1871.1 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
305 
¥ ME IETOSMWJL 
53^~ {For other Household Items, see "Basket" pages.") 
An Improved Spinning-Wheel. 
One of the effects of the late war was to revive 
the almost forgotten accomplishment of spinning. 
It is to be hoped that spinning may not become one 
of the "lost arts," though we trust it will not re- 
quire an occasional war to prevent it from passing 
out of knowledge. W. II. Swearingen, AVcst 
Plains, Mo., sends us a sketch of a frame for a 
spinning-wheel, invented by a neighbor of his. 
AN IMPROVED SPINNING-WHEEL. 
The improvement consists in the arrangement of 
the projecting arm, which is furnished with a joint 
that enables it to be folded when not in use; also, 
in the foundation for the post, which is a largo 
ball, instead of a bench. The improvement seems 
to be a substantial one, providing for economy of 
space, which, in the majority ol Western houses, 
is exceedingly limited. 
Home Topics. 
BY FAITH ROCHESTER. 
Practical Studies for a Young Woman at 
School. — Educational matters may surely have 
some place in the Household Department. I hope 
I shall not push them too far. But this letter from 
Annette K appeared to me as expressing 
one of the strongest wants of my own girlhood, 
and possibly of other young women. I do not feel 
competent to turn adviser, but I make public An- 
nette's letter, and reply through the Agriculturist. 
Dear Madam : I want to ask advice of some 
one, and my mother suggests that perhaps you win 
let me come to you. I am sixteen years old, but 
have never been to any school except our public 
school, and only during the winter sessions for a 
few years past, because mother has needed my help 
at home. Father has just promised me that I may- 
go to B Academy next fall, and stay a year. I 
cannot tell you how glad I am, but I do not know 
what I had better study, and there is no one to tell 
ine. There is a regular course of study at the 
Academy, but I probably could not stay long enough 
to complete it, and father is very anxious that I 
should study only practical things. He does not 
tell me what he means, and I suppose he really 
thinks I know enough now for a woman, if I am 
not going to be a teacher, and I suppose I am not. 
I have as good a knowledge of the common English 
branches as I can get at our public school, but I 
feel very ignorant. I want to understand things 
better, and I want to be as useful as I can wherever 
I go. I feel as though there is a great deal that I 
could learn at school if I had the chance, that it 
would make me happier and more useful to know. 
I cannot say what I shall do after I leave school. 
Mother i; very glad to have me go, but I know she 
can hardly spare me, for there are seven children 
younger than I am. 
If 1 am not intruding, please give me your idea 
of "practical" studies for a girl in my situa- 
tion. With great respect, Annette K . 
The desire to bo a good and useful woman, what- 
ever one's lot in life may be, is far nobler than the 
aim, primarily, to be "successful" as a merchant, 
milliner, doctor, or dressmaker. It is degrading 
to dwarf the man or woman to the limits of any 
calling or profession ; for one's business vocation 
is an outside matter pertaining to the material in- 
terests that must be left behind at the close of our 
earthly" life. The proper education of the immor- 
tal part, the mind, is an everlasting advantage. 
And if the mind be properly educated, it is also a 
daily advantage in all the labors of this life. Every 
study is really practical that strengthens the mind 
or helps to build up the character. 
Annette wants " to understand things." I like 
that. She wauts to be able to do her own think- 
ing. She wants to get her mental faculties sharp- 
ened, and ready for use all the way through life. 
To accomplish this, it does not matter so much 
what she studies as how she studies. Many students 
fail to get any real education from their lessons at 
school, because the aim before them is simply suc- 
cess in the recitation class, or at the examination. 
They soon forget the lessons memorized simply to 
repeat, and as the memory was the only faculty 
particularly exercised, no especial benefit remains. 
If Annette will apply her own judgment to every 
lesson, bringing all her experience and observa- 
tion to bear upon the facts she finds in her books, 
trying to understand the reason for every step 
she takes, she will get mental discipline rapidly. 
But it is of considerable importance what studies 
one's time is devoted to. The natural sciences 
seem to me first in importance — none more so than 
physiology, especially for women who may be 
housekeepers or mothers. We ought to do our 
best to understand the mechanism of our bodies, 
and how they may be kept in good running order. 
Chemistry is a science of constant daily application 
in all our cooking and cleansing affairs. Some 
knowledge of it is necessary to a clear understand- 
ing of physiology, botany, or geology. Good teach- 
ers of this science are rarely found, but some study 
of it alone, without teacher or apparatus, is better 
than none. Botany, geology, astronomy, natural 
philosophy, United States history, and rhetoric 
ought all to come in, and Annette will find them 
all "practical" in making her a more intelligent 
woman, abetter helper for her younger brothers 
and sisters, and a more reasonable companion for 
educated men and women. If she ever has her 
bread to earn, she will find that intelligence and 
culture pay in dollars and cents. 
In mathematics, I should let the taste decide, be- 
yond a good, practical knowledge of arithmetic. 
For those to whom such studies are positively dis- 
tasteful, I do not think them very useful ; but as 
discipline of the reasoning powers, and as delight 
to the mind willingly exercised with them, they 
can hardly be too highly praised. 
Annette evidently loves to learn, and lam almost 
afraid of wronging her if I do not recommend 
some study of " the languages." But she cannot 
afford to let them crowd out the natural sciences. 
I am glad of all that I have learned in that line, at 
school, or since. Scarcely a day passes in which I 
am not conscious of some obligation to my little 
knowledge of Latin and Greek, in helping me to a 
better understanding of my own language, and it is 
very pleasant to have even a slight idea of the 
meaning of the French words and phrases with 
which our own literature is so profusely sprinkled. 
But here I only give my personal testimony with- 
out venturing to advise. I realize more and more 
how helpful and precious would be to me a thor- 
ough collegiate education, even in these busy days 
when I am confined almost entirely to the society 
of my little children. One year of schooling is 
not long, but a great deal may be done, and 
there is no reason why Annette should drop her 
studies at the end of that time. 
Mistaken Economy. — One mistake is, to make 
sheets short and narrow. They should never be 
less than two and a half yards in length, and three 
yards is hardly too long. Short sheets either pull 
up from the bottom of the bed, leaving the mat- 
tress and blankets to get soiled by the uncomfort- 
able feet of tall persons, or they do not turn over 
at the top enough to preserve the bed-clothes from 
soiling by the breath and perspiration of sleepers. 
It does not pay to make comfortables of old 
dresses worn so much as to be tender in the 
threads. Strong materials should be used for the 
covering of thick comfortables. 
I have learned better than to put much work 
upon garments made over from other garments 
partially worn out. 
Children's Shoulder-straps, etc. — I remember 
perfectly how uncomfortable were the narrow straps 
that slipped off from my sloping shoulders and let 
the weight of my skirts fall upon my arms. I often 
see little children tormented in like manner in these 
days. It is barbarous. A waist with the straps cut 
on, and so cut as to go over the shoulders securely, 
is much better. Such comfortable straps may in- 
terfere with very low-neeked dresses, and little 
girls' shoulders are very pretty — but so arc then- 
whole bodies lovely! No style of dress is really 
beautiful that is decidedly uncomfortable or un- 
hcalthful. Let us mothers rejoice together that 
the fashions for children's dresses are more sensi- 
ble than they used to be. 
The garters that encircle the leg are uncomfort- 
able, if close enough to keep the stockings smooth, 
and they are unhealthy to the degree that they in- 
terfere with the circulation of the blood by their 
tightness. It is a better way to have a strong elas- 
tic strap with a button at one end and a button- 
hole at the other. The button should connect 
with a firmly made button-hole in the stocking top 
(on the outside of the leg), and the button-hole at 
the other end may fasten over a strong button on 
the waist of the drawers. With close drawers 
buttoned to a good waist, no chemise is needed 
by a small child in very warm weather. 
Froebel's Gifts for the Kindergarten. — 
1. Six rubber balls — the primary colors, red, blue, 
and yellow, and the secondary colors, purple, green, 
and orange. 
3. A box containing a wooden sphere, cube, and 
cylinder, with wire loops for fastening ^strings. 
3. A cube made up of eight small cubes. 
i. A cube consisting of eight oblong parts. 
5. A large cube made of small cubes, hair-cubes, 
and quarter-cubes — an extension of the third gift. 
6. A large cube made of oblong blocks, which arc 
variously divided — an extension of the fourth gift. 
7. Bright-colored square and triangular tablets 
for laying figures. 
8. Slender staffs for laying figures. 
9. Whole and half rings for laying figures. 
10. Material for drawing— paper ruled in small 
cheeks. 
11. Material for perforating — checked paper, witli 
a needle fixed in a handle. 
12. Material for embroidery — the paper of the 
eleventh gift already perforated, with colored silk 
in addition. 
13. Paper for cutting Into various beautiful forms, 
with blunt-pointed scissors. 
14. Material for braiding or weaving — strips of 
paper of bright colors, with a braiding-needle. 
15. Slats for interlacing. 
10. The slat witli many links. 
17. Material for intertwining. 
18. Material for paper-folding. 
19. Material for peas-work. 
20. Material for modeling — wax or clay, with a 
modeling knife. 
It is impossible to describe all these gifts and the 
occupations to be conducted with them, so that 
one can get a clear idea, without many illustrations. 
The first and second gifts belong to the nursery 
even more thau to the kindergarten. The blocks 
arc for building purposes, and you would be sur- 
prised to see how many forms of life or use can be 
made from them. Weibe's Guide gives forty mod- 
els that can be made witli the eight cubes of the 
third gift alone, and a bright child will invent oth- 
ers. All these designs are made with exactness on 
a table ruled in squares of an inch, and most chil- 
