The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1873-10-09
Home Training OF Girls.

Home Training OF Girls.
1t is not uncommon to find the daughters of
very accomplished and efficient women quite
useless and incapable. 1t is 80 much easier to
do thing ones self than to show another how
it should be done, that many mothers make
this an excuse for permitting their daughters
to grow up in ignorance of what tits of the
utmost Importance for them to know. Mean
time, they soothe the upbraidings of conscience
with the reflection that girls ought to enjoy
themselves and be free from care while they
are young, and that the pressure Of necessity
will soon enough urge them to an acquaintance
with the usual womanly accomplishments.
This may be true in some cases, but the ma
jority of those whose domestic education is
thus left to take care of itself suffer and blum
der and inhict untold inconvenience upon those
around them while learning what they should
have been taught while growing up. More
over, those thus neglected in girlhood are very
apt to raise their children as they themselves
were brought up, and thus the evil multiplies
as it descends from generation to generation.
1t is quite possible to initiate child into all
the mysteries of the culinary art and of needle
work, and make her feel at every step delight
in her progress. She may begin, "as great
privileges" let it be. always understood, to
make biscuit and cookies at eight years OF
age year or two after, she may be permitted
to iron the old collars and bosoms, with the
promise that whep she learns how to do these
well she may, perhaps, be INDUCED in ironing
| one of the nice shirts. As reward for neatly
hemming handkerchief of her own she may
be promoted to the honor of hemming pillow
slip for the best bed, and thus by insensible
gradatious, and without any hardship, she may
become good sempstress and q good cook.
This method we have tried with black and
white with most admirable results. Fault
I finding does not form part of the plan. The
only punishment permissible is refusing to
trust the apprentice with the higher kinds of
work until. inferior grades are performed per-
fectly, and when this is done praise and pro.
motion accompany each other. If the child
excellent service. A girl OF fourteen ought to
be able, with neatly fitting pattern, to cut
and make her own plain dresses under the
supervision of her mother. She can be taught
how to lay the patterns. down to the best ad-
vantage, how to apply the scissors, and how to
put the various parts together. Of course it
requires patience on the part of both teacher
and taught, but patience exercised in that
direction brings its own great reward. When
once girl has thoroughly mastered any cne
accomplishment, as bread-making or plain
sewing, other conquests will become compara-
lively easy and as to all these capabilities, it
is good that woman bear the yoke in her
youth.
At present the making of dress and the
! material cost about alike whether the fabric is
calico or silk. If girl can make her own
dresses she can afford double the number she
can have when she must hire it done. Know
ing this, how is it that 80 many mothers in
| limited circumstances will suffer their daugh-
ters to grow up ignorant of dressmaking, and
increase so materially to them the burden of
selfsupport?
The mother who encourages her daughter to
become thoroughly familiar with all the details
of housekeeping, including the mysteries of
picking and preserving, the management OF
the Spring and Fall campaigns of house-clean-
ing, and sewing, is serving her generation and
those that come after. Competent mistresses
almost invariably have good servants, orderly
families, and loving husbands. Rarely does
frst-class housekeeper, one who herself
knows how to do every part of the housework,
does she complain of incapable or inefficient
servants, for, if they are ignorant, she can in
struct them if they do not know how to plan
their work she can plan for them, and by
reason of ignorance and incapacity she is never
at the mercy of incompetent and dishonest
help.
| Whether q girl has talent for it or not, she
ought to know how to put house to rights,
how to make q good loaf of bread, and, in
general, how to perform all those Offices on
which her own physical health and comfort
depend. In the entire absence of talent in
CHS direction, good thorough training will
answer all practical purposes.
The failures in Wall st. and the suspension
of banks may set many woman to thinking
what she can do to secure the comforts her
vanished wealth has made Indispensable Has
she so learned music that she can successfully
teach it7 Will her skill in oil-painting or
water-colors help to increase her incomef Is
her knowledge of English and French thorough
enough to give her position as instructor in
these branches9 Is she competent 70 take the
place of her own sempstress and cham bermaid,
and thus diminish household expenses Happy
indeed is that woman who can bravely step for
ward and aid her husband, by cheering coun-
sells and efficient deeds, to retrieve in part the
ruin of financial disaster. Happy is the
daughter that has so used wealth as to be able
to diminish the burdens of her bankrupt father
by being able to support herself and happy is
the mother who aeels that whatever fortune
may bring to her daughters they are competent
to earn an honorable and ample sustenance.-
Meao York Tribune.
II 0Y11tf