St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-08-23


or in branches, as they occur in nature.
Herald to the school he found this class,
consisting of forty-five girls whose ages
average about IA years, greatly interested
in the work they were doing, so much so as
scarcely to notice the presence of visitors.
They seemed TO love the occupation and TO
be eager to improve every minute of
their time. In two other rooms, where the
age of the girls averaged about IL years,
the work taught is dressmalIing In min
iature. They are also taught knitting,
crocheting and elementary housekeeping
with toys. In the rooms where the
youngest girls are taught advanced kinder
garten work is done, such as coloring
prints, arranging primary cOlored squares
into designs. sewing and knitting. The
carpentry class consists of forty girls. who
are under the instruction of a young
gentleman. The girls are taught the
use of the saw, hammer and chisel,
and instructed in the primary principles of
woodworking. OF course it is not intended
to make carpenters of these young ladies,
but it is intended TO teach them how to
white, to drive nail, to put up a shelf
and fix the thOusand-and-One cOnveniences
which are always needed about a house.
which the head of the family never has
the time 10 do, and which the wife has
never been trained to. Women have as
much natural aptitude for mechanical
work as men. and the awkward
ness they display whenever they
attempt it is because Of the
lack of training. Hence we see the i'm
portance of the carpentry instruction in the
Hemenway school. The kitchen department
is in the basement and presided over by an
intelligent lady cook. The kitchen curriculum
is perfect, and includes lessons in boiling,
steaming, simmering, irving, baking, roast
ing, scattering, raising and mixing bread,
cleaning dishes. tables. brass and tinware,
and lessons which relate to the proper prepa
ration of food and the chemistry of cooking.
In referring TO this department the Herald
says: 1.-The importance of good cooking in a
household cannot be over-estimated. 1t is
no doubt a well-eStabliShed fact that
good meal of well-coOked victualS. by salts
flying the animal economy, will often make
a man temperate-or, rather, will prevent
his resort to bar-room stimulation. which
pOorly-dreSSed or unreliShed food often in
duceS-when moral measures would fail TO
effect. In fact, the healthy stomach. well sup
piled with wholesome and nutritious food
needs no other stimulation, and the craving
for stimulation being absent. there is natur-
ally no resort TO it. If all the girls in our
public schools were taught the art of cook
ing and proper methods of general house
keeping, how much better it would be, not
only for their own family in the present.
but for their own future after maturity. II
is safe to say, on the other hand that our
present system of school education, by eX-
citing extTavagant notions i'm the minds of
children, leads them TO prefer an ornamental
TO a useful career, and TO consider as mental
the most honorable of occupations. This
false estimate of occupation makes them
prefer the apparently genteel occupation of
shop attendance to the more healthy and re-
munerative one of cook or hOuSemaid. And
this prevails 10 a general extent i'm the face
of the fact that large percentage of cooks
who hire out are not fitted by previous
training, or have no training whatever, for
tiANAA NbA1AAhll. HI NltM VI tllS cALNG VI
things, the addition of the kitchen to the
other branches taught in the school eStab-
lished by Mrs. Hemenway is of the highest
Importance, and is deserving of general
recognition. In addition TO Learning the
art of cookery, the pupils are given
dinner on the Thursday of each
week-that is, six have dinner and the
other six wait on them, they i'm turn doing
a like Office for the Others on the succeed
ing Thursday. This is for the purpose of
teaching them how TO wait on table,
etc. The girls are delighted with their oc-
cupation in the kitchen, because they be-
come interested in the operations carried on
by them. Their parents, who visit the
kitchen, are so well pleased with what they
witness that many of them say they would
like to become pupils if it were possible.
Parents generally would be pleased to visit
the school, and even members of the school
committee might be interested by what is
done there"