, 1880-04-11
"KITCHEE-GARDEW," !"

/ IAtA1ANLN1lSL1E VI okAANAl1 VI VI A14t UAO Nl3t
save Mr. Spencer and Prof. Sumner.
KITCHEN GARDEN"
| Mission labor has long constituted prom.
inent feature of church effort. It originated
III desire to convert heathen nations to the
Christian faith and theology. For this pur:
pose large sums Of money have been raised
with which missionaries have been employed
and sent to the uttermost parts Of the globe
| to prosecute the holy work. The success OF
these enterprises has, on the whole, been but
Indifferent. The results are meaEre, and
| altogether out of proportion to the devotion
and courageous endurance of the apostles of
the cause and to the magnitude OF the sums
Of money expended. But there is never a
loss without some gain. Out Of the foreign
missions scheme has grown the home mis-
sions scheme. With the growth Of the
country, and the resultant concentration OF
populations in cities, there has developed an
alarming increase Of heathenisnl in the midst
of the highest degree Of civilization. In
New York, for example, it is but 4 step from
the abode Of plenty, Of every luxury, to the
noisome tenement of the poor; and that which
is true Of the metropolis is true in greater
or less degree of a hundred other cities.
Hence a multitude of home missions and
charitable institutions Of semi-educational
and reformatory character, as the mission
Sunday-schools, mission sewing schools,
mission Industrial schools, half-orphan
asylums, founding homes, reformatories for
incbriatcs, and the like. All these institu-
tions reflect the general apprehension Of
danger to the public moral health. and rep
resent, each in its way, 4 more or less intelli-
gent effort both to conserve the law Of self
preservation and observe the Divine injunc-
tion touching the poor.
The latest development Of home-mission
work is found in the institution Of the
'kitchen-garden." The system originated in
1876 in New FORK City, Whenceithas extended
to nearly all the large cities Of the country.
A late issue Of the New York Tribune con-
tanned a report of the Secretary Of the Associa-
ton of that city, which comprises all the
shools, eleven in number, with pupils number
ing between five and six hundred, taught by
seventy instructors. The report is very
prosaic, but nevertheless abounds in inter-
esting details. The kitchen-garden is pre-
cisely what the name indicates school Of
instruction in the rudiments OF housekeep-
ing. The pupils are usually drawn from the
ranks Of the poor, though school is re-
ferred to in Boston us composed Of "little
girls from lovely, refined homes" 1t does
hot appear from the data at hand whether
there is 4 limit as to age governing admis
sion to the schools, but most Of the pupils re-
ferred to are quite young,-mere children.
0t,a cn1,n11 h1c +1,en n11ccoS nf Jghioh ia
described as the infant class, the pupils Of
which are called 4;littte sunbeams." The
mothers Of these pupils are represented as
telling livery amusing stories. of the
little sunbeams instructing others in
One class Of pupils is
spoken Of as composed Of children :" about
Z years Of age" On the other hand, the
members Of classes Of 1876 and 1877 are re-
fcTred to as sin places" and from whose
employers commendatory reports have been
The parents Of the pupils are said
to be deeply interested in the schools and
very grateful to the volunteer teachers.
One mother, watching the class, said she
wished she were little girl so that she |
could learn too," and another said she was
glad some one was teaching the children
these things, as the mothers did not them
selves know how to do it" It is scarcely |
necessary to remark that neatness is the first
injunction Of the code of laws Of the Kitchen
garden; and, as cleanliness is next to godlt- |
ness, and almost as contagious as its opposit,
dirt, the Conclusion is Irresistible that every
title pupil must carry back to her home
Of the cleanly purity Of the school
room.
Very few of the people Of Chicago know,
that there is a '1zitchen-gardcn"
II this city. But it is true, nevertheless In
October last one was organized under the
Of Mrs. Sloan. Writing to
he New York Association, she says: 1.-THE
children show by their increased attention to
leanliness and polfteness, as well as eager
less to learn, that they are getting much
'ood." Airs. Sloan adds that IS she feels that
here is no scheme Of beneyolence which will
70 further toward solving the much-vexed
ervant-girl question than the kitchen-garden
lasses." We are moved to remark in this
onnectlon-and we feel no disposition to re-
ist the temptation-that much OF the Oft
aunted "seryant-girl trouble" springs,
oubtless, from Ignorance Of housekeeping
uties on the part of the mistress. It is IN
xiom Of mercantile experience that
ne skilled, practical merchant only
skillfu1ly and honestly served. That
'hfch is true OF merchandising Is equally true
housekeeping. But the truth or falsity Of |
lis theory does not initiate against the
itchen~garden scheme. Its great possible
alue rests in its tendency to elevate the !
oor,--to improve their social and moral con-
ldon. It is more important far that the tene~ I
tents fthe poor should be carefully washed II