, 1879-06-08

was omitted The next lesson 10 to be bed making,
| and this will b. followed By washing, ironing.
! sweeping waiting at table. tending door. making
dres-eyerything, In fact TINT Is required tn the
arrangement and ordering of every part Of house,
| hold life"
When these details are mastered, then will
! follow lessons in plain and fancy cookery,
and when these ere concluded the scholar
will be ready to fulfill her destiny as house.
keeper OF somebody's home, and ready to
make that home attractive for that somebody,
instead of making him miserable with un-
tidy rooms, bad cookery, and slack servants,
through sheer ignorance how things should
be done, for nothing is more true than that
servants will take advantage of a house.
keeper ignorant of her business, and keep
tho house as they please, besides keeping
both master and mistress in hot water. In
every other department of education the
opportunities for girls are ample. The pub
lie schools supply them with the common
branches Of education. Boarding schools
and seminaries are abundant where they can
obtain knowledge OF French, embroid-
cry, Hebrew, astronomy, Greek. tr1gonome-
try, u German, moral philosophy, Italian,
and other ophies and omstries which
are Of about as much real practical value to
the average woman as knowledge Of the
dialects of the Indian tribes. There are
plenty Of schools where they can stndy the
piano, and there are plenty Of them studying
it,-too many for human comfort, Though not
one in hundred will ever open piano after
she gets married, aud never ought to have
opened one before. There are numerous
opportunities for young women to learn to
paint jugs, soup dishes, and sewer-pipes,
and to execute silhouettes On coal-scuttles,
though this pursuit has no apparent connec-
ton with the real duties Of woman's
life. For the practical sphere, however,
which every woman will or ought to oc-
cupy, there has hitherto been no prepara-
ton except in the case Of few old-fash-
ioned families, where the duties and secrets
of housekeeping are handed down from
mother to daughter, and where the homely
old promise Is rel1gioualy kept that when the
girl learns to play the washboard she shall
learn to plny the piano. 1t is all well enough
to say that these schools ars unnecessary, be-
cause the parents can teach their children
the curriculum of their studies; but the pa
rents don't do it,-partly for the reoson that
the parents don't know how themselves,
or, if they do know how, they have
neither the time nor the patience to devote
themselves to the work with the intelligence
and thoroughness it requires.
What the social economy requires more
than all else is good housekeepers. If but
one young woman in q hundred becomes
good musician, that is sufficient for the worlds
needs. If but ono young woman in hun
dred accomplishes great results in painting,
the demand for works Of " bigotry and viz
tue will be met. But how about the ninety
and nine7 There will be demand for every
one Of them in the capacity Of good house.
keeper, and if they are not good housekeep-
ers every one Of them vii! contribute to
make some man miserable Nor is it, again,
any objection to this scheme Of education
that as rule servants do the household
work,-set tables, cook meals, make BEDS.
light fires, sweep, wash, and iron, and tend
door. If the mistress Of the house khowshow
to do these things the table will be better set,
the meals will be better cooked, the beds
will be more comfortably made up, the fires
will be mora economically handled, the
rooms will ba brighter and cleaner, and the
laundry will turn out glossier shirt-bosoms
and cuffs. If she does not know how to do
these things the servant will be slack, and
slothfu1, and untidy, and the house will not
be ft for human habitation. The City Of
Chicago needs these schools as much as any
other. Thousands OF. business men get their
dinners downtown, instead. Of lunches, be-
cause they can't get good dinners at. home
There are probably thousands of women
who have had the praises Of this or
that housekeeper, who is noted all
over the neighborhood for her excel
lence. dinned into their ears until they
actually hate the woman. There are proba-
bly, thousands Of women whose children are
growing up with knowledge Of everything
except housekeeping, which Is the one thing
needful for them to know, and the only one
thing which they are certain to be called
upon to perform. Where is the "reformer
who will start kitchen kindergarten and
commence the good work Of adding to the
sum Of human happiness, health, and econo~
my? It is no Utopia, no Millennium, that
is contemplated By these kindergartens, but
simply restoration of womanhood to first
principles; and, although another generation
than ours may reap the benefit, humanity
and good fellow-feeling should dictate such
q reform for the benefit OF those who are to
follow US.
The London Times has word to say on behalf
OF Chicago in the course Of an editorial on the
subject OF " international Copyright" After |
referring to the former piracies Of New York
and New England publishers on English authors, !
and their recent establishment OF "a courtesy |
Of the trade " with reference to the stealing of