The Weil-Ordered Household 



FROM THE STANDPOINT OF A PRACTICAL WOMAN 



CONDUCTED BY MARTHA VAN "RENSSELAEH 



[Editor Cornell University Reading Course for Women, and chairman Domestic Science 

 Department Western New York Federation of Women's Clubs.] 



mTEREST THE CHILDRE^^ IN HOME-MAKING 



EYEEYOXE is interested in the do- 

 mestic traits displayed by children. 

 A child at a very early age has her 

 doll. She provides for it a wardrobe, has 

 it dine out with other dolls, teaches it to 

 sa}^ its prayers and go to sleep as a healthy 

 doll should do. The doll gets sick, and 

 the little mother is full of solicitation in 

 caring for it. She trains the doll in mor- 

 als and manners, lectures it when neces- 

 sary, and tries to bring it up as a model. 

 To her the rag doll may be as precious as 

 the wax one; the Amanda Ann with a 

 broken nose and one arm gone has just 

 as much care as Mary Elizabeth, who cost 

 much more. The motherly instinct within 

 her is not governed by beauty of form or 

 feature. How did she learn that the 

 doll must go out for a walk every pleasant 

 day; that it is not good for her to eat 

 too much rich food? She perforins the 

 various duties in relation to the inaJce 

 believe, but to her real infant, in a way 

 not altogether imitative of the way she is 

 brought up. Sometimes she is truly orig- 

 inal in her methods. These methods differ 

 from those of her own mother somewhat 

 as temperament and the amount of respon- 

 sibility might provide, but often with in- 

 stinctive care and forethought. How 

 unlike this exposition of love^ tenderness 

 and skill is that displayed by one of larger 

 growth to whom the knowledge of home 

 duties is a stranger and a burden. The 

 little one performs her domestic duties 

 because she enjoys them; as a woman she 

 too often performs them in ignorance, and 

 because they are forced upon her. 



How may this play be made to form a 

 part of the training for real life — to give 



it interest and intelligence? The exhibi- 

 tion of domestic traits and the accomplish- 

 ment of duty in this direction may not 

 wisely be made perfunctory, but it may be 

 guided and encouraged by older people to 

 the end that the child may continue truly 

 interested in home life. She may be taught 

 many things that will make her an in- 

 telligent w^oman in the administration of 

 her home duties. She may be taught to 

 dress her dolly according to the demands 

 of the weather, to keep the clothing in a 

 good condition, to set the little table in 

 a careful and attractive manner, to fashion 

 the doll's clothing in a becoming style, to 

 keep the playhouse tidy and wash the bits 

 of china well. The fashioning of doll's 

 bonnets and paper dresses by children has 

 formed the foundation for much good taste 

 in dress. It may be a means also of secur- 

 ing sweeter tempered children if one may 

 use this instinct of childhood by having 

 them try to teach their dolls to be sweet 

 and lovable. One may even remind a 

 child who is petulant that if she gives 

 way to temper she may expect her ovv^n 

 children to be like her. They will not 

 wish to think of any other little one show- 

 ing bad temper. The chief delight is in 

 doing the impatient act oneself, rather 

 than in seeing it in others. 



Not long since we saw^ a little girl rock- 

 ing her dolly to sleep. Evidently, as night 

 time came, the doll, in the child's imag- 

 ination, was unwilling to be put to bed. 

 She took her tenderly in her arms, 

 soothed and remonstrated with her, and 

 finally said, "You must be a good Jittle 

 girl, for God knows everything you say, 

 and ^he knows good milk from water and 



