The daily gazette., 1880-12-16
From Forney's Progress,
Kitchen Garden Schools.

."6 "0" uhuot enc ouu, lOT 10 not every
ten years continue TO be prolific of novel
ideas, curious inventions, and woDdi Gus
discoveries, of which no analogue can
be found In the past?
Lost arts indeed Why, how dare
we complain if some ancient methods
can be proved as lost TO us forever, since
we are revelling In the actualities OF the
present and the possibilities of the fu-
ture.
Kitchen-garden schools, as they have
been somewhat inapproprately nam ed,
are something new, quite new, an idea
in fact that was born only four years
ago, In the brain Of Miss Huntington,
from New York, and has grown SO
quietly yet so steadily that the world at
large is just about weakening to Its exis-
teDce. The idea is system of charita-
BILE education, full of instruction and
real enjoyment TO little children, and so
replete with interest and pleasure to
children Of a larger growth that the
whole pan recommends itself by its
own merits as soon as the maturer mind
comprehends the workings of the sys-
TEN, which system resembles very close.
ly the kindergarten idea, only it is pre-
sented in much niord attractive man.
ner, while 1t teaches rather more practi-
cal, even prosac, requirements.
The association boasts OF many classes
throughout the country, there being ten
in active operation in New York, one in
Hoboken, several in Brooklyn, six IN
Boston, ,-one Of which Is class for
the children of wealthy parents,-one
IN Chicago, Providence, Troy, Albany,
Plttsburg, at least one in Belfast (lre-
lAnd), and now one in Philadelphia in
The Harriet Holland Mission, started
only last Christmas, and already giving
practical evidence of its undoubted sue
cess. There are twenty-four children in
this class, under the auspices of such la
dies as Miss Lydia S. Penrose, Miss Liz
zie Z. Creswell, Mrs. q. A. Harper, Mrs.
e. f. Main, Mrs. Pomeroy, Mrs. K. G.
Ogden, Mrs. j. 5. Neill, ETC., and men
like Robert q. Ogden, John Wanamaker,
Rev. Hewitt, etc.
All the classes in fact are in the
hands of competent teachers, whose
noble aim it is 20 instruct the children
of the poor Qhrough means of object
lessons) in the various details of house.
work. Imagine the originality Of a
proceeding that will ingraft upon the
infantile mind the easy road of that
terrible and terrifying bugbear, house.
keeping. And all, too, by singing the
drollest of verses to the liveliest OF
tunes, by handling the cunningest Of
diminutive household toys, from all
sorts of paLs and buckets to the innu-
merable brushes, dishes, linens, beds,
chairs, tables, and even clothes-lines,
pins, and assorted small garments for
the washday exercises. Truly here
is the germ of the very poetry of
drudgery, and the possibility of the
long. looked for reform on the servant
question:
The lessons generally commence
with the setting of the breakfast table,
during which process chorus Of mer-
~ childish voices keep time with busy
little hands and feet by singing some-
thing like this /:
When was very little 1 used to sit and
think
How hard my mother had to work, until
my heart would sink.
tried TO help her as could, but always
did II wrong,
own work SO long.
CHORUS.
80 then l went to school,
Aud there we learned exactly right,
For we were taught by rule.
We learned to set the table. we learned to
make the fires,
We Iearne TO draw a cup OF tea. the cup
tina: never tires.
We learned to wash the dishes and keep
Inc kllcnen neat - ,
We learned to move more gently and
quietly to speak.
And now we max a thankful bow to all
who teach us here,
We know we never should know without
their love and cheer.
You bought us toys to teach us, you Kept
You set little table, and asked us all to
sup.
All the time they are singing their
work Is progressing In the most SYSTEM
ATTIC manner, and now they are ready
with another song
See the cook In the kitchen,
so early in the morning;
She makes the fire and 1t blazes up,
She Taxes Jn6 uOuT anu blIIb IL
Then with the milk she mixes 1t well;
Then she rolls her biscuit out,
And with the cutter she cuts them down |;
With the fork sue pricks thsm we'll;
Into the oven she shoves them then,.
rhe mill goes round and the coffee grinds /;
The water bolls and she pours 1t on,
Break fast is ready, we butter the bread,
But first we thank the Lord for food.
Both night and morning.
Then with faces beaning, and bright
eyes dancing, they roll up their sleeves
and prepare to wash the dishes:
washing dishes, suds are hot.
Work away briskly, do not stop;
First the glasses, wash them well,
II you do them nicely all can tell.
Then the silver must be bright,
Work away swiftly with your might,
Then the pitchers come the next,
Wash the cleanest things Arst, that's your
text.
Cups and saucers follow now,
Then YOU need TO rinse them, you know
Last the dish. pans scald and dry,
Towels on the clothes-line put up high.
So on through all the intricacies of
household work they dance and sing,
learn to work with their toys, TO recile
in rhyme, answer in prose, and in this
delightful way the first principles OF
neatness and cleanliness become so fix
ed in their minds that through sheer
force of habit, If nothing else, the form
of action so repeats itself that they are
liable to remember well. 1t is stated
that at present there are six hundred
children studying housework under
twenty teachers, and the number who
have been taught since 1875 is even
| much laroar Miss Dodpe. one of the