Ctiucatfonal 
 
 EDITED BY HENRY SUZZALLO 
 
 PROFESSOR OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION 
 TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 
 
 THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 BY 
 
 ADA WILSON TROWBRIDGE 
 
 OF 
 THE HOME SCHOOL, PROVIDENCE, R. I. 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 
 RANDALL J. CONDON 
 
 SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, CINCINNATI, OHIO 
 
 HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 
 
 BOSTON, NEW YORK AND CHICAGO 
 
 fctoetftoe fcrej^ Cambribne 
 
COPYRIGHT, IQIJ, BY ADA WILSON TROWBRIDGE 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
 
 EDUCATION DEFT. 
 
All life moving to one measure 
 
 Daily bread, daily bread 
 
 Bread of life and bread of labor, ] 
 
 Bread of bitterness and sorrow, 
 
 Hand-to-mouth, and no to-morrow, 
 
 Dearth for housemate, dearth for neighbor 
 
 Yet, when all the babes are fed, 
 
 Love, are there not crumbs to treasure ? " 
 
 Wilfrid Wilson Gibson 
 
 543602 
 

CONTENTS 
 
 INTRODUCTION . . . Randall J. Condon vii 
 
 THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 Ada Wilson Trowbridge 
 
 I. SOME ASPECTS OF MODERN EDUCATION i 
 
 II. THE NECESSITY FOR Two DIFFERENT 
 TYPES OF TRAINING FOR INDUSTRY 
 AND FOR THE HOME 7 
 
 III. THE HOME AS AN INSTITUTIONAL UNIT 
 
 AND THE HOME SCHOOL AN EX- 
 PRESSION OF IT 13 
 
 IV. THE HOME AS AN ECONOMIC INSTITU- 
 
 TION, AND THE RELATION OF TRADE 
 AND HOUSEHOLD EDUCATION ... 18 
 
 V. SPECIAL THINGS TO BE ACCOMPLISHED 
 
 THROUGH THE HOME SCHOOL ... 30 
 
 VI. A GENERAL OUTLINE FOR THE WORK IN 
 
 THE HOME SCHOOL 41 
 
 VII. THE HOME SCHOOL OF PROVIDENCE, 
 
 RHODE ISLAND 58 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 VIII. HOUSEKEEPING NOTES USED AT THE 
 
 PROVIDENCE HOME SCHOOL ... 73 
 
 IX. SOME DISTINCTIVE METHODS OF THE 
 
 HOME SCHOOL 88 
 
 X. CONCLUSION 94 
 
 OUTLINE 97 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 BY RANDALL J. CONDON 
 
 IN one of my reports as Superintendent of the 
 Everett, Massachusetts, schools, written in De- 
 cember, 1900, I said, looking back over the edu- 
 cational developments of the last quarter of the 
 nineteenth century and forward to the opening 
 years of the twentieth : 
 
 But the greatest gain of all and the one most 
 necessary will come through the establishment of 
 more vital relations between the pupil and the various 
 subjects of instruction. He will be brought into closer 
 touch with the world in which he lives ; the school 
 will be not so much an institution by itself, but will 
 stand more as an interpretation of life and of the in- 
 stitutions of which the pupil is a part; it will not so 
 much fit him for a life he is to live in later years as 
 it will teach him how to live, and to interpret the life 
 he now has. It will find or make opportunity for the 
 expression of the things taught in terms of actual 
 living, not at a subsequent period, but during the 
 years of instruction. In the past, household duties 
 have been taught most effectively and thoroughly by 
 giving children an opportunity to participate in the 
 household work by instructing them in this work 
 vii 
 
i ..-<; 
 ~> d ^ V 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 not teaching them about it. The apprenticeship 
 system, not so very long ago, was the recognized 
 preparation through which a young man was intro- 
 duced to a profitable occupation. He learned his work 
 by working at it. Modern social forms and industrial 
 organizations have largely eliminated from the pres- 
 ent courses of study these two vital subjects of in- 
 struction, home-making and wage-earning, for 
 they were as really a part of each young person's 
 education as though they had been taught in the 
 schoolroom ; and more so, because taught in reality 
 and not formally. 
 
 We must and shall find out how to supply these 
 omissions from our present system of education. We 
 must teach our young women how to make homes, 
 and our young men how to support them, and this 
 solution must be the problem of future education. 
 
 To this end there must be established a closer re- 
 lation between school instruction and the industrial 
 pursuits. 
 
 Realizing that sewing, cooking, and manual 
 training, as then practiced, were far from meet- 
 ing the real needs of the situation that they 
 were not supplying the vital incentives for men- 
 tal activity and manual dexterity that are afforded 
 by real occupations ; and believing that educa- 
 tional procedure should be strengthened on the 
 expression side by connecting the work of the 
 viii 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 school with the work of the community, that 
 there might be afforded the largest possible 
 opportunity for the application of the principles 
 and theory taught in the classroom with these 
 ideas quite clearly in mind, I closed my report 
 for that year with a brief discussion of the need 
 for a more direct and intimate connection be- 
 tween school instruction and the home and indus- 
 trial pursuits. In that discussion occurred the 
 sentence quoted above "We must and shall 
 find out how to supply these omissions from our 
 present system of education." 
 
 We have made substantial progress in that 
 direction in twelve years, but we have found so 
 far only a partial answer to the problem. In the 
 remaining years of the first quarter of this twen- 
 tieth century we shall come much nearer the 
 final solution. 
 
 In 1903, I prepared with the help of several 
 teachers, and issued at Helena, Montana, a course 
 for girls in the seventh and eighth grades, en- 
 titled "The Girl in the Home." 
 
 An attempt was made to answer through that 
 outline the question: "What a Girl Needs to 
 Know." Under the first division "In relation 
 to herself " she was to be taught how to make 
 and care for her own wardrobe, including the 
 ix 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 selection of materials ; also mending, making- 
 over, washing, ironing, etc. ; how to dress for 
 different occasions ; health and simplicity in 
 dress ; a girl's work-basket, what it should con- 
 tain, and how to keep it ; personal hygiene ; a 
 special consideration was to be given to a girl's 
 room what it should contain and how it should 
 be arranged and cared for. 
 
 Under the second division " In her relation 
 to the family " were to be considered her privi- 
 leges and duties as a daughter ; her relations to 
 brothers and sisters. It included the care and 
 arrangement of the dining-room, silver, and table- 
 linen; the kitchen; a study of raw materials; 
 cooking, and the arranging of simple menus; 
 nursing, and the care of the sick-room ; what to 
 do in emergencies, etc. 
 
 Under the third division "In relation to her 
 friends" was to be considered a girl's social 
 life ; receiving and entertaining ; the selection of 
 friends ; balancing of home and social duties ; her 
 conduct on the street and at social gatherings. 
 
 In addition to these three main divisions there 
 were sections devoted to the study of home 
 decorations ; home occupations ; and the homes 
 of other lands and times as compared with the 
 American home of the present day. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 This indicates briefly the scope and purpose 
 of the work. The girl herself was to be the cen- 
 ter of the teaching, and she was to be taught to 
 think of herself in relation to her home and to 
 society. Her instruction was to react directly 
 upon herself and was to be expressed in terms 
 of work and of conduct. The following sentences 
 from the outline which is before me as I write 
 will indicate the spirit in which the plan was 
 to be undertaken : 
 
 If the subject is to be taught in such a way that 
 there shall result from it more vital living, it should 
 be made real. To this end there must be established 
 a closer union of home and school. They are not to 
 be considered as separate, but as parts of one plan 
 of instruction. Teachers and mothers must come to 
 know each other, and must consult and cooperate 
 to the same end. 
 
 Not only is what is taught in the schools to find its 
 application in the home and in society, but much of the 
 teaching will be done through the home and society. 
 
 Necessarily some of the instruction will be given 
 by the teacher, and in essays and discussions by the 
 class; in the study of magazine and book articles 
 and illustrations ; but this instruction and discus- 
 sion must be closely connected with the doing of the 
 things taught; in actually performing the work 
 not as school exercises, but for a real purpose. 
 
 xi 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Visits should be made to dry-goods and millinery 
 stores, for the purpose of examining material, learn- 
 ing the cost and the amount needed for different 
 articles of clothing. 
 
 Visit furniture stores, markets and grocery stores, 
 to examine and price the various articles under dis- 
 cussion. 
 
 When the convenience, decoration, and arrange- 
 ment of a girl's room is under discussion, spend the 
 afternoon at the homes of some of the girls who are 
 willing, to show how rooms may be simply and taste- 
 fully arranged. Many mothers will be willing to place 
 their homes at the disposal of the class for an after- 
 noon for purposes of demonstration and work in the 
 kitchen, laundry, or dining-room. 
 
 Simplicity, genuineness, and the fact that all right 
 conduct and true courtesy spring from right motives 
 and genuine kindness should be emphasized through- 
 out all the teaching. Remember that education comes 
 largely through action and that conduct makes, as 
 well as exhibits, character. 
 
 Find or make opportunities for vital instruction 
 through the exercise of right conduct in connection 
 with each subject of instruction ; right thinking and 
 right being will result from right acting. 
 
 When the Home School was opened in Provi- 
 dence, Rhode Island, in the fall of 1911, it was 
 only another attempt to embody the ideas which 
 had been maturing during these years, namely : 
 xii 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 That it is the business of public education to pre- 
 pare girls for their future duties and responsi- 
 bilities as home-makers and housekeepers ; and 
 that this education and training cannot be effec- 
 tively given unless it is connected with the home 
 in such a way that the instruction shall find ex- 
 pression in the home, and shall react upon the 
 girl in her home relations and occupations. It 
 was not intended to ignore the related education 
 of boys, but rather, by placing the emphasis in 
 this manner upon the education of girls directly 
 for their great life responsibilities, to try to ob- 
 tain some light upon one phase of the problem 
 which might also be utilized in the solution of 
 related problems. 
 
 The Home School is only a more adequate 
 expression and extension of the ideas which were 
 contained in "The Girl in the Home," eight 
 years before, with this important difference : The 
 teaching and the initial activities are all con- 
 nected with and conducted in a real home in- 
 stead of having a part of them given in a formal 
 and unrelated schoolroom. 
 
 There were four rather important problems to 
 be solved after the necessary authority for the 
 organization of such a school had been granted 
 on September 27, 1911 : 
 xiii 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 First, to find a house suitable both in itself 
 and in its location ; second, to provide the proper 
 furnishings and equipment; third, to select a 
 name ; fourth, and most important of all, to ob- 
 tain the teachers. 
 
 How the house was selected, made ready for 
 occupancy, and the girls invited to come and 
 use it, is told in one of the following chapters. 
 After the consideration and rejection of many 
 other terms, I finally decided upon the name, 
 " Home School," because it seemed to convey 
 better than any other expression the whole 
 meaning a school with the emphasis upon, 
 the spirit of, and its motive for, the home ; I al- 
 ways think of it, and express it, as the Home 
 School. 
 
 After the services of three teachers of the 
 right kind had been secured, the author of this 
 monograph being one, I felt certain as to the 
 outcome. 
 
 When the teachers had been selected, I said 
 to them in substance, after outlining the general 
 plans, "Don't consider yourselves so much teach- 
 ers as old-fashioned mothers ' bringing up ' a 
 big family of girls, where every one has some 
 part of the household duties to perform ; where 
 the homely virtues of economy and wise expend- 
 xiv 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 itures and making much of little are practiced ; 
 where helpfulness and kindly consideration of 
 the rights of others prevail ; and where there 
 shall be at the right time opportunities, as be- 
 tween mother and daughter, for the confidential, 
 intimate consideration of some of the great prob- 
 lems of a girl's life." 
 
 And this thought has been emphasized since, 
 " You can sacrifice some things almost any- 
 thing, but the one essential; you must never 
 lose the real homelike atmosphere in which all 
 other things become possible ; if this is lost, all 
 is lost ; success will turn to failure." 
 
 Because the home spirit has been caught and 
 has not been allowed to escape ; because the 
 ideal of a home in its plans and furnishings has 
 been kept simple and inexpensive, and not be- 
 yond the comprehension or ability of the girls to 
 realize in their own homes ; because they have 
 experienced the joy of work well done ; because 
 they have applied the lessons learned and the 
 skill acquired, and because, as one girl expressed 
 it, "Every time I come to this place it looks 
 more beautiful to me/' beautiful because of 
 the simplicity and well-ordered homelike activ- 
 ity; because of these things, the "Home 
 School " is bound powerfully to affect the present 
 xv 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 and future lives of the girls who come within its 
 influence. 
 
 But such schools, in addition to teaching girls 
 household duties and occupations, and showing 
 the mothers how to care for their children, will 
 also meet another large need of the community 
 
 the need for neighborhood centers in which 
 the home life of the people may be magnified. 
 
 The " Settlement House," with its volunteer 
 workers, has shown the need and has pointed the 
 way. The Home School, maintained at public 
 expense, belonging to the people themselves, 
 
 will render a still larger social service, more 
 general in its application and more permanent in 
 its results. 
 
 What the regular schoolhouse, with its assem- 
 bly hall, gymnasium, and classrooms, may become 
 as a civic, recreation, and educational center, that 
 the Home School will become as a genuine, social, 
 home center, from which shall radiate that spirit 
 of friendship and those kindly influences that 
 may reach all the homes of the community, and 
 may help to transform the residents of the city 
 into the old-fashioned neighbors of the country. 
 
 Because I believe the ideas contained in the 
 following pages make for a larger and better 
 home and community life ; because I believe the 
 xvi 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 principles there expressed must be more largely 
 utilized if the schools are to interpret life and 
 are to render their greatest service to the social, 
 industrial, and civic life of the people, I am glad 
 to introduce the "Home School," and its inter 
 preter ; and to ask for both a kind reception, a 
 careful consideration of their message, and a wide 
 acceptance of so much of truth as may be found 
 therein. 
 
 RANDALL J. CONDON. 
 CINCINNATI, March, 1913. 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 SOME ASPECTS OF MODERN EDUCATION 
 
 A new demand in education 
 
 SCATTERED here and there in the public school 
 systems of America are schools bearing a new 
 message in education. These are known as 
 "home schools," and may be looked upon as the 
 most hopeful spots in modern vocational train- 
 ing for girls. That a more intelligent supervision 
 and care of the home is necessary in America is 
 recognized by all most closely in touch with our 
 present social conditions. Many of the weaknesses 
 and dangers of civilization may be traced to the 
 home ; or, more hopefully expressed, the remedy 
 for these weaknesses and dangers of our social 
 and industrial structure lies in the home. 
 
 Far-sighted settlement workers have been 
 putting forth effort along this line for many 
 years, but it is only within the past few months, 
 one might almost say, that this responsibility has 
 been recognized by the public schools. The en- 
 largement of the functions of the public schools 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 goes on with such amazing rapidity, that the 
 "visions "of our superintendents, principals, and 
 teachers become facts almost before the public 
 has recognized the presence of a new demand 
 and a new responsibility. So it is not surpris- 
 ing that in a night, as it were, housecraft schools 
 should have sprung up in Boston, Providence, 
 Los Angeles, and in many cities of the Middle 
 West. The lines of development in these various 
 cities differ with the needs of the locality, but all 
 have as their motive a more complete, thorough, 
 and rational training for girls in all matters per- 
 taining to home-making. 
 
 Many successful men and women of to-day 
 look back upon the wholesome, active interests 
 of the simple life of their youth with a feeling 
 that some of the most potent influences of their 
 education are lacking in the schools of to-day, 
 where the children have little direct part in the 
 daily arts of life. Formerly the school merely 
 supplemented life, giving a certain amount of book 
 knowledge; but to-day, on account of changed 
 living conditions, the public schools are called 
 upon to make systematic provision for the nor- 
 mal impulses of children to play, to work together, 
 and to participate in real life. Health, mental 
 development, culture, and civic capacity must all 
 
ASPECTS OF MODERN EDUCATION 
 
 be contributions of an adequate education. With 
 all the work we have done thus far through state 
 and philanthropy, we have never utilized all the 
 energy, nor properly directed the surplus of ideas, 
 nor met all the needs. 
 
 A few years ago, the Report of the Commission 
 on Industrial and Technical Education for Mass- 
 achusetts contained the statement that in the 
 public schools the child had come to be " almost 
 wholly separated from life"; fortunately, condi- 
 tions have been changing so rapidly, that this 
 statement does not have the force to-day that it 
 had six years ago, although the cry is still going 
 up for more opportunities for the youth of to-day 
 to express themselves in constructive and crea- 
 tive manual and mental occupations. And a com- 
 munity consciousness and ideals of citizenship 
 must be realized, and cooperative work and play 
 become a fact, that every open schoolroom door 
 may say to the child : 
 
 " So enter that ye may be serious and thoughtful; 
 So depart that ye may be of service to mankind." 
 
 Home-making a necessary supplement to education 
 for girls in all social groups 
 
 While sympathy for the less favored members 
 of society makes one dwell upon the needs of the 
 
 3 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 working-girl, it is nevertheless true that much 
 incompetence, with its attendant unhappiness, is 
 found among girls and women with money and 
 leisure. By far the greater number of divorces 
 and separations occur among the well-to-do, and 
 the cause of a large percentage has been traced 
 to mismanagement in household affairs. Habits 
 of indolence, frivolous amusements, imprudent 
 or vicious social customs among women, may all 
 be traced more or less directly to indifference 
 toward the home. If a woman's economic inde- 
 pendence, either directly or indirectly, is main- 
 tained through household crafts, her interests 
 will of necessity be within the home, and growth 
 and evolution of ideas will follow. But if her home 
 is merely an abiding-place and a place for various 
 forms of amusement, and not a field for her in- 
 dustry, inventiveness, and deeper self-expression, 
 her energies will be diverted to other forms of 
 activity often less worth while and sometimes 
 disintegrating to the best interests of the indi- 
 vidual and the state. 
 
 The maternal instinct and natural aversion to 
 aggressive employment have kept women, since 
 the first primeval housewife, concerned with 
 the problems of daily food, clothing, shelter, and 
 the arts that beautify. The home-making in- 
 
ASPECTS OF MODERN EDUCATION 
 
 stinct is almost as strong biologically as the mat- 
 ing instinct, and its proper development from 
 early youth to maturity is just as essential in 
 conscious education as the principles of mathe- 
 matics or the facts of history. To disregard this 
 factor is to deprive the growing girl of one of 
 the most potent agents for the development of 
 character and the unfolding of the emotions. 
 All the beneficent labor of the home is the birth- 
 right of a girl; and whatever her wealth, station, 
 or future possibilities, she should be given a 
 chance to secure the benefits of her inheritance. 
 
 Home-making training for boys 
 
 The fact that these pages are concerned chiefly 
 with problems of home training for girls does 
 not in any sense indicate that the necessity for 
 educating boys, also, in these branches has been 
 overlooked. In some foreign districts, particu- 
 larly, it is quite as necessary for the boys to 
 understand how to handle home problems as for 
 the girls, if well-ordered industry is to drive out 
 incompetence and poverty. In cases where the 
 father is out of employment, the family depends 
 on the daily earnings of the mother, and while 
 she is away the father and sons must know how 
 to prepare the meals and care for the children. 
 
 5 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 One of the menaces to the habits, health, pros- 
 perity, and happiness of the poorer classes has 
 been the idleness of the men-folk, their household 
 incompetence, when "out of a job." Industrial 
 and economic equality of the sexes means equal 
 educational opportunities for boys and girls in all 
 those activities that make for higher ideals of 
 parenthood and citizenship. 
 
 In those localities where home training for 
 boys is needed, no system of education is com- 
 plete or adequate that does not offer this instruc- 
 tion. The way in which this shall be handled 
 depends largely upon the needs of the commu- 
 nity and the experience and educational methods 
 of those in charge. But conscious education for 
 boys in the development of home life is a neces- 
 sity, if one would have them share abundantly 
 in the highest responsibilities of human experi- 
 ence. 
 
II 
 
 THE NECESSITY FOR TWO DIFFERENT TYPES 
 
 OF TRAINING FOR INDUSTRY AND FOR 
 
 THE HOME 
 
 Concerning industry 
 
 ON account of economic pressure, a large pro- 
 portion of girls in the public schools drop out as 
 they approach or finish the grammar school. It is 
 plain that some sort of self-improvement should 
 be provided for them after they have left the pub- 
 lic schools. The problem of after-training for girls 
 is much more difficult and complex than that 
 for boys, since the trade or vocation which the 
 boy has chosen determines the character of his 
 supplementary training. In the education of the 
 working-girl, there is a twofold demand to be 
 met, that of giving preparation for her tempo- 
 rary calling, and that of fitting her to meet the 
 requirements of her future career as a home- 
 maker. 
 
 Seven years is the average length of the pe- 
 riod during which the female wage-earner is 
 employed, and the period is even shorter for the 
 more unskilled workers. After this, a girl's at- 
 
 7 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 tention is usually given to the making of a home, 
 and it is in this capacity, as a home-maker, that 
 the greater part of her life will be spent. It is 
 admitted that girls should be skilled in some 
 trade, since their industrial efficiency has be- 
 come an economic necessity : thus it is clear 
 that their after-training must include housecraft 
 and also knowledge to supplement a skilled 
 trade. These are two entirely different types of 
 training and must be carried on independently 
 of each other, except with reference to those 
 money-making pursuits which may be satisfac- 
 torily conducted in the home and which will 
 receive consideration elsewhere. 
 
 Girls who enter the various poorly paid juve- 
 nile employments have little prospect of future 
 progress, and at the end of four or five years of 
 such work are little better off than when they 
 left school. Factory work is so highly specialized, 
 and subdivided into so many branches, that the 
 young girl working at some particular operation 
 of the industry is ill-equipped to earn a living at 
 some other branch, although possessing a high 
 degree of skill in her special line of the work. 
 Many young girls, from delicacy of the hand and 
 deftness of manipulation, take up jewel-setting, 
 the remuneration being princely, in a relative 
 8 
 
TYPES OF TRAINING 
 
 sense at least. But the process is non-educative 
 and leads to no advancement. When, from the 
 strain on the eyes, the girl must give up the 
 work, as almost invariably happens, she is just 
 where she was when she left the grammar school. 
 One girl, for example, being obliged to give 
 up jewel-setting after working at the trade for 
 several years and earning at times as much as 
 seventeen dollars a week, was forced to accept 
 a position in a box factory with a wage of three 
 dollars per week. 
 
 There are great difficulties in the path of 
 the modern educational movement for providing 
 training in a wide range of industries, and it is 
 probable that the question will be solved through 
 the organization of related industries and the 
 presentation of those fundamentals in handcraft 
 and machinery that are shared by the group and 
 may be used as a basis for evolving some form 
 of progressive training. 
 
 Concerning the home 
 
 Under present conditions, all the trades, and 
 home-making as well, are artificial processes; 
 that is, industrial conditions have made it nec- 
 essary to develop them as conscious educational 
 processes. This is perfectly clear with reference 
 
 9 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 to the trades, and a little consideration will re- 
 veal that, so far as the working-girl is concerned, 
 housecraft is no longer an instinctive process of 
 acquiring skill. 
 
 The factory girl is off early in the morning 
 for her work, and back in time for the evening 
 meal, and there is little time for learning the arts 
 of housecraft even if conditions were favorable. 
 Her home is scarcely more than a boarding-place. 
 The absence, in many homes, of the proper at- 
 mosphere for teaching organized home-making 
 of any kind is recognized by teachers of experi- 
 ence in this line of work, and this fact is one of 
 the strongest arguments in favor of the establish- 
 ment of home schools where systematic and or- 
 ganized home-making may be demonstrated in a 
 satisfactory atmosphere. 
 
 One instance from the experiences of a young 
 teacher will serve as an illustration. In conduct- 
 ing a lesson on bed-making and hygienic care of 
 the sleeping-room, the teacher saw that one fac- 
 tory girl was not in harmony with the sugges- 
 tions given for opening the bed on getting up in 
 the morning, and airing the bedroom. " Esther," 
 she questioned, "don't you think it would be 
 a good thing to throw back the bedding and 
 open the window and let in the clean, fresh air ? " 
 10 
 
TYPES OF TRAINING 
 
 "No, Tessie's in bed!" was the answer. In- 
 deed, closer investigation showed that not only 
 was "Tessie" in bed, but sometimes "Mary" 
 also, and often " Willie." It is difficult to bear 
 in mind all the possible conditions under which 
 one's pupils are living (and in one school they 
 will often be as diversified as the elements of 
 our complex American life), but to plan broadly 
 for education one must have a clairvoyant sym- 
 pathy and understanding regarding all types in 
 all our social groups. 
 
 The particular type of training advocated for 
 the home school is not given anywhere else in the 
 present plans and outlines for education. It is 
 true that domestic science is handled in the high 
 schools, but there has been a lack of correlation 
 between the technical studies given and the ac- 
 tual home experiences. This is due largely to the 
 absence of the home environment. And that the 
 household arts in the high schools have been un- 
 popular is due chiefly to the fact that the sur- 
 roundings have not been those of the home, and 
 an appeal has not been made to the creative home- 
 making instincts. Domestic science with a lab- 
 oratory sort of flavor does not make the psycho- 
 logical appeal. It is also true that during the 
 period between fourteen and eighteen years most 
 ii 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 girls seem to evince a distaste for home occupa- 
 tions. Here, too, the explanation may partly be 
 found in method and environment. Consciously 
 or unconsciously, a girl's interests have been di- 
 verted from the home to school activities, social 
 enjoyment, and wage-earning, but it is neverthe- 
 less possible to enchain her interests and gratify 
 her tastes in the home surroundings. Sympa- 
 thetic observers interested in this line of work 
 have found that girls become strikingly individu- 
 alized under the vital problems of home-making, 
 and most naturally develop traits of independence 
 and womanliness. 
 
 The time is already here when the whole field 
 of domestic science must be viewed from a new 
 standpoint. Just one successful home school, 
 with its productive environment, throws down 
 the gauntlet to the laboratory method of train- 
 ing girls for the vocation of home-makers and 
 mothers. 
 
 The idea of housecraft becoming a part of 
 organized, conscious education is the most prac- 
 tical thing in the world. It is not a "fad"; it is 
 not a "frill"; it is a fundamental in the eco- 
 nomic evolution of the race. 
 
HI 
 
 THE HOME AS AN INSTITUTIONAL UNIT AND 
 
 THE HOME SCHOOL AN EXPRESSION 
 
 OF IT 
 
 WHATEVER may be our ideas as to the progress 
 of the race away from the existing order of 
 things, we cannot conceive of a condition that 
 does away with the home as a fundamental unit 
 of society. The first social unit was a mother 
 and her child, housed in the primitive shelter 
 which the mother had devised for her own pro- 
 tection and that of her infant. And the evolu- 
 tion of all home and tribal customs and laws is 
 merely the history of the long struggle to main- 
 tain this unit and to attach the father perma- 
 nently to the group. 
 
 The home a fttndamental unit 
 
 In the constant change that accompanies so- 
 cial progress, institutions valuable at one period 
 serve their term of usefulness and give place to 
 others more fit. The influence of the church, 
 business, the press, the school, and even the 
 home is an inconstant power, and in any age the 
 
 13 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 deficiencies of one institution must be met by 
 an increased vigor in some other. Of all the in- 
 stitutions that have ministered to human prog- 
 ress, the home has been the most stable, and is 
 the one social unit whose influence cannot be 
 replaced. But complex conditions affecting all 
 homes, and particularly urban homes, are mak- 
 ing it necessary for other institutions to reinforce 
 the home and to offer supplementary training to 
 meet the needs of society. Under the economic 
 pressure of a commercial age, the homes in the 
 crowded city districts are the ones that bear the 
 greatest burden, and the ones that must receive 
 most outside inspiration and support. 
 
 The public school at the present time is the 
 most vital organ of democracy, and as such is 
 meeting problems which a few years ago would 
 have been entirely outside its propaganda. For 
 the child, the home influences and domestic 
 pursuits offered in the public schools can in no 
 sense take the place of its own home life, and 
 such examples are offered merely as supplemen- 
 tary training or as a means of conscious educa- 
 tion where conditions make it impossible for 
 housecraft to develop as an instinctive process. 
 The home as an institutional unit must be pre- 
 served, and if conditions make its natural and 
 
 14 
 
AN INSTITUTIONAL UNIT 
 
 spontaneous development impossible, we must 
 provide for its growth and nurture through arti- 
 ficial processes. 
 
 It is now true, as it always has been, that the 
 supreme struggle of humanity is to maintain the 
 home. This means shelter, food, clothing, some 
 degree of comfort for all, and a more or less 
 harmonious and interdependent family group. 
 When all in the household contribute something 
 to the maintenance of the home, as in the case 
 of the busy poor, the most ideal condition ob- 
 tains. By contrast, it is the lack of this necessity 
 for work that impoverishes the home life of the 
 " idle rich." The happiest homes are those where 
 all have duties to perform and service to ren- 
 der. 
 
 The function of the home school 
 
 The fact that girls must be wage-earners to 
 help in the support of the family is not, in itself, 
 to be deplored, but rather the conditions that 
 make it necessary for a girl to earn her living 
 before she has received a minimum of school- 
 ing, or the necessary instruction to make her a 
 skilled worker. With a scientific understanding 
 of the home as an institutional unit, the home 
 school may become, in any community, a sym- 
 
 15 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 pathetic and intelligent demonstration of what 
 home life can be, and may dispense new ideals 
 of cleanliness, order, and thrift, and the larger 
 possibilities of the home that reach out into the 
 trades and the many beneficial forms of neigh- 
 borhood cooperation. In handling the girls in 
 small groups it is possible to show how all the 
 work in the home may be done by the members 
 of the family working together along some sys- 
 tematic plan ; and through the serving of meals, 
 games, reading, and many forms of recreation 
 it is possible to show how the social side of home 
 life may be developed and made to include va- 
 ried interests, that old and young, men-folk and 
 women-folk, may all find some congenial activ- 
 ity within the home environment. 
 
 The most vital and lasting benefits are always 
 those which people achieve for themselves ; and 
 the value of concrete examples, artificially intro- 
 duced, rests chiefly in the spontaneous develop- 
 ment that will follow through imitation, and the 
 new forms of initiative and activity that will 
 grow through suggestion. The best thing that 
 can be done for a community is to bring into it 
 some form of inspiration through which the 
 people may develop their own improved condi- 
 tions and work out their own progress. The new 
 16 
 
AN INSTITUTIONAL UNIT 
 
 and broader humanitarianism is but the family 
 ideal of sympathy and mutual helpfulness en- 
 larged to include the community, the state, and 
 even the "uttermost parts of the earth." This 
 unit is a fundamental in all spiritual evolution, 
 and every expression of it adds a building-stone 
 to the foundation of social progress. 
 
 
IV 
 
 THE HOME AS AN ECONOMIC INSTITUTION, 
 
 AND THE RELATION OF TRADE AND 
 
 HOUSEHOLD EDUCATION 
 
 The modern home, and the woman of to-day 
 
 WOMAN'S faithfulness to the line of duties laid 
 down for her at the beginning of human family 
 life has been the consecration of industrialism. 
 Persistently and unremittingly she has kept at her 
 task of builder, potter, weaver, artist, cook. Her 
 cunning has devised shelter, prepared food, made 
 clothing, and developed both useful and decora- 
 tive arts. In reviewing her long struggle with the 
 forces of nature, and with the even more subtle 
 compulsion of rapidly developing social laws, one 
 feels that whatever may be the difficulties of to- 
 day or of to-morrow, woman's resourcefulness will 
 prove sufficient. 
 
 It is a curious fact that, in a progressive and 
 advancing civilization, one of the prime efforts 
 of education should be to bring back to the home 
 some of the pursuits and occupations of primi- 
 tive times. The home was the first great agent 
 for promoting vocational training, and every- 
 18 
 
TRADE AND HOUSEHOLD EDUCATION 
 
 thing relating to life, even preparations for war- 
 fare, were marked by the contriving brain and 
 industrious fingers of woman. And it is to be 
 deeply regretted that accuracy of the eye, deft- 
 ness of the hand, resourcefulness, and eagerness 
 for expressing a sense of the beautiful, no longer 
 exist with the masses as they did in primitive 
 civilizations. 
 
 It is impossible to go back to any age and re- 
 produce its conditions, no matter how great its 
 opportunities may have been or how adequate its 
 institutions. Reverence for the " good old days " 
 must give place to a dynamic belief in the " bet- 
 ter to-day and to-morrow." However useful and 
 devoted the lives of our grandmothers may have 
 been, it is impossible to foist those workaday 
 conditions upon the girls of to-day. In an age 
 where machinery and countless inventions facil- 
 itate business and all social processes, it is futile 
 to attempt to engage a girl's interest in a long 
 day of household drudgery, or excite her enthu- 
 siasm over scrupulous and petty details. So far 
 as possible, she must be shown the use and 
 benefit of gas stoves, fireless cookers, vacuum 
 cleaners, and every invention and appliance for 
 making work easy. Every girl should know the 
 value of gas and electricity for lighting, hot and 
 
 19 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 cold water in the kitchen, screens for doors and 
 windows, a well-lighted and ventilated toilet 
 and bathroom, for these are the things she must 
 demand in the houses and tenements she will 
 occupy. The home-maker of to-day cannot be 
 content with old-fashioned and inconvenient 
 conditions for work, any more than the primi- 
 tive woman could content herself with her bone 
 knife after she had learned the value of a 
 metal blade. Winning a girl's fancy back to 
 the home does not mean back to the home 
 of her grandmother, but the modern, flexible, 
 scientific, progressive home. An ideal of home- 
 making that offers the opportunity merely for 
 clean, orderly housekeeping, good cooking, sew- 
 ing, and mending will never prepossess the girl 
 of to-day. The outlook for self-expression must 
 be wider than this, and must offer possibilities 
 for economic independence, and leisure for pleas- 
 ure and self-improvement. 
 
 The home a producing center 
 
 A money recompense unquestionably adds a 
 certain zest to labor, and the thought of her pay 
 at the end of the week will enliven the six days 
 toil for the working-girl. The absence of any 
 pay for home work, while it has helped to form 
 20 
 
TRADE AND HOUSEHOLD EDUCATION 
 
 gentle traits of devotion and unselfishness, has 
 at the same time been responsible for much 
 hurried, slovenly work. Nothing vital in the 
 struggle for existence appears to be connected 
 with the manner in which the house is cleaned, 
 or the meals prepared and put on the table. In 
 the trades, the unfortunate results following the 
 bad workman are immediate, but there is no 
 recognized standard or censor for home affairs. 
 
 It is also true that the wives and daughters of 
 working-men do not always receive in food, cloth- 
 ing or housing what seems to them a satisfactory 
 return for their labor. A like amount of time 
 spent at the store or factory would bring more 
 personal independence, for the daughter, at least, 
 and a weekly wage. In most instances the com- 
 pensation for housework must lie chiefly in the 
 inward satisfaction of doing work thoroughly 
 and well, and in the wholesome pride of having 
 a neat and well-ordered home. This, although a 
 higher incentive than money, does not make so 
 direct an appeal. At the present time the home 
 is not an economic institution. It is not a pro- 
 ducing center, and to follow a money-making 
 calling means to drift away from the home. Ac- 
 tivities properly belonging to the home have 
 been carried away from it and organized under 
 
 21 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 factory conditions. We find women in bakeshops, 
 making the tabooed " baker's stuff," and work- 
 ing under conditions far less sanitary and agree- 
 able than the home kitchen would be. The same 
 thing is true in regard to sewing ; woman takes 
 her place at the sewing-machine in the crowded 
 factory, while home needlework, with its artistic 
 possibilities, remains an undeveloped industry. 
 
 The reason for this is clear, since economic 
 advance in specialization and differentiation has 
 brought in the restaurant, delicatessen, ready-to- 
 wear clothing, and the grocery with its preserved 
 fruits and canned vegetables. All this has re- 
 duced the necessity of the home as a producing 
 center; and the home-maker, whether a woman 
 who must help in the support of the family, or a 
 woman of leisure, finds herself separated from 
 many of those domestic arts which once engrossed 
 the energy, interest, and ingenuity of the sex. 
 One of the chief problems, to-day, in education 
 for girls, is to bring back to the home some 
 of those money-making activities that formerly 
 were carried on there, and to establish new crafts 
 and arts which may be developed effectively by 
 women in their homes. The Indian women with 
 their baskets and pottery left examples of en- 
 during beauty; and one regrets that among the 
 22 
 
TRADE AND HOUSEHOLD EDUCATION 
 
 masses at the present time women are not engaged 
 in producing anything expressing a permanent 
 form of art or lasting element of beauty. Pro- 
 duction invariably stimulates inventiveness, and 
 to put a market value on any handicraft product 
 tends to improve the quality of the work and to 
 lift it into the realm of an art. So, to organize 
 certain industries about the home as a center 
 would infuse new vitality into the home occupa- 
 tions, and call forth new expressions of original- 
 ity in all workers. 
 
 The home is a far broader and more interest- 
 ing field for woman's ingenuity than the shop or 
 factory, and offers unique opportunities for bring- 
 ing into play all her native talents and acquired 
 accomplishments as business assets. The de- 
 mand for all home products seems to indicate 
 that home industry, if properly organized and 
 exploited, would have great economic signifi- 
 cance in this particular age when social and busi- 
 ness conditions have caused so many classes 
 and groups to be consumers and so few to be 
 producers. 
 
 There is an increasing demand for expert 
 seamstresses, and for workers in the more artis- 
 tic lines of needlework, embroidery, crocheting, 
 knitting, etc. ; there is always a market for good, 
 
 23 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 home-made bread, and it is open to the house- 
 wife to displace bakers' inferior products with 
 her own superior ones ; it has been proved that 
 choice jellies and preserves can be made in the 
 home and sold for a profit at a lower figure 
 than that charged for the best factory products. 
 Through the influence of the arts and crafts 
 guilds, some exquisite art metal-work has been 
 developed in the home, also leather-work, wood- 
 work, basketry, beadwork, and occasionally pot- 
 tery and other artistic crafts, and a good price is 
 always commanded by such products. 
 
 To extend this skill to the masses and open 
 up new possibilities for home production would 
 add materially to the income of the home and 
 enlarge the range of interests and happiness. 
 
 Neighborhood cooperation 
 
 It is doubtless true that many changes bene- 
 ficial to the home will be brought about through 
 neighborhood cooperation. As cooperation saves 
 both time and money and is one of the paths 
 along which progress moves, it is an element to 
 be desired in any community and particularly in 
 those districts where the fewest advantages exist 
 and the tendency to all forms of disorder is 
 greatest. It is possible through cooperation to 
 24 
 
TRADE AND HOUSEHOLD EDUCATION 
 
 maintain neatness and order even in the most 
 crowded localities, and much has been done in 
 our large cities along the lines of public health 
 through the establishment of neighborhood 
 sanitation committees. In Boston, particularly, 
 neighborhood cooperation has been secured in 
 many localities to see that garbage pails are 
 covered, that some provision is made for burning 
 the rubbish, and that the fruit, vegetables, and 
 other produce in the small grocery stores is 
 properly screened from flies and dust, and that 
 it is out of the reach of dogs and other contami- 
 nation from the street. 
 
 Cooperative cooking and laundry work have 
 been tried more or less in neighborhood guilds 
 and social centers, and always with some degree 
 of success. However, the greatest benefits from 
 cooperation will be realized when some combina- 
 tion is made that establishes the economic im- 
 portance of these household trades. The work 
 must be so organized that the conditions for the 
 workers are easier and pleasanter than "working 
 out " by the day ; it must offer a better income, 
 and for the home-maker must hold out new oppor- 
 tunities for economy of time and money. 
 
 Day nurseries for the care of children whose 
 mothers must go out to work are a valuable 
 
 25 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 neighborhood institution, and in the poorer or 
 more neglected districts offer a chance for neigh- 
 borhood playgrounds and the supervised recrea- 
 tion of the children. 
 
 The value of community cooperative effort 
 cannot be overestimated, since it represents not 
 only the will of the people, but also their needs, 
 their money support, and their sacrifices. 
 
 The home school as an industrial center 
 
 The home school represents all the possibili- 
 ties of the neighborhood, or rather it is a means 
 of giving expression to all the talents of the peo- 
 ple through the resources of the locality. It is 
 typical, showing what may be accomplished in 
 any home of the neighborhood through well- 
 directed effort ; and in every phase of activity, it 
 preaches the new economy and thrift that must 
 become a habit of mind before any lasting pros- 
 perity can be enjoyed. Interest in these matters 
 of economy in the home is not an emotional one, 
 but a scientific one. As a people, we have the 
 wasteful and spendthrift habits that belong to 
 youth unaccustomed to husband its resources, 
 and we must grow more and more into the ways 
 of economy that exist in the older, more crowded 
 civilizations. In the face of a growing desire for 
 26 
 
TRADE AND^ HOUSEHOLD EDUCATION 
 
 luxury and ease, there must be a conscious effort 
 to cultivate thrift, simplicity, and a more spiritual 
 sense of values. 
 
 To feed those under her care, woman has al- 
 ways had to be something of an inventor. This, 
 even more than the necessity of clothing and 
 shelter, has tested her ingenuity and resource- 
 fulness. Primitive woman searched the hills and 
 plains for roots, nuts, and fruit for daily use, and 
 to-day the thrifty housewife who must contrive 
 a living from a small income uses all the free 
 bounty of nature and every advantage offered by 
 climate or locality. The girls, through the many 
 suggestive activities of the home school, learn 
 to use to advantage what might be called waste 
 materials. Attractive articles and furniture to 
 use in the home or to sell may be made from 
 wood packing-boxes; delicious jellies may be 
 made from wild fruit; tomatoes enough for the 
 winter's supply may be had from a small, care- 
 fully tended garden plot. 
 
 At the Providence Home School the girls 
 have sold jelly made from the wild barberry, 
 and outings are planned for gathering the wild 
 grapes and apples for jelly. Green tomatoes in 
 the School garden have been made into pickles, 
 and the beets, turnips, and other root vegetables 
 27 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 stored away for the winter. The corn and green 
 summer vegetables were used by the girls who 
 took care of the garden during the vacation 
 months. 
 
 There is a demand for all the bread and cake 
 baked at the Providence Home School, and a 
 little sum realized from this was turned over to 
 the superintendent at the end of the first year. 
 And at one of the schools where home-making 
 has been introduced, all the tomatoes raised in 
 the school garden have been canned and stored 
 away for the hot school luncheons. Carefully pre- 
 pared and adapted material of any kind has a 
 tendency to make the worker rely too much on 
 externals. So when pupils are encouraged to use 
 materials found in the home or collected from 
 sources near at hand, they find a practical oppor- 
 tunity for creative activity and the spontaneous 
 working-out of valuable principles of education. 
 
 In every locality there is material that for one 
 reason or another offers special economic possi- 
 bilities either from the standpoint of use or art. 
 In California, for example, there are the fruits 
 not suitable for shipping which may be purchased 
 for very little. In Florida there are the "drops" 
 in the orange and grapefruit groves which may be 
 had almost for the asking, yet it is often impos- 
 28 
 
TRADE AND HOUSEHOLD EDUCATION 
 
 sible to buy good home-made orange or grape- 
 fruit marmalade. And although the guava grows 
 easily and abundantly in Florida, the "guava- 
 paste" one buys is made in Cuba or Honduras, 
 and in the tourist season it is sometimes impos- 
 sible to get good home-made guava jelly. The 
 kumquat is abundant, and the preserved fruit a 
 great delicacy, but no housewife has yet been 
 enterprising enough to put this on the market for 
 the benefit of the tourists. In the South there 
 are many rarities and novelties in fruits and made 
 delicacies which offer an opportunity for the de- 
 velopment of home industry, particularly in those 
 sections visited by tourists. A few successful 
 home schools would help to show what can be 
 done with home market gardens, the cultivation 
 of flowers for selling, home baking, needlework, 
 and art work of all kinds. 
 
SPECIAL THINGS TO BE ACCOMPLISHED 
 THROUGH THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 " The children of to-day are the citizens of 
 
 EXPERIENCE seems to show that the best possi- 
 ble education for girls from fourteen to sixteen 
 years of age has not yet been evolved, and it is 
 probable that many difficulties pertaining to the 
 higher development of girls, from whatever social 
 group, will be settled through the home-making 
 schools. 
 
 In the first place, the home school must be 
 an expression of the needs of any community in 
 which it is established. The home life expressed 
 must be the highest possible that can be main- 
 tained and yet meet the material and intellectual 
 capacity of the neighborhood, for no education is 
 true education that does not take into account 
 all the assets of the home environment of the 
 children. The homes of the people are the most 
 vital resources open to school and settlement 
 workers. And contributions to the welfare of the 
 community which can be made in any way from 
 
 30 
 
THINGS TO BE ACCOMPLISHED 
 
 the use of local products must be considered, as 
 well as the subtler contributions from the partic- 
 ular temperament and morale of the people. This 
 feature of adaptability to any locality and capac- 
 ity for receiving the impress of any nationality 
 or social group is one of the most interesting 
 characteristics of the home school, and one that 
 gives a new sort of vitality to all the work con- 
 nected with it. 
 
 Social, racial, and industrial conditions in our 
 communities are not what they were fifty years 
 ago, and as a result we must reorganize our forces 
 to meet the changed conditions. Industrial fac- 
 tors have tended to disorganize or break up the 
 family, and the influx of alien races has tended 
 to bring in ideas of domestic life foreign to our 
 heritage of family ties and ideals. The changing 
 basis of social and moral standards has made un- 
 certain the footing of our young people. 
 
 To-day the public schools are the greatest 
 factor in maintaining our institutions, ideals, in- 
 heritance, and Americanism. They are the melt- 
 ing-pot into which we receive little souls of every 
 race, every faith, every color, and send forth 
 loyal American citizens. So they must furnish 
 examples of all those highest forms of endeavor 
 which contribute most to usefulness and good 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 citizenship. The school population is like some 
 vast fluid, enfolding our cities, for which we must 
 evolve and mark out wise, effective, and adequate 
 channels. 
 
 The public schools, industrial work, and the 
 home must share the responsibility for the in- 
 competence, lassitude, and lack of initiative in the 
 youth of to-day. The time is now here when 
 these three agents are cooperating to rectify the 
 evil results of past methods and practices. The 
 factory is welcoming the housecraft courses of- 
 fered in continuation schools ; the home is asking 
 a closer relation with books and tools ; the school 
 is developing a new brotherhood. The growing 
 harmony among these educational agents has 
 already had a marked effect in developing a love 
 for productive work. The school that has made 
 it possible for a girl to create tasteful furniture 
 from packing-boxes, or to paper a room, or to 
 experiment in finishing floors, or to earn her 
 summer's outing by waiting on table, or baking 
 good bread, or by putting into practice some 
 other craft, has done a vital thing for the com- 
 munity. 
 
 Industry is a natural impulse, and girls may be 
 trained to be as eager to share in the common 
 service as to get personal profit from the common 
 
 32 
 
THINGS TO BE ACCOMPLISHED 
 
 wealth. Indeed, to stimulate initiative and the 
 creative instincts is to awaken an intelligent 
 desire for economic competence and indepen- 
 dence. Certainly the widest, undeveloped field in 
 our public school system is that of the home 
 school, offering as it does a method that at once 
 appeals to the play spirit of the child, its natural 
 yearning for the genial warmth of the home at- 
 mosphere, and its sense of power in doing prac- 
 tical, helpful things. This is the opportunity for 
 the educator, the long-sought chance for self- 
 expression on the part of the child, and the 
 dawning in the parent of the possibility of hold- 
 ing together the family through new and pro- 
 gressive ideals of home life. For the home is the 
 most important place for the training of charac- 
 ter and citizenship, however valuable may be the 
 organized activity of the school, or the democracy 
 of the street. The home ideals are the only ideals 
 from which there is no appeal. " The way we do 
 things at home" forms the eternal yea and nay 
 for the child, after all. The comments of the 
 children themselves make the situation clearer 
 than any amount of theory. All who have had 
 experience in teaching know what it means to 
 be confronted with such remarks as these: "My 
 mother says you take cold if you take a bath in 
 
 33 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 the winter"; or, "My father won't let us open 
 the windows"; or, "My mother lets us have all 
 the tea and coffee we want" ; or, "They say we 
 don't need any toothbrushes until we're older." 
 It is clear we shall have to educate a generation 
 of fathers and mothers before we can see many 
 changes in the homes. 
 
 But new ideals are being established, and the 
 children tell us this, too, by their comments, as 
 these two remarks from children in the Provi- 
 dence Home School will show: "I love to be 
 brought up in this way ! And I am going to bring 
 up all my children just like this "; and this: 
 "Father read aloud to us last night just as you 
 do ; he read a poem from the daily paper and 
 something from a classical book." 
 
 The instinct of imitation may be relied on to 
 bring about many changes it would be most diffi- 
 cult to effect through any formal preachments. 
 And it is through the establishment of whole- 
 some standards for the home that we shall most 
 surely promote the assimilation of the immigrant 
 population. 
 
 The play spirit 
 
 Perhaps there is nothing we need more, here 
 in America, than the spirit of play a sort of 
 
 34 
 
THINGS TO BE ACCOMPLISHED 
 
 abandonment to recreation and enjoyment. Not, 
 of course, the enjoyment that has amusement, 
 merely, for its end and is concerned chiefly with 
 moving pictures, dance pavilions, and sensational 
 sports of the Coney Island type; but the kind of 
 enjoyment that stimulates an intelligent delight 
 in all wholesome and diverting forms of recrea- 
 tion. In their desire for some form of sensation, 
 the youth of to-day seem to be losing the power 
 to enjoy sports of skill, or the games and pas- 
 times that require some mental energy and ac- 
 tivity. Summer playgrounds are doing much to 
 direct and stimulate an intelligent play spirit in 
 the younger children, but the working-girl, in 
 the monotonous round of her life, meets little 
 that makes an appeal to the play side of her 
 nature. Often she becomes strangely stolid and 
 unsusceptible to all influences for the free and 
 spontaneous enjoyment of sports and games. She 
 lacks the physical energy for active games, and 
 the perseverance and mental application for the 
 quiet ones. Those who have studied the youth at 
 the dance halls and in the audiences at the mov- 
 ing-picture shows have been struck with their 
 lack of animation and esprit ; at the theater it 
 takes the objective humor of the buffoon to pro- 
 voke much response. The greater isolation of the 
 
 35 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 homes of even twenty-five years ago, and the lack 
 of public amusements in the cities and villages, 
 conferred a benefit upon the children in making 
 them inventive and resourceful in devising their 
 own pleasure. Aside from the games and various 
 tricks and plays for entertaining younger broth- 
 ers and sisters, that form a regular part of the 
 amusements of the home school, there are many 
 activities that help to create an atmosphere of 
 recreation. The school garden, with all its out- 
 door freedom in the planting, the care, and later 
 the picking of vegetables and flowers, is a whole- 
 some form of recreation. The joy which the 
 children who are deprived of home gardens take 
 in picking and arranging flowers is sometimes 
 pathetic, and often some child will beg for the 
 discarded bouquets to take home. Reading aloud, 
 lectures, musical evenings, and occasional trips 
 to museums and art galleries and out into the 
 country, all contribute something to the play 
 side of life. 
 
 In the Providence Home School the girls have 
 given simple plays, making their own costumes 
 and adapting and arranging their own simple 
 stage-setting. There is, perhaps, no form of 
 amusement that gives so much pleasure to all 
 as this. 
 
 36 
 
THINGS TO BE ACCOMPLISHED 
 
 Domestic service 
 
 The interest and enthusiasm many girls show 
 concerning all matters of housekeeping seems to 
 indicate that the general distaste for domestic 
 service is not directed so much to the work itself 
 as to the conditions which govern this employ- 
 ment. There is a gregarious instinct in humanity 
 that draws people into pleasures or occupations 
 where there is association with others, and it is 
 this, largely, that has established a preference 
 for those employments that offer social inter- 
 course, and for work in cities rather than work 
 in the rural districts. The isolation of domestic 
 service, at least as it is now organized, is one of 
 the first things to turn young girls away from it. 
 " It 's too lonesome for me " is the comment one 
 so often receives from the girls themselves. And 
 in housework a girl's duties and hours of recrea- 
 tion are rarely outlined as definitely as they ought 
 to be, which tends to develop the feeling that she 
 lacks independence and that her work is never 
 done. 
 
 No one looks down upon a woman here in 
 America for doing her own housework, and no 
 one considers service to a business employer 
 menial, and so it is not easy to explain just why 
 
 37 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 domestic service is universally considered de- 
 meaning, and for this reason looked upon with 
 distaste by the wage-earning girl. The good wages 
 paid for general housework, and the fact that 
 board and room are furnished, make it possible 
 for a girl to save more money than in most em- 
 ployments, and at a far smaller risk to health and 
 physical comfort. Still, she continues to choose 
 other occupations which, apparently, have less to 
 offer. The attitude between mistress and maid 
 is rarely as satisfactory as that which exists be- 
 tween the business employer and his help; some- 
 thing of the old servile idea still seems to cling 
 to the relations of mistress and servant. 
 
 The fact that she must leave her home and 
 break up the home associations keeps many a 
 girl from going into domestic service, and in 
 preference she will enter the store or factory and 
 still keep in the family circle. One of the objec- 
 tionable features would be removed if this em- 
 ployment could be organized more as others are, 
 offering more freedom and independence and the 
 possibility of living at home. Indeed, many of 
 the sanest thinkers feel that the problem of do- 
 mestic service will be most satisfactorily solved 
 by the somewhat new regime of having the house- 
 work done by competent girls who come in to 
 
 38 
 
THINGS TO BE ACCOMPLISHED 
 
 work by the day or for a few hours of each day, 
 instead of by a servant who makes her home with 
 the family. This plan has been tried more or less 
 all over America and almost invariably with suc- 
 cess, although maintained without proper organ- 
 ization. Under such conditions, the woman in 
 charge of a household can do just what part of 
 the work she prefers, and can hire some one to 
 do those tasks she does not have time or taste 
 for. 
 
 For years Jane Addams has contended that 
 employment bureaus should be managed by the 
 public schools, and an opportunity for this is 
 surely opened through the home school. The 
 work in these schools could be so organized that 
 the public would be greatly benefited in being able 
 to secure cooks, waitresses, laundresses, seam- 
 stresses, and skilled labor in any branch of house- 
 craft from schools where the work is carried on 
 from the standpoint of both theory and practice. 
 
 If the public schools could offer skilled and 
 reliable workers to meet the ever-increasing de- 
 mand for efficiency in domestic service, such a 
 condition would help to put domestic service on 
 a plane of equality with other vocations, a posi- 
 tion it ought to occupy in the industrial world. 
 The recognition of the importance and dignity 
 
 39 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 of domestic service by the public through the 
 public schools, and the social democracy exist- 
 ing among the girls themselves, would do much 
 toward removing the silly prejudice against this 
 most useful and interesting line of work. 
 
 Here is a big problem and a splendid oppor- 
 tunity open to the home school, and if some sat- 
 isfactory solution can be found for the many vex- 
 ing questions of domestic service, a truly great 
 thing will thereby be accomplished for the peace 
 and prosperity of American homes. 
 
VI 
 
 A GENERAL OUTLINE FOR THE WORK IN THE 
 HOME SCHOOL 
 
 Grammar and high school credit for home school 
 work 
 
 IT must be distinctly understood that the course 
 of study and activities outlined here are merely 
 given as suggestions from which better working 
 programs for any given locality may be devel- 
 oped. Much of the work and methods here set 
 forth has been tried and found satisfactory in 
 the housecraft schools of Providence, Boston, 
 Cincinnati, and Los Angeles, but work adapted 
 to one place is not always suitable for a differ- 
 ent locality unless modified, and the teacher 
 must adapt the courses to suit his particular 
 local conditions. 
 
 It is believed that the less formal are the rela- 
 tions of the home school with the grammar or 
 high schools, the better will be the results. 
 While the work supplements the academic 
 studies, the freer it can be kept from scholastic 
 routine the more vital it will be. One reason 
 why the activities may strike at the root of 
 
 41 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 things in a new way is that the home school is 
 not dominated by the tenets of any higher in- 
 stitution and may escape the alluring dangers 
 of routine method. 
 
 It is desirable, however, that the grammar 
 and high schools, in granting their regular diplo- 
 mas, should be willing to recognize the work of 
 the home school by giving a time allowance for 
 the work done there. Her diploma is very dear 
 to the heart of the grammar school girl who will 
 never be able to win a credential for more ad- 
 vanced work. And with a diploma she is, also, 
 often better able to secure a good position. The 
 necessity for helping in the support of the fam- 
 ily that takes many a girl out of the seventh 
 or eighth grade makes it impossible for her to 
 get her grammar school diploma. Her day 
 work, however, in shop or factory would not pre- 
 clude her attendance at home-making classes 
 conducted at night, or by day on a schedule ap- 
 proved by factory owners. The work so offered 
 might add greatly to her industrial efficiency, 
 and in any case would enable her to enter more 
 successfully into the struggle for happiness and 
 for daily bread. 
 
 The idea is not merely to make the earning 
 capacity of a girl greater, but, rather, to develop 
 42 
 
A GENERAL OUTLINE FOR WORK 
 
 from the stratum where economic pressure is 
 greatest a new type of woman, clean, intelli- 
 gent, industrious, and competent. The work in 
 housecraft, although elastic and meeting more 
 individual needs than the fixed demands of 
 a class, is so planned as to offer a two-year 
 course for the older girls and a three-year course 
 for the younger ones. 
 
 Outline for the work in the home school 
 
 FIRST YEAR. 
 
 Sewing : Simple hand and machine work. 
 
 Aprons, caps, holders, etc., and hemming linen. 
 Work-bags, laundry-bags, handkerchief-bags, 
 
 and similar articles for learning the different 
 
 stitches. 
 
 Patching, mending, and darning. 
 Cutting simple patterns for all articles made. 
 Cooking: Plain household cooking, including the most 
 
 simple dishes suitable for breakfast, luncheon, 
 
 or supper, and dinner. 
 Bread-making. 
 
 Elementary discussions of food values. 
 Marketing. 
 
 SECOND YEAR. 
 
 Sewing: Hand and machine sewing. 
 
 Under-garments, shirt-waists for women, shirts 
 and shirt-waists for boys, and underwear for 
 little girls. 
 
 43 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 Embroidery, crochet work, knitting, etc. 
 Making and adapting patterns. 
 Cooking: Household cooking and planning of menus. 
 Special dishes salads, ices and ice creams, 
 
 desserts, etc. 
 Preserving and making "pickles, relishes, and 
 
 jelly. 
 Dressing poultry and preparing special meat 
 
 dishes. 
 
 Discussion of food values. 
 Marketing. 
 
 THIRD YEAR. 
 
 Sewing: Home dressmaking and making over. 
 Home millinery. 
 
 Adapting patterns and making linings. 
 Designing as applied to dressmaking and mil- 
 linery. 
 
 Making bows, buttons, folds, etc., for trimming. 
 Clothing for babies and young children. 
 Cooking : Invalid cooking. 
 
 Preparation of foods for babies. 
 
 Proper foods for growing children. 
 
 Cold luncheons for laboring men and women. 
 
 Physiological and nutritive values of foods. 
 
 Preparation of daily home menus. 
 
 Marketing. 
 
 The HOUSEKEEPING course is carried through 
 the three years, and on account of the nature 
 of the work little difference can be made in the 
 requirements for each year. All of the work, 
 however, may be planned with reference to pro- 
 
 44 
 
A GENERAL OUTLINE FOR WORK 
 
 gression, and with a view to creating independ- 
 ence and initiative. The course suggested here 
 includes : 
 
 Sweeping. 
 
 Dusting. 
 
 Care of floors, rugs, curtains, etc. 
 
 Removing stains. 
 
 Laundry work. 
 
 Bed-making. 
 
 Different ways of spreading the table and serving a 
 
 meal in the home. 
 Training for the waitress. 
 
 The course in HYGIENE is carried through the 
 three years and includes : 
 
 First aid to the injured. 
 
 Home nursing. 
 
 Care of the teeth. 
 
 Care of the complexion. 
 
 Care of the hair (scalp, shampoo, etc.), 
 
 Care of the hands. 
 
 Care of the feet. 
 
 Bathing. 
 
 Care of babies and young children with special refer- 
 ence to feeding, clothing, bathing, accidents, and 
 illness. 
 
 Sex hygiene. 
 
 In connection with the courses in COOKING, 
 HOUSEKEEPING, and HYGIENE, the following mat- 
 ters pertaining to the management of the home 
 receive special consideration : 
 
 45 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 Molds a form of plant life causing decay. 
 
 Milk tests. 
 
 Butter tests. 
 
 Coffee tests. 
 
 Simple water tests. 
 
 Making of niters. 
 
 Making of fireless cookers. 
 
 Home heating. 
 
 Home ventilation. 
 
 Meter readings. 
 
 Sanitary plumbing. 
 
 Electric bells. 
 
 Cost of home lights suggestions for improvements. 
 
 Home gardening. 
 
 Instruction is given also in basketry, chair- 
 caning, the making of box furniture, papering 
 and painting rooms, and other arts that can be 
 used to advantage in the home. 
 
 Hygiene 
 
 It is not necessary or even desirable that the 
 work in hygiene in the home school include all 
 the factors that contribute toward a sound 
 physical development. Apparatus work, social, 
 esthetic and gymnastic dancing, corrective work 
 with individuals, are all necessary and important 
 in the wider field of physical culture, but these 
 must be cared for through other organizations. 
 Perhaps the two most important things that can 
 
A GENERAL OUTLINE FOR WORK 
 
 be taught through the home school are personal 
 hygiene and hygienic cooking. Almost all our 
 troubles, either in the economic realm or social 
 realm, can be traced to something wrong in our 
 conceptions of hygiene. If we are diseased or 
 unhappy, it is largely because we are not well 
 born or not well fed. The teaching of hygiene 
 is conceded to be one of the greatest necessities 
 in vocational education. We may debate the 
 wisdom of giving a place to the study of Eng- 
 lish, industrial history, civic responsibility, or any 
 other subject dear to the heart, but hygiene has 
 undisputed right to first place on any course of 
 study. 
 
 The informal atmosphere of the home school 
 makes it possible to discuss all matters in a 
 simple, direct way, which relieves the situation 
 of embarrassment. The girls, coming under 
 the teachers in small groups of not more than 
 ten, soon become individualized, each personality 
 making some appeal to the teacher's wider know- 
 ledge and experience. 
 
 As indicated by the outline for the course of 
 study, the hygiene will include such matters 
 as properly belong to the administration of the 
 home, as what to do in emergencies, the family 
 health, food, ventilation, clothing, home sanita- 
 
 47 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 tion, etc. It may be taken for granted that the 
 girls will show the greatest interest in these sub- 
 jects; the instinct of self-preservation in the 
 human race almost invariably responds to any 
 convincing suggestion for physical betterment. 
 Each season of the year, all localities, and many 
 employments bring their own form of danger and 
 accident, and these must be studied and pre- 
 sented with a view to reducing those casualties 
 that occur through ignorance. In knowing what 
 to do, the fear and panic in emergencies are 
 largely removed. Ragpickers gathering bits of 
 coal from the piles of ashes on the railroad tracks 
 are often badly burned from having the clothing 
 take fire from some smoldering ember ; careless- 
 ness in the use of gasolene, heedlessness in cook- 
 ing, defective chimneys, and many other agents 
 contribute many accidents from burning, yet few 
 of the people most liable to these dangers know 
 what to do for burns, a great amount of suffering 
 being the result of this ignorance. 
 
 Children and adults suffer much from various 
 skin diseases that could be avoided by simple 
 forms of treatment and greater care in regard to 
 cleanliness. More and more does one become 
 convinced that an appalling amount of disease is 
 the result of ignorance, and, also, is tolerated or 
 
 48 
 
A GENERAL OUTLINE FOR WORK 
 
 regarded with indifference through lack of know- 
 ledge. 
 
 Although the necessity for instruction in the 
 hygiene of sex forces itself upon one more and 
 more in the ever-changing phases of our complex 
 social conditions, yet many thoughtful and able 
 men and women do not feel that a solution of this 
 difficulty will come through formal instruction 
 and the presentation of biological facts to minds 
 wholly untrained in scientific modes of thought 
 and scientific conceptions of the world in which 
 they live. The essentially emotional character of 
 all matters pertaining to sex puts them beyond the 
 reach of medical charts and biological theories. 
 Besides, there is a quality in youth itself that is 
 too poetic to admit of any touch in these subjects 
 save that which takes full account of all the emo- 
 tional, spiritual, and mysterious aspects. In the 
 minds of the finest men and women, something 
 spiritual will always cling to questions of sex and 
 put an eternal denial to any matter-of-fact, un- 
 anointed handling of the most vital and priceless 
 mystery of humanity. A girl's knowledge of her- 
 self is something of gradual growth and comes 
 more through an unfolding influence from a wise 
 mother or teacher than through the presenta- 
 tion of physiological or biological fact. Wherever 
 
 49 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 there is the atmosphere of home, or consideration 
 for others, or responsibility for younger children, 
 then is there the atmosphere for molding the sex 
 instincts of the girl and leading her out into 
 wider knowledge of her functions. In the atmos- 
 phere of the home school, with the domestic 
 pursuits, the discussion of proper amusements, 
 the sewing and cooking for babies, the training 
 in care of younger brothers and sisters, and the 
 scientific consideration of all matters relating to 
 health, there is an ideal opportunity for present- 
 ing sex hygiene in a manner that will strengthen 
 the fundamentals of character and make for the 
 betterment of the race. 
 
 Work in the South and elsewhere 
 
 In the South matters of home sanitation would 
 take a somewhat different aspect, and problems 
 not met in the North would present themselves 
 for solution. Hookworm, "ground itch," mos- 
 quitoes, and their connection with malaria, dengue 
 fever, and yellow fever, how to keep the house 
 free from ants and cockroaches, diet for the sum- 
 mer months, and many similar topics would come 
 up for consideration in home-making in the 
 South. 
 
 In all tourist towns, sanitation in connection 
 
 50 
 
A GENERAL OUTLINE FOR WOfcK 
 
 with tuberculosis ought to be carefully discussed 
 with the girls, to give them a realization of the 
 dangers to the community from carelessness in 
 regard to this disease and all infection that may 
 be conveyed by contact. 
 
 In cooking, the teacher would utilize all the 
 products of the locality, and would present appe- 
 tizing ways of serving all the fruits and vege- 
 tables which are to be had for little expense, 
 during the year, each in its season. In Florida 
 the products are particularly varied, including the 
 fruits and vegetables of the North and also many 
 sub-tropical products. The problem of diet con- 
 fronting the teacher is a most interesting one, 
 and one that offers opportunity for originality 
 and adventure, as the commercial value of many 
 delicious fruits and vegetables has not yet been 
 established, or the different palatable ways of 
 serving them exhausted. In Florida the season 
 requiring most study as to diet is the time from 
 about the first of July to the first of October, the 
 season when the sun is too hot for raising most 
 vegetables, and one must depend upon the tropical 
 products and the rather scant variety of Northern 
 vegetables supplied by the local markets. Good 
 health during the warm, Southern summer is 
 dependent upon correct diet, and the subject is 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 worthy careful study. A large field is open here 
 to the domestic science teacher of originality, for 
 developing home menus that shall be inexpen- 
 sive, wholesome, appetizing, and suited to the 
 climate. And Nature, always helpful and sugges- 
 tive, has put into these months many valuable 
 foods. The eggplant is a wholesome substitute 
 for meat, cheaper and more healthful ; the okra, 
 which may be cooked in many ways, is a partic- 
 ularly healthful vegetable for hot weather, the 
 mucilaginous properties having a soothing action 
 on the intestines ; the avocado pear has scarcely 
 a parallel for richness in food values, as salad 
 or as dessert ; the citrous fruits, mangoes, pine- 
 apples, and guavas, all add variety and some 
 healthful agent to the summer diet. 
 
 Economy and food values 
 
 From the beginning, the cost of all materials 
 used must be discussed, and a sense of relative 
 values developed. It is an unfortunate fact that 
 the working-girl is usually extravagant in dress ; 
 her tastes do not lead her to desire books, pic- 
 tures, or accomplishments, and her spending 
 money as a rule goes for cheap amusements and 
 dress. Girls working in the department stores 
 get an exaggerated idea of the importance of 
 
 52 
 
A GENERAL OUTLINE FOR WORK 
 
 dress and a taste for expensive materials, and 
 gratify these tastes at the expense of other things 
 more worth while. This is not surprising, for in 
 her business dealings with people she is con- 
 stantly catering to the tastes of the rich and 
 those absorbed in the problems of fashion, and 
 it is but natural that she should form her stand- 
 ards from her daily experiences. It is a most 
 profitable exercise to have girls plan a wardrobe 
 according to a weekly wage, giving dress its rela- 
 tive value and making simple principles of art 
 a basis rather than fashion. No meal should be 
 prepared or garment made without a careful 
 consideration of its cost and its relation to the 
 other expenses of the household. Any child old 
 enough to cook an article of food or make a gar- 
 ment is old enough to learn how to select it and 
 to estimate its value in dollars and cents. These 
 matters, informally discussed, may be developed 
 into a practical and vital course on the manage- 
 ment of home business affairs. 
 
 It has been said that " It is the poor man's 
 money that is most injudiciously spent in the 
 market, and the poor man's food that is most 
 badly cooked in the home." On the other hand, 
 there is much suffering among well-to-do people 
 from eating more food than can be properly 
 
 53 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 utilized by the body. Ignorance as to the simple 
 principles of nutrition results in a great waste 
 of money and a reduced efficiency of the body. 
 For people of means, the injury to health is the 
 greater loss; for the wage-earners, the money 
 loss, from stress of circumstance, is the immedi- 
 ate consideration. Indeed, it is becoming more 
 and more evident that a thorough study of the 
 physiological and nutritive values of foods should 
 be a part of every girl's education. 
 
 Observations of practical life and scientific 
 research disclose many mistakes in food econ- 
 omy that could easily be prevented through edu- 
 cation. Expensive foods are used when cheaper 
 ones are as nutritious, and might be made almost 
 or quite as palatable ; the diet seldom shows a 
 proper balance of fuel ingredients and flesh- 
 forming materials ; serious errors in cooking are 
 made, and a great deal of fuel wasted ; excessive 
 quantities of food are eaten, and much nutritive 
 material discarded as kitchen refuse. With these 
 general deficiencies in mind, there is a definite 
 line of work in practical economy and food values 
 open to the teacher of cooking in the home 
 school. Many neighborhood settlements and 
 soup kitchens have furnished object lessons on 
 the food-purchasing power of money, and the 
 
 54 
 
A GENERAL OUTLINE FOR WORK 
 
 value of skillful cooking at home rather than ex- 
 pensive market products ; and there is needed in 
 our public school instruction just such an oppor- 
 tunity as is given by the home school for influ- 
 encing the prevailing conceptions of home cook- 
 ing and establishing new ideas of economy and 
 thrift. 
 
 School program 
 
 If the work at the home school is offered as a 
 regular part of the grade instruction, the program 
 will be planned with reference to the other 
 studies as a part of the regular operating day. If, 
 however, the home school is entirely independent 
 of the grammar school, although a part of the 
 public school system, as is true in Providence, 
 then there may be greater freedom in the pro- 
 gram of its activities. 
 
 The hours from 4 to 6 in the afternoon may 
 be used for this work, the three classes, sewing, 
 cooking, and housekeeping as outlined in the 
 course of study, meeting daily. The entire period 
 would be needed for the cooking and for some 
 of the sewing classes, but in the housekeeping 
 the two hours could be divided, giving a chance 
 for bed-making, cleaning, mending, and the vari- 
 ous other lines of instruction included in this 
 
 55 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 course. The group of girls doing the laundry 
 work would need the entire period, and also the 
 group preparing the dining-room and spreading 
 the table for the serving of a meal. If a careful 
 record is kept of the work of each girl, a rotation 
 of occupation may be planned to give the mem- 
 bers of the division an opportunity to do all the 
 work outlined in the course. 
 
 So far as possible, the activities outlined for 
 the day and season should be those necessary in 
 any well-ordered home, and there should be such 
 correlation and harmony between the various 
 occupations that service to the home and the 
 welfare of the family would everywhere be the 
 'motif. For example, since the kitchen exists to 
 provide for the dining-room, there must be daily 
 cooperation between the cooking and housekeep- 
 ing classes, and so far as possible all the articles 
 cooked in the kitchen should be served in the 
 dining-room. This gives practice in the different 
 ways of serving, in table manners, and social in- 
 tercourse of the family at meal-time, and also gives 
 the cooking classes experience in the punctual and 
 appetizing preparation of foods. Planting the 
 kitchen garden in the spring, canning and pickling 
 vegetables in the autumn, making gifts for Christ- 
 mas, planning games and amusements for the 
 
 56 
 
A GENERAL OUTLINE FOR WORK 
 
 long winter evenings, and countless other duties 
 and pleasures may be used to demonstrate ideals 
 of a useful, industrious, and happy home life. 
 
 If, as an incentive, or for any other reason it 
 seems advisable to mark the girls on their work, 
 it is obvious that some system of marking must 
 be used that will indicate the fundamentals of 
 character rather than skill. The marks in a home 
 school should form a basis for estimating charac- 
 ter and personal value, and should give credit 
 for intelligent effort and those qualities that win 
 in the larger sense, as well as for excellence in 
 immediate results. 
 
 Where as little positive direction is given as 
 possible, failure to accomplish a task or mis- 
 takes that arise from immaturity are of far less 
 importance than the ability to do logical think- 
 ing, or the disposition to be inventive and re- 
 sourceful. 
 
 Taking this point of view, a girl should be 
 marked on such qualities as loyalty, punctuality, 
 efficiency, disposition, endurance, sense of duty, 
 initiative, quickness, thoroughness, etc., and her 
 rating should, in a sense, indicate her present 
 ability as well as her potentiality as a home- 
 maker or worker in any other vocation. 
 
VII 
 
 THE HOME SCHOOL OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE 
 ISLAND 
 
 Location 
 
 MR. RANDALL J. CONDON was one of the first of 
 our modern educators to grasp the trend of the 
 vocational movement, and his far-sightedness is 
 exemplified in the move made while he was super- 
 intendent of the Providence schools for secur- 
 ing the active cooperation of the Manufacturers' 
 Association of Providence with the public school 
 system, and in extending the control of the 
 schools over the half-time pupils when employed 
 in the shops. He saw that the necessity for pre- 
 paring girls to become home-makers is even 
 greater than that of preparing boys to enter the 
 factories, and it was his clear and concrete ideas 
 as to the scope, function, and possibilities of a 
 housecraft school for girls that made it possible 
 for such broad and varied activities to crystallize 
 in the Willard Avenue Home School of Provi- 
 dence. 
 
 In his report before the School Committee, 
 Mr. Condon said : 
 
 58 
 
HOME SCHOOL OF PROVIDENCE 
 
 Comparatively little has been done in public 
 schools as yet to prepare girls for the most important 
 and most difficult of all feminine vocations, that of 
 housewife and mother. I want the teachers in the 
 Home School to feel that they have a big family of 
 girls to be brought up in the old-fashioned way. 
 Since the home is of more importance than the shop 
 or factory, it is even more necessary to educate girls 
 for motherhood and the home pursuits than to edu- 
 cate them for the industries or the professions. 
 
 So it was with these ideals as a guide that the 
 teachers entered into the work of this new 
 project. 
 
 A five-room flat, rather below the average, 
 perhaps, situated in one of the thickly settled 
 and poorer districts of the city, was selected, the 
 object being to show what may be done to make 
 the ordinary tenement attractive and homelike. 
 The arrangement of rooms was well adapted to 
 the new enterprise, including a hall, living-room, 
 sewing -room, dining-room, bedroom, kitchen, 
 bathroom, and a basement laundry. 
 
 Before the opening, circulars were printed and 
 distributed, stating briefly the object of the new 
 school and the time and place for registration. 
 The teachers awaited the developments of regis- 
 tration day with much curiosity and interest. As 
 
 59 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 the hour for opening approached, the narrow 
 street rapidly filled with children, and immedi- 
 ately in front of the Home School they were 
 crowded so thickly it was impossible for teams 
 to pass, and one could hear the excited call of 
 ice-man and fruit- vender to " Clear the street ! " 
 Many disappointed children were turned away, 
 as it was impossible to take those under thirteen 
 years of age ; but the first week showed an en- 
 rollment of over one hundred and seventy-five 
 girls and an ever-growing waiting-list. Almost 
 every week some little girl would appear at the 
 door, saying, "I was n't old enough to come when 
 it opened, but now I've turned thirteen." One 
 youngster already enrolled asked, with time-sav- 
 ing forethought, " Can Tessie come to school next 
 Monday ? Her birthday 's on Saturday and she '11 
 be thirteen " ; and one tiny child came to the door, 
 saying, " Can I come to the Home School ? I was 
 only nine years old when it opened, but now I 'm 
 eleven." 
 
 Furnishing the home 
 
 The problem of renovating and furnishing the 
 
 flat was put into the hands of the pupils of the 
 
 Technical High School, and thus became to them 
 
 a practical application of their theoretical work. 
 
 60 
 
HOME SCHOOL OF PROVIDENCE 
 
 Under the guidance of teachers in the vari- 
 ous departments of home economics, the Home 
 School afforded vital lessons in home-making, as 
 the pupils were confronted with the task of fur- 
 nishing and decorating a real home at the least 
 possible expenditure, the problem that con- 
 fronts every family of moderate means. The 
 pupils of the Technical High selected the wall 
 paper, planned the color scheme to be carried 
 out in the different rooms, chose furniture, paint 
 and floor stain, and made and decorated the sim- 
 ple, tasteful curtains. The boys as well as the 
 girls aided in making articles for the Home 
 School, contributing picture frames, towel-racks, 
 ironing-boards, a cabinet for the bathroom, a large 
 clothes frame for the laundry, an ornamental 
 lamp, and other articles for home use and adorn- 
 ment. So before the Home School was opened, 
 in the hands of the wise superintendent, it had 
 served as the most practical sort of a laboratory 
 for many students in home economics. 
 
 It has been the desire of those connected with 
 the school that it should be a growth of the con- 
 ceptions and needs of those who occupy it ; and so 
 many things in the furnishing were left for the 
 Home School girls to complete, thus bringing a 
 lesson of responsibility as well as appealing to 
 61 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 the home-making instincts of a girl's nature. 
 During the first weeks they were busy hemming 
 tablecloths, napkins, and dish-towels, and were 
 expressing their taste and ingenuity in hanging 
 curtains and pictures, placing furniture, arrang- 
 ing dishes in the china-closet, and in getting ac- 
 quainted with the problems of cleaning and set- 
 tling a new home. Since the opening, the girls 
 have done all the work connected with the school 
 except caring for the furnace. They have built 
 the fire in the kitchen range, and have done all 
 the cleaning and all the laundry work. The wash- 
 ing and ironing represents no small amount of 
 effort and responsibility, and the articles laun- 
 dered include hand-towels, dish-towels, table- 
 cloths, napkins, doilies, drawn-work, table and 
 bureau covers, aprons, curtains, and the sheets, 
 pillowcases, and spreads used in the demonstra- 
 tions of bed-making. 
 
 Operating day 
 
 The work has been divided into three parts, 
 the sewing, the cooking, and the housework, 
 a teacher being in charge of each department. 
 As the home environment and size of the rooms 
 necessarily limit the number of pupils which it is 
 possible to accommodate satisfactorily, the girls 
 62 
 
HOME SCHOOL OF PROVIDENCE 
 
 have been divided into groups of about ten, one 
 group under the supervision of each teacher. 
 Thus, one division numbering about thirty at- 
 tends on Monday and Tuesday afternoons from 
 4 to 6 ; a second attends on Monday and Tues- 
 day evenings from 7.30 to 9.30 ; a third division 
 numbering about the same attends on Wednes- 
 day and Thursday afternoons of each week ; a 
 fourth on Wednesday and Thursday evenings ; a 
 fifth on Friday afternoons, Friday evening being 
 reserved for social gatherings. The group of girls 
 having sewing for one lesson, has housekeeping 
 the next, and cooking for the third lesson, com- 
 ing back again to sewing for the fourth lesson. 
 With this rotation and the careful records kept 
 by the teachers, every girl receives instruction 
 in all the work of the three departments. The 
 afternoon classes are made up chiefly of children 
 from the grammar schools, and the evening classes 
 of working-girls who are employed during the 
 day. 
 
 The sewing has included the hemming of linen 
 and sheets for the school, the making of hold- 
 ers and other simple household articles, mending 
 when necessary, and the making of aprons and 
 caps for cooking and serving. The equipment of 
 the sewing-room is simple but adequate, including 
 
 63 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 a sewing-machine, low sewing-chairs, a cutting- 
 table, a chest of drawers for keeping materials, 
 and a workbox for each girl fitted out with the 
 necessary articles for sewing. 
 
 The cooking has been planned to give a know- 
 ledge of the proper preparation of simple home 
 food and the serving of it to a small family. 
 Wholesome and well-balanced combinations of 
 food suitable for breakfast, luncheon or supper, 
 and dinner have been prepared and served, and 
 special attention has been given to the making of 
 good bread, biscuit, muffins, and such essentials 
 in cooking. 
 
 A comprehensive course in housework has 
 been carried out, including : 
 
 1. Bed-making and all that pertains to the 
 
 hygienic care of the sleeping-room. 
 Bed-making for the sick and care of the 
 home sick-room. 
 
 2. Cleaning, sweeping, dusting and care of 
 
 the floors, rugs, curtains, draperies, etc. 
 
 3. Laundry work ; the theory of cleansing ; 
 
 how to bleach, remove stains, etc. 
 
 4. How to serve meals ; how to spread the 
 
 table and care for the linen; table 
 manners, etc. 
 64 
 
HOME SCHOOL OF PROVIDENCE 
 
 5. Informal talks on hygiene. 
 
 6. Informal talks on books, nature study, 
 
 etc. 
 
 The work in hygiene has embraced what to do 
 in emergencies, care of the hair, care of the teeth, 
 complexion, the feet, as well as more intimate 
 matters of hygiene. The results have been aston- 
 ishing, showing many interesting developments 
 and proving beyond question that many things 
 can be handled in the home environment that it 
 is impossible to approach adequately in the ordi- 
 nary schoolroom. 
 
 The recreation hours with books have included 
 reading aloud, discussions of poetry, pictures, and 
 the home life of famous Americans, home life 
 at Mount Vernon, at Longfellow's home in Cam- 
 bridge, at Esek Hopkins's home in Providence, 
 and at other historical homes in New England 
 and elsewhere. Occasional walks for the outdoor 
 observation of birds and flowers have helped to 
 stimulate an interest in books on outdoor life 
 and recreation, and to create an enthusiasm for 
 new avenues of enjoyment and benefit. 
 
 In many ways the work of the evening divi- 
 sions has differed from that of the afternoon, 
 an effort having been made to fit the work spe- 
 
 65 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 cifically to the needs of the older girls. These 
 classes are composed of working-girls, many of 
 whom are looking toward having homes of their 
 own in the near future, and so the problems of 
 the selection of all articles for home adornment 
 and use, simple ways of preparing and serving 
 meals and offering hospitality, and other matters 
 pertaining directly to the management of a home, 
 have received special attention. As a part of their 
 work the evening girls have been fitting up an 
 attic room in the tenement, selecting and putting 
 on the wall paper themselves, painting the wood- 
 work, finishing the floors, making articles of furni- 
 ture and curtains, and framing the pictures. 
 
 Home economics and ideals 
 
 In all the departments of the work the cost of 
 materials has been discussed and the relation 
 which one expenditure bears to the other house- 
 hold expenses. Precept and example have been 
 given to show the wisdom of buying only what 
 can be paid for, and of waiting for any household 
 article, no matter how much desired or needed, 
 until something really worth while can be pur- 
 chased ; and as many problems as possible have 
 been given to bring out the satisfaction of being 
 able to practice economy, and the intelligent joy 
 66 
 
HOME SCHOOL OF PROVIDENCE 
 
 of being inventive and resourceful. The girls have 
 written notebooks covering all the work in the 
 school. The notes are carefully prepared by the 
 teachers and copied by the girls, and are designed 
 not only to aid in the work of the school, but also 
 with reference to the needs of some of the homes 
 into which they go. 
 
 The words so often quoted in the New Eng- 
 land Home Economic Association, that " the 
 public schools recognize all religious beliefs but 
 favor none," have had their significance here, 
 where so many nationalities and creeds are gath- 
 ered together. A large proportion of the children 
 are from orthodox Jewish families, and while it 
 has not been best or possible to have a Kosher 
 kitchen, care has been exercised in the selection 
 of foods, that the preparation of nourishing dishes 
 might be learned with as little offense as possi- 
 ble to religious principles. Out of respect to the 
 Jewish Sabbath, the children have not been re- 
 quired to work on Friday evenings, but the even- 
 ing has been made a social one, and has served 
 as an opportunity for bringing to the girls a class 
 of entertainments both helpful and interesting 
 and calculated to create a taste for something 
 better than the ordinary moving-picture show 
 and the five and ten-cent vaudeville. These Friday 
 
 67 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 evening entertainments have included interpre- 
 tative readings, music, stereopticon lectures, and 
 talks on first aid to the injured, conduct, hygiene, 
 economy, and other practical themes. 
 
 Cooperation 
 
 Active affiliations have been established be- 
 tween the Home School and the Public Library, 
 the Park Museum, the District Nurses' Associa- 
 tion, the Young Women's Christian Association, 
 and other organizations that would offer help- 
 ful and uplifting influences, and representatives 
 from these organizations have visited the school 
 and given informal talks to the girls. The Public 
 Library and Traveling Library of the State Board 
 of Education have supplied about two hundred 
 volumes for the use of the Home School. This 
 well- chosen library contains helpful books on 
 domestic problems, history, art, fiction, nature 
 study, and also many books in Yiddish that can 
 be enjoyed by the girls with their parents in their 
 own homes. 
 
 A flower and vegetable garden has been planted 
 under the direction of the supervisor of school 
 gardens, and this is cared for by the girls. The 
 object is not merely to offer healthful outdoor 
 recreation, but also to cultivate a wider sense of 
 68 
 
 
HOME SCHOOL OF PROVIDENCE 
 
 household industry and economy and to show 
 what may be done with a small plot of ground 
 toward furnishing flowers and vegetables for 
 home use. The quality of the soil, the position 
 with reference to the house, the exposure to the 
 sun, and other facts have been studied with a 
 view to planting the flowers and vegetables best 
 adapted to the conditions. 
 
 In harmony with the point of view that pro- 
 vision should be made for the largest possible use 
 of the school plant for both day and evening for 
 the entire year, free consultation for babies for 
 every Saturday afternoon has been instituted, 
 and other efforts put on foot for utilizing the 
 Willard Avenue property in other ways for the 
 benefit of the neighborhood. At the Saturday 
 afternoon clinics, a woman physician presides 
 and is assisted by two of the district nurses. The 
 mothers bring their babies to be examined and 
 weighed, and they learn from the physician and 
 nurses how to bathe, dress, and feed their babies 
 and young children to keep them in the best 
 possible physical condition. A record is kept of 
 each child, that its improvement may be noted 
 from week to week, and any child needing medi- 
 cal attention during the week receives it through 
 the district nurses. 
 
 69 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 As to the vitality of the work at the Home 
 School, the most satisfying assurances have come 
 from the girls themselves, and almost every day 
 discloses some instance where things learned at 
 school have been put into practice in the home. 
 One girl told with evident pride that she was 
 showing friends in her neighborhood how to 
 change the sheets of a sick-bed without remov- 
 ing or exposing the patient, and many reported 
 that no one in their homes knew how to make a 
 bed until they showed how the sheets could be 
 tucked in "so they can't pull out." A pupil, 
 rather more ambitious than the rest, perhaps, 
 collected about her a little group of girls not at- 
 tending the Home School, and taught them her 
 newly acquired knowledge of making beds and 
 of changing the sheets for the comfort and safety 
 of a patient. An older girl, a young woman of 
 about twenty-three, explained that she had never 
 been able to help her mother with the household 
 duties until coming to the Home School. Now 
 she takes a share in the cleaning and cooking, 
 and specially enjoys spreading the table and wait- 
 ing upon the family at meal-time. One of the 
 fathers, having received an injury, was brought 
 home unconscious, and the daughter, who had 
 been in the classes where emergencies are dis- 
 70 
 
HOME SCHOOL OF PROVIDENCE 
 
 cussed, was the only one of the household, or 
 among the neighbors coming in to help, who 
 knew how to prepare the bed to receive the in- 
 jured. The teacher giving the talks on the care 
 of the hair has been called upon to inspect the 
 success of her directions for an egg shampoo, 
 and a young woman employed in one of the de- 
 partment stores, being asked by her companions 
 what she was doing to improve her complexion 
 so much, said, " I told them this is what we learn 
 at the Home School." Some instances of co- 
 operation with the homes are not without an 
 element of humor. Little Jennie reported that 
 her father had burned the library book she had 
 taken from the school, and when the teacher went 
 to investigate, the father blandly said, " Yes, this 
 place 's pretty small and they [probably referring 
 to mother and daughter] brings in so much stuff 
 I has to burn out the rubbish every little while." 
 He was surprised to find that the book was worth 
 fifty cents, but was quite willing to pay for it. 
 From the mothers has come spontaneous testi- 
 mony that their girls are a greater help in all 
 housewifely duties after receiving the training at 
 the Home School, and one mother confessed that 
 her own work had been improved by watching 
 the way in which her little daughter did things. 
 
I 
 
 THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 No lessons have been more popular than those 
 on hygiene, and the girls have offered to remain 
 after school hours if they might have extra work 
 along this line. Many of the requests sent in 
 for books for the library have been requests for 
 books on hygiene, and much interest has been 
 shown in the discussions on ventilation, pure 
 water, sanitary drinking-cups and towels, the 
 transmission of disease by contact, malaria and 
 the mosquito, and other matters pertaining to 
 public health. This is a particularly hopeful sign, 
 for when the factory girl herself is intelligent 
 enough to demand sanitary conditions in which 
 to work, and sanitary tenements in which to live, 
 she will get them. 
 
VIII 
 
 HOUSEKEEPING NOTES USED AT THE 
 PROVIDENCE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 IN directing the work at a home school there is 
 a double purpose to be considered, that of ac- 
 complishing the necessary duties of the school, 
 and that of furnishing simple suggestions that 
 can be put into practice in the homes of the 
 children. The home school is a typical home, 
 standing for certain principles of simplicity, 
 economy, beauty, and order, and the activities 
 must be organized in such a way as to demon- 
 strate the value of these ideals. The type, as 
 to location, furnishing, service, meals, etc., must 
 be within the reach of the majority who attend. 
 The model may be vastly more esthetic than 
 any home in the neighborhood, and may yet be 
 within the reach of the neighborhood pocket- 
 book. It has often been proved in settlement 
 work that certain evidences in the model home 
 that seem to reflect an atmosphere of extrava- 
 gance and luxury are merely the result of clean- 
 liness and thrift and taste. 
 
 73 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 One of the greatest difficulties is that of 
 adapting the instruction to meet all sorts of 
 home conditions. Some children must be taught 
 how to keep the table-linen clean and neat, and 
 others must be shown how to make a table at- 
 tractive and orderly with paper napkins; for 
 some the serving of a meal is the simplest sort 
 of an operation, while for others, particularly 
 those who contemplate domestic service, the 
 thorough training for an expert waitress is neces- 
 sary. The informal atmosphere of the home 
 school, the helpful and sympathetic relations 
 between teachers and pupils, and the social de- 
 mocracy of the girls, make it possible, however, 
 to carry out individual instruction as one cannot 
 in other schools. 
 
 Often even the older girls do not know the uses 
 of the various household articles, and must be 
 told the names of utensils familiar to most house- 
 keepers. And the directions for all the work 
 must be plain and simple, and even the most 
 familiar things will require repeated explanation 
 and demonstration. Writing down the household 
 operations helps to fix them in the minds of the 
 girls, and there is educational value in learning 
 how to proceed on any problem from notes. 
 
 The housekeeping notes used at the Provi- 
 
 74 
 
HOUSEKEEPING NOTES 
 
 dence Home School were written to meet the 
 needs of a particular school and a particular lo- 
 cality, and might not prove adequate in another 
 locality unless revised somewhat. They are offered 
 merely as suggestive material. 
 
 How to clean house 
 
 Motto for good housekeeping : Economy, clean- 
 liness, and quickness. 
 
 Dust. Dust often contains germs of sickness ; and 
 so do not let it collect anywhere in the house. 
 
 Sweep the corners thoroughly, and sweep under 
 the beds and other furniture. 
 
 Never put dust in the coal-hod or kindling-box or 
 in any such place, but empty the dustpans and car- 
 pet-sweepers on a newspaper and burn the dust in 
 the paper. 
 
 Often shake the dust-cloth out of the window or 
 door, and see that the dust-cloths are kept clean. 
 
 Sweeping. When cleaning a room, have the win- 
 dows open to let out the dust and freshen the air. 
 When possible, have a vacuum cleaner. Use both 
 sides of the broom for sweeping, using the narrow 
 side to take the dust from the cracks, and the broad 
 side for the floor, and sweep with short strokes, being 
 careful not to scatter the dust up and about the room. 
 
 Always hang up a broom when not in use, and 
 wash brooms occasionally in warm soapsuds or in 
 warm water and ammonia. 
 
 75 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 Always sweep a floor thoroughly before scrubbing 
 it or before oiling it. Begin at the corners of the 
 room and sweep toward the center, collecting the 
 dust in little piles instead of carrying it from one 
 end of a room to another. 
 
 Do not sweep the dust from one room to another, 
 but sweep each room separately. 
 
 Remove small rugs before sweeping, and large 
 ones that cannot be removed, fold back to the center 
 of the room, to leave as much of the floor exposed 
 as possible. After sweeping a floor, go over it with 
 a cloth or dust-mop moistened with kerosene or 
 some good floor oil. 
 
 Rugs. Shake the small rugs out of doors. When 
 sweeping or beating rugs, put them on the ground ; 
 do not hang them over a clothesline, as the line will 
 in time cut even the strongest rug. Beat both sides 
 thoroughly, then sweep with a broom. 
 
 Rugs may be cleaned with carpet-soap, and ought 
 often to be freshened by wiping with warm water and 
 ammonia. Use a tablespoonful of ammonia to a pail 
 three quarters full of water. 
 
 Floors. Hardwood floors are the best and may be 
 finished in dark or light shades to suit the taste of 
 the household. 
 
 Do not scrub hardwood floors, but clean with a 
 little kerosene or floor oil. A wax finish may also be 
 used. 
 
 When it is necessary to clean with water, use half a 
 pail of warm water and two tablespoonfuls of kerosene. 
 
HOUSEKEEPING NOTES 
 
 Softwood floors may be painted or stained. A stain 
 is the better finish when the floors are not too much 
 damaged or discolored. 
 
 Floor varnish may be used over a stain. When 
 possible have floors stained or painted, and use rugs 
 that may easily be cleaned instead of a carpet fast- 
 ened to the floor. It is cleaner, more healthful, and 
 more attractive to furnish with rugs. 
 
 Softwood floors may be cleaned with lukewarm 
 water and kerosene or with a cloth or mop dampened 
 with floor oil. 
 
 Clean off all grease-spots from floors with soap. 
 
 Clean all dust-mops, brushes, etc., with ammonia 
 and warm water. 
 
 How to serve meals 
 
 The talk. The end of the table farthest from the 
 living-room is called the head of the table, and the 
 opposite end is called the foot. 
 
 When ready to serve a meal, have the dining-room 
 in perfect order and the temperature about 70 de- 
 grees. 
 
 The linen. The table-linen must be clean and free 
 from wrinkles. Always fold the tablecloth carefully 
 after a meal, and try in every way to keep the table- 
 linen neat and clean, as a little care will save a house- 
 keeper time and trouble in washing and ironing. 
 
 Try to make everything about the table as attrac- 
 tive as possible. Place flowers or a small plant or a 
 dish of fruit in the center. A simple, dainty center- 
 
 77 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 piece of embroidery, lace, or drawn-work adds to the 
 appearance of the table. 
 
 In spreading the table for a meal, do not crowd it 
 with unnecessary articles. 
 
 " Dinner is served " is the proper way to announce 
 that the dinner is ready. " Breakfast is served," and 
 "Luncheon is served," etc., for other meals. 
 
 The serving-table. All housekeepers doing their own 
 cooking and serving will find a little serving-table in 
 the dining-room very helpful. Many things may be 
 put on the serving-table and so keep the dining-table 
 from being too crowded. 
 
 The water-pitcher, the salad, and dessert, extra 
 plates and silver may all be put on the serving-table, 
 and thus save many trips to the kitchen. 
 
 Spreading the table. Allow nine or ten inches for 
 each plate at the table, and from fifteen to twenty 
 inches, or more, between each place, when possible. 
 
 Put knives at the right with cutting side toward 
 the plate. 
 
 Put forks at the left with the tines up. 
 
 Put the spoons at the right of the knife, with the 
 bowls up. 
 
 Put the knives, forks, spoons, and plates about half 
 an inch from the edge of the table. 
 
 At the point of the knife, put the water glass. 
 
 At the point of the fork, put the butter plate. 
 
 At the left of the fork, put the napkin. The napkin 
 may be put between the fork and knife if there is no 
 plate there. 
 
 78 
 
HOUSEKEEPING NOTES 
 
 Put the salt and pepper boxes between the places set. 
 
 Put the chairs before each place with the backs 
 about three or four inches from the edge of the table. 
 
 Serving. Pass all dishes from which food is taken, 
 at the left side. 
 
 Put the filled plates down from the right. 
 
 Remove all dishes from the right. 
 
 After passing salt and pepper, or pickles, or sugar, 
 or any article on the table, put the article back in the 
 place from which it was taken, to keep the table look- 
 ing neat and orderly. 
 
 Never reach across a person at the table when 
 serving, and never reach from one side of the table 
 to another to get a dish. 
 
 Never pile dishes on the serving-tray. 
 
 Stand on the left side when taking dishes from the 
 person who is carving, or serving the dessert, etc. 
 
 In waiting upon a family, serve the lady who pre- 
 sides over the household first. 
 
 In serving where there are guests, serve the lady 
 who is at the right of the host, first. 
 
 About two minutes before the family are called to 
 a meal, fill the glasses with water and put on the but- 
 ter and bread. 
 
 Clearing the table. After the family have left the 
 dining-room, use a large clearing-tray to take the 
 dishes from the table. 
 
 First remove all dishes containing food ; second, 
 remove all the soiled dishes ; third, remove all the 
 clean dishes and silver. 
 
 79 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 Scrape the crumbs when all the dishes have been 
 removed. The crumbs may also be removed by using 
 a plate and napkin. 
 
 Air the dining-room after each meal, and use the 
 carpet-sweeper to take the crumbs from the rug. 
 
 Do not leave the dining-room table spread with a 
 cloth or dishes for the next meal unless the room may 
 be closed and shut off from the rest of the house. 
 Dust and germs collect on articles exposed in a room 
 where people are sitting and passing, and the habit 
 of leaving a table spread is not a sanitary one. 
 
 Have a neat table-cover of some colored material 
 or of linen or embroidery for the dining-room table 
 when not in use. 
 
 A plant or flowers or fruit may decorate it during 
 the day. 
 
 Motto. Learn to do everything in your home so 
 well that you will not be dependent upon servants. 
 
 Laundry work 
 
 Washing. Always sort the clothes before washing, 
 putting together: (i) The table-linen. (2) The 
 bed-linen, towels, body clothes, and handkerchiefs. 
 (3) The flannels. (4) The colored clothes and 
 stockings. 
 
 When possible, soak the clothes overnight or for 
 several hours to loosen the dirt. Rub soap on the 
 most soiled parts, roll up each article, put in a laun- 
 dry tub, and cover with warm water. 
 
 When ready to wash, rub the clothes on the wash- 
 So 
 
HOUSEKEEPING NOTES 
 
 board, using warm water, and get fresh water when 
 necessary, for one cannot wash clothes clean in dirty 
 water. After rubbing, put the clothes into the 
 boiler. 
 
 Boiling. Clothes must be perfectly clean before 
 boiling. It is better to put them into cold water and 
 let it come to a boil. For ordinary clothes, boil from 
 ten to fifteen minutes. Boiling helps to whiten the 
 clothes and also destroys germs. In case of sickness, 
 boil the clothes about half an hour. 
 
 Wash garments wrong side out, and hang them 
 out to dry in this way, and when wringing be careful 
 to fold in all the buttons and hooks and eyes. 
 
 Boil dust-cloths and floor-cloths, etc., after the 
 other things are finished. 
 
 Bluing. After boiling, rinse in two or three waters, 
 using warm water. Wring the clothes, and then put 
 them in the bluing-water. Have the bluing-water 
 cold, and do not let the clothes stand in it or they 
 will become streaked. 
 
 Drying. Always dry the clothes out of doors when 
 possible and have the clothesline clean. 
 
 Wring from the bluing-water and then hang out to 
 dry, putting pieces of a kind together. 
 
 Fold tablecloths once lengthwise, and smooth out 
 wrinkles as much as possible, and dry in this way. 
 
 Hang out sheets in the same way. 
 
 Many garments can be sun-dried and need not be 
 ironed if hung out to dry very carefully, and carefully 
 smoothed and folded by hand. Knit underwear may 
 
 81 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 always be finished in this way, and sheets, towels, 
 and even pillowcases in emergencies. 
 
 Bleaching. Bleach clothes by sunshine and fresh 
 air and by hanging on the line without wringing. 
 There are chemicals which whiten clothes, but sun- 
 shine is the best bleacher. 
 
 Flannels. Woolen materials will easily shrink if 
 not carefully handled. 
 
 Make a suds with Ivory soap or some good wool 
 soap and warm water, and wash the garments in 
 this, pressing and squeezing the material with the 
 hands, but not rubbing on the washboard. If the 
 garments are much soiled, they may be soaked for 
 about ten minutes in warm water and ammonia, a 
 teaspoonful of ammonia to a gallon of water. Rinse 
 several times in warm water, wringing with the 
 wringer, but never pulling or twisting with the hands. 
 Hang in a warm place to dry, and stretch the gar- 
 ment into shape while drying. Do not iron woolen 
 underwear, but flannel shirts and shirt-waists may be 
 pressed with a moderately warm iron. 
 
 Stockings. Wash stockings in clean soapsuds. If 
 washed in water that has been used for white clothes, 
 white particles will adhere to them. 
 
 Starching. Either cooked or uncooked starch may 
 be used (also called hot starch and cold starch), but 
 the cooked starch is more satisfactory, for it is less 
 liable to stick to the iron. 
 
 The amount of starch used varies with the num- 
 ber of articles to be starched and the weight of the 
 
 82 
 
 
HOUSEKEEPING NOTES 
 
 materials. Heavy materials require thicker starch 
 than light materials. 
 
 The proportions for boiled starch are about one 
 measurement of starch to eight of water for thick 
 starch, and twice that amount of water for thin 
 starch. The amount of starch needed varies also 
 with the condition of the weather, as clothes stiffen 
 more readily on a sunny, quiet day than on a windy, 
 damp day. 
 
 Always mix starch with a small quantity of cold 
 water, stirring until thoroughly dissolved. Then add 
 a little oil, wax, paraffine, or borax, to keep the 
 irons from sticking. Next add the required amount 
 of boiling water, stirring constantly to keep lumps 
 from forming, and finish by boiling for a few mo- 
 ments on the stove. Add a drop or two of bluing, 
 and if the starch seems too thick for some materials, 
 thin with cold water. 
 
 Sprinkling. The sprinkling or dampening should 
 be done some time before the clothes are to be 
 ironed, to let the moisture soak evenly through the 
 materials. 
 
 Have the table perfectly clean on which the clothes 
 are dampened. 
 
 A patent sprinkler may be used, or a whisk-broom, 
 or the hand if the drops can be made small enough. 
 
 Dampen each piece separately, and roll up all 
 large pieces separately, folding the sides and ends 
 into the middle. 
 
 Table-linen should be very damp. 
 
 83 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 Sprinkle clothes in cold water, as they are more 
 likely to mildew when hot water is used. 
 
 Ironing. Cover the ironing-board with an old 
 blanket or some other heavy material, and over this 
 tack tightly and securely a clean ironing-sheet. It is 
 better to use new material for the ironing-sheet^ and 
 it must be kept clean by frequent washing. 
 
 Have several folds of clean paper under the iron 
 rest, and keep on hand a piece of beeswax for clean- 
 ing the irons, and a clean cloth on which to test the 
 heat of the irons and on which to wipe them. 
 
 Use a piece of cloth to wash off all spots from the 
 clothes, and to moisten them if they dry too fast. 
 
 When ironing large pieces, keep the clothes-basket 
 under the ironing-board to protect the clothes from 
 the floor, or spread papers under the ironing-board. 
 
 Use heavy irons for heavy materials, and light 
 irons for light materials, and iron all articles until 
 thoroughly dry. 
 
 As a rule, iron trimming and ruffles first, and the 
 straight parts last, and stretch all parts of a garment 
 into shape. 
 
 Iron embroidery on the wrong side to bring out 
 the pattern, and gently stretch laces into shape. 
 
 Use as hot an iron as is possible without scorching 
 the clothes. 
 
 Iron napkins and hand-towels on both sides. 
 
 When ironing tablecloths, make a lengthwise fold 
 through the center and iron the cloth on both sides. 
 Make a second lengthwise fold and press carefully. 
 
HOUSEKEEPING NOTES 
 
 Do not press the cross-folds, but make them lightly 
 with the hand. 
 
 Tablecloths and napkins that are old or made 
 from linen that is very light in weight will look much 
 better if starched a little. Use one cupful of thin 
 starch to half a pail of bluing-water. 
 
 Iron over several thicknesses of cloth to bring out 
 the pattern in embroidery, etc. 
 
 How to remove stains 
 
 Tea, coffee, cocoa, and most fruit stains can be 
 removed by pouring boiling water through the discol- 
 ored part. Stretch the stained part over a wash-basin 
 or bowl, and pour on boiling water. Some fruit stains 
 will come out if boiled in water and a little baking- 
 soda. 
 
 For grease, oil, etc., wash first in cold water and 
 soap, and then rub with warm water and soap. Use 
 gasolene for fabrics that cannot be put in water. On 
 some materials kerosene may be used to cut the 
 grease, after which sprinkle on powdered chalk or 
 magnesia. Powdered chalk or magnesia used freely 
 will usually absorb grease from any material. 
 
 For paint, tar, etc., use turpentine, alcohol, wood 
 alcohol, or gasolene. 
 
 Sugar and gum can be dissolved by alcohol. 
 
 For ink use diluted oxalic acid or wash several 
 times in milk. 
 
 For iron rust use lemon juice and salt, and if 
 possible expose to the sunlight. 
 
 85 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 Blood-stains should be washed first in cold or 
 slightly warm water, being allowed to soak ; then rub 
 out with warm water and soap. 
 
 Use alcohol, or warm water and a little sal-soda, 
 to take out grass stains. 
 
 Remove perspiration by washing in strong soap- 
 suds and bleaching in the sun before rinsing. If the 
 stains are specially dark, use diluted muriatic acid. 
 
 Use soap and warm water to clean white veils, 
 gauze, silk crepe, etc. After washing, bleach with 
 oxalic acid, using about one quarter of an ounce to 
 two gallons of water. One part peroxide of hydro- 
 gen to ten of water is a good solution for bleaching. 
 Leave the material in this solution overnight. 
 
 Ammonia is a valuable cleansing agent, and chlo- 
 roform may be used on delicate colored materials 
 that cannot be washed. 
 
 After using gasolene, always sift on powdered 
 chalk or magnesia to absorb the moisture and 
 grease. 
 
 Rub always toward the center of a stain, and have 
 several folds of clean cloth under the spot. 
 
 A good selection of articles for the home laundry 
 
 Boiler. 
 
 Wringer. 
 
 Washboard. 
 
 Clothes-basket. 
 
 Small table. 
 
 Ironing-board. 
 
 86 
 
HOUSEKEEPING NOTES 
 
 Sleeve-board. 
 Clothes-rack. 
 Dipper. 
 Tea-kettle. 
 
 Pan for making starch. 
 Large spoon for starch. 
 
 Three or four irons (the old-fashioned kind with 
 handles attached are best). 
 
 Sprinkler of some sort to dampen the clothes. 
 
 Pail. 
 
 Knife for shaving soap and cleaning irons. 
 
 A clean clothesline. 
 
 Clothespins. 
 
 A clothes-stick. 
 
 When storing irons, rub with vaseline and wrap in 
 paper. 
 
 Never put irons soiled with starch back on the 
 stove without cleaning thoroughly. To clean them, 
 rub on a paper on which salt has been sprinkled, or 
 scrape clean with a knife. It is sometimes necessary 
 to wash irons with soap and water. 
 
 Do not blacken a laundry stove; clean it with a 
 cloth, and wash it off occasionally with warm soap- 
 suds. 
 
 The boiler, washboard, wringer, and all articles in 
 the laundry must be wiped perfectly dry after using. 
 
 Loosen the screws of the wringer after using, to 
 preserve the rollers. 
 
IX 
 
 SOME DISTINCTIVE METHODS OF THE HOME 
 SCHOOL 
 
 WITH all the varied interests pursued, no effort 
 should be made to compete in any way with the 
 technical and trade schools or any institutions 
 where industrial work can be better done, but 
 rather to preserve in every way the simple, home- 
 like atmosphere and character of the work, and 
 to cultivate in the girls a taste for home surround- 
 ings and household duties. A love of household 
 occupation must be developed to crowd out a 
 love of ease, and joy must come not from idle- 
 ness but from competence. 
 
 Cleanliness and taste 
 
 Every effort must be made to cultivate the 
 element of taste, taste in dress and personal 
 adornment and in the selection of everything 
 that enters into the making of a home. Begin- 
 ning with cleanliness as the basis of all beauty, 
 a simple consideration of color and form and 
 design and use may follow, reaching out in this 
 88 
 
SOME DISTINCTIVE METHODS 
 
 way into all the aspects of life both material and 
 spiritual. To give through the home an ideal 
 of good taste that may be lived into every phase 
 of existence should be the motive of the home 
 school. 
 
 Home cooperation 
 
 In every way possible direct cooperation with 
 the homes of the children should be maintained 
 to establish that human relationship between 
 teachers and pupils and parents which it is al- 
 most impossible to establish in the more formal 
 conditions existing in most of the public schools. 
 How to take care of younger brothers and sis- 
 ters, and problems of diet, sleeping arrangements, 
 dress, and scores of domestic perplexities in the 
 homes of the children may be discussed and most 
 satisfactorily handled through the collaboration 
 of sympathetic teachers. And the notebooks 
 written by the girls covering all the work in the 
 school must be so simple, direct, and comprehen- 
 sive as to furnish helpful and practical informa- 
 tion for the homes into which they go. 
 
 Freedom and individuality 
 While the courses of study in the various de- 
 partments of housecraft must be educational and 
 progressive, yet the best results have been ob- 
 
 89 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 tained by retaining a certain amount of elasticity 
 to preserve that freedom and individuality which 
 constitute one of the greatest charms of any 
 home. In a general way, all the activities should 
 be planned with reference to progressive diffi- 
 culty, to make them more dynamic and to keep 
 them from degenerating into mere observation 
 work and useful information. Scientific study of 
 some form carried along with the housecraft will 
 help to point a reason and provide a motive for 
 the work. The germ theory, the theory of cleans- 
 ing as applied to laundry work, chemical actions 
 and changes in the preparation of foods, physio- 
 logical and nutritive values, the scientific study 
 of sinks, bathrooms, etc., hygienic dress, and 
 many other scientific aspects of the problems of 
 home-making, should be presented and discussed 
 clearly and simply. Nothing should be done by 
 mere rule of thumb. 
 
 The words of Dr. Henry Suzzallo, of Columbia 
 University, that " great economic gain does not 
 come merely from turning out more heels at a 
 machine, but also from gaining a social point of 
 view which will enable one to prevent a strike," 
 sound the new individualism which is at the root 
 of modern vocational education. We can no longer 
 attempt to reach adequately a body of workers 
 90 
 
SOME DISTINCTIVE METHODS 
 
 through mass methods. An atmosphere of wider 
 sympathy has come which takes into account the 
 capacity and the soul back of the work. For 
 many years group work has been resorted to as 
 a means of establishing temporary order and dis- 
 cipline, but now a broader way has opened up for 
 developing an independent and self -reliant human 
 being. 
 
 Initiative and invention 
 Those working with girls in home-making 
 schools see the exceptional opportunities for de- 
 veloping initiative, invention, and individuality. 
 The wise teacher will realize that her highest 
 function is to become merely the ideal environ- 
 ment and atmosphere, and she will leave the girls 
 alone with their problems, allowing them the 
 clarifying right of making mistakes, and the joy 
 and growth that comes with discovery and inven- 
 tion. To give girls such a problem as painting 
 and papering a room is to give them the opportu- 
 nity of experimenting with large things in a vital 
 way, and is sure to set in motion enthusiasm and 
 inner self-activity. 
 
 Breadth 
 
 Instruction in household arts is not only a way 
 to efficiency, but it is a way to happiness and 
 
 91 
 
THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 self-expression and greater civic intelligence. 
 And the problem is one that cannot be handled 
 through traditional method. There is danger that 
 such schools will be established before teachers 
 and directors for the work can be found who by 
 scholarship and experience are qualified to handle 
 so broad a problem. Indeed, in many respects 
 the demands for a striking and forceful person- 
 ality are more exacting than in other lines of 
 public school work. In addition to tact in han- 
 dling children and young women, and an appreci- 
 ation of the educational values and possibilities 
 of her work, the woman who goes into the organ- 
 ized work of home-making must be able to see 
 life in clear and definite outlines, and must have 
 the education, refinement, culture, and taste nec- 
 essary to cover every phase of home life and to 
 cover it adequately for the needs of the vastly 
 different social groups and nationalities that will 
 be represented by her pupils. She must have had 
 the experience necessary to give her a knowledge 
 of people, and she must know thoroughly and 
 sympathetically the community life of her neigh- 
 borhood. It is not enough to understand cooking, 
 sewing, laundry work, and all the industries of the 
 home, but she must also have the artistic know- 
 ledge and the taste to select suitable pictures, 
 92 
 
SOME DISTINCTIVE METHQDSf , 
 
 furniture of good design, artistic rugs, curt kills, 
 and other articles of home decoration. She must 
 know the simple, refined, and effective ways of 
 serving meals and offering hospitality, and her 
 ideas must be practical enough to be used by the 
 children in their homes. And she must know the 
 ennobling influences of nature, and art, and music, 
 and literature, and through them be able to lead 
 others into new realms of poetry, romance, and 
 wisdom. 
 
3 :/:-.:*::: 
 
 '-.. : -..:;W 
 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 The home school and the essentials of a 
 progressive life 
 
 As the most thoughtful educators for some time 
 past have been working on their problems with 
 a view to meeting more practically the demands 
 of the community, the home school training and 
 its means of offering the fundamentals of an edu- 
 cation seem to point to one solution of this ab- 
 sorbing and perplexing question. And even more 
 important is the social and ethical side when it is 
 realized that the home school is an opportunity 
 for putting inspiration into the drudgery of daily 
 necessity, and for capturing the soul that will one 
 day express itself in the relations of wife and 
 mother. What sometimes appears to be a distaste 
 for the duties of motherhood grows largely out 
 of the fact that the interests of the girl of to-day 
 have been transferred from the home to other 
 centers of activity. Her wage-earning pursuits 
 are not carried on in her home, neither do her 
 pleasures center there. The office, the shop, the 
 
 94 
 
CONCLUSION 
 
 club, the dancing-hall, and a score of other asso- 
 ciations have estranged her sympathies and taste 
 from the home environment. Woman is instinc- 
 tively creative, and this instinct expresses itself, 
 biologically, in the function of motherhood. The 
 natural and normal outlet for creative self-expres- 
 sion is the bearing and rearing of children and 
 the building-up of the home and the home life. 
 So to every girl, in whatever walk of life, should 
 be given the training and education which will 
 awaken her enthusiasm and enchain her interest 
 in the vocation of home-making. And the pre- 
 cepts taught, and the ideals held out to her as to 
 the scope of the home, must be alluring, ever- 
 growing ones, including all the essentials of a pro- 
 gressive life. The home must grow to house the 
 enlarging activities and responsibilities of woman, 
 that all her most vital interests may focus within 
 the home, and give to her a growing ideal of the 
 responsibility, the dignity, and the beauty of life 
 that becomes the "vision " for all humanity; for 
 " where there is no vision, the people perish." 
 
OUTLINE 
 
 I. SOME ASPECTS OF MODERN EDUCATION 
 
 1. A new demand in education I 
 
 2. Home- making a necessary supplement to educa- 
 
 tion for girls in all social groups 3 
 
 3. Home-making training for boys 5 
 
 II. THE NECESSITY FOR TWO DIFFERENT 
 
 TYPES OF TRAINING -FOR INDUSTRY 
 AND FOR THE HOME 
 
 1. Concerning industry 7 
 
 2. Concerning the home 9 
 
 III. THE HOME AS AN INSTITUTIONAL UNIT 
 
 AND THE HOME SCHOOL AN EXPRES- 
 SION OF IT 
 
 1. The home a fundamental unit 13 
 
 2. The function of the home school 15 
 
 IV. THE HOME AS AN ECONOMIC INSTITU- 
 
 TION, AND THE RELATION OF TRADE 
 AND HOUSEHOLD EDUCATION 
 
 1. The modern home, and the woman of to-day . . 18 
 
 2. The home a producing center 20 
 
 3. Neighborhood cooperation 24 
 
 4. The home school as an industrial center ... 26 
 
 V. SPECIAL THINGS TO BE ACCOMPLISHED 
 
 THROUGH THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 1. "The children of to-day are the citizens of to- 
 
 morrow" 30 
 
 2. The play spirit 34 
 
 3. Domestic service 37 
 
 97 
 
OUTLINE 
 
 VI. A GENERAL OUTLINE FOR THE WORK 
 
 IN THE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 1. Grammar and high school credit for home school 
 
 work 41 
 
 2. Outline for the work in the home school ... 43 
 
 3. Hygiene 46 
 
 4. Work in the South and elsewhere 50 
 
 5. Economy and food values 52 
 
 6. School program 55 
 
 VII. THE HOME SCHOOL OF PROVIDENCE, 
 
 RHODE ISLAND 
 
 1. Location 58 
 
 2. Furnishing the home 60 
 
 3. Operating day 62 
 
 4. Home economics and ideals 66 
 
 5. Cooperation 68 
 
 VIII. HOUSEKEEPING NOTES USED AT THE 
 
 PROVIDENCE HOME SCHOOL 
 
 1. How to clean house 75 
 
 2. How to serve meals 77 
 
 3. Laundry work 80 
 
 4. How to remove stains 85 
 
 5. A good selection of articles for the home laun- 
 
 dry 86 
 
 IX. SOME DISTINCTIVE METHODS OF THE 
 
 HOME SCHOOL 
 
 1. Cleanliness and taste 88 
 
 2. Home cooperation 89 
 
 3. Freedom and individuality .89 
 
 4. Initiative and invention 91 
 
 5. Breadth ... 91 
 
 X. CONCLUSION 
 
 I. The home school and the essentials of a pro- 
 gressive life 94 
 
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