 ress some years when it was thought that 

 the women should have a part in the work. 

 A circular letter was sent to the farmers'^ 

 wives ot the state as an initial step. We 

 print the letter. Will you not take it as ad- 

 dressed to you, and respond accordingly, if 

 you are interested in the subject? 



A Letter to the Woman in the Country 



Ever since the inauguration of our Farm- 

 ers' Reading Course it has been our plan to 

 make it a partnership course between you 

 and your husband. In all the vocations of 

 life, there are none in which success depends 

 so much upon the wife as in farming, and 

 we never think of an unmarried farmer. 

 Since you are such an important factor, we 

 do not intend that you shall be left out of 

 our plans for the farmer. 



In doing this, we must ask you to help us. 

 Every public speaker will tell you of the 

 discouragements in addressing an audience 

 when his words awaken no response. If the 

 hearers cannot agree with him, he would 

 much prefer that they talk back than go- 

 away ignoring w^hat he has said. In our 

 case, w^e want each one of you to talk back, 

 even though you feel called upon to tell us 

 we are wrong. We mean this in all serious- 

 ness, and hope that you will take us at our 

 word. 



The question now is, Vrhich problem in 



