The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1886-10-28
a NEW IDEA.
What Is Ono of the Greatest Curses OF
This Intellectual Age.

What Is Ono of the Greatest Curses of
This Intellectual Age.
From Hearth and uome.
One Of the greatest curses of this
intellectual age Is the great lack of
proper education of our girls in the
practical affairs of everyday life. They
all want to be "schoolmarms," gov
ernesses or the wives of rich men.
Household work, which should form
the basic principle of our economic
life, is Stunned by them as something
degrading. A young woman will
stand behind dry goods counter four
teen hours day for mere epittancc-not
enough to clothe her-lose her health,
become anpmic and untitled for the
performance Of her natural duties,
rather than accept position as a
domestic, where she would have a
become properly fitted for the duties
tho unfortunate are filled with shop
their evenings, seek the parks and
beer gardens, where young men, as it
were, lie in wait for them as their
natural prey. How many young
women can trace their downfall to
this displacement Of their talents
Good domestics and wives who are
good cooks are so rare that when one
is found she is worth her weight in
gold.
We have schools in which our girls
are taught cooking, embroidery, music
painting, school teaching, the Ian
guages, but positively not one in
which is taught the art of house-keep
ing. Why? Simply because of the
prejudice against it. Yet all girls
desire to get married, which is very
easy to do, but it is very, very diff,
cult to live happily in amarriage; and
where the wife has no knowledge OF
the art of housekeeping, domestic
economy, or is poor cook, be hcl
husband as rich as CrGsus, her lot will
be miserable. Such woman is totally
incompetent to be a wife; her proper
place is in some garret "singing the
song Of the shirt" While q man
admires womanly beauty, yet in mar
ried life he admires much more q good
square meal, cooked by the hands OF
his wife or under her immediate direc-
tlons. What we mean by good
square meal is not simply roast beef
and potatoes, with piecc Of indiges-
tible pic and q cup Of ordinary coffee,
but table covered with snow white
linen, the china and glassware shin
ing like so many miniature mirrors,
with bouquets Of fresh blooming flow
crs in season, and napkins soft and
fresh from the laundry, not stiff as
pastCboard, SO that they will slide
from your" knees. These preparations
cost but u tritlc and are the invariablc
precursor of good appetite. No
dish should be served undccorated, the
fish and meat should be surrounded
with small pieces Of either parsley or
beots, carrots or turnips cut bv molds
into various knick-knack devices, not
so much Tor eating as for ornamental
ton, and also as All appetizer. For
pudulnEH, melons, etc, pulVcriZcd
sugar should always be at han d, and
Tor iced tea Al slice or two Of lcmon
with granulatcd sugar. These and a
Thousand and one other little things
we could mention concerning the
table, cost no more than the slovcnly-
served, Notwithstanding foods Of
the present Time. Cleanliness Of the
table should be coimportant with
cleanliness Of the body. Such a table
would never fail to make home. the
abiding place Of true love and solid
comfort.
But as we have no schools for teach
ing the above art what arc we to do?
Why not establish one, establish a
dozen, yes, and in every city and every
village. Have ii Il school of practical
housekeeping. Instruct the pupils in
every department, from the scrubbing
of the front door steps to the mystic
rieS Of the kitchen. Run it actually as
q boarding house. Issue diplomas OF
graduation TO your servant pupils
after two, three or four years course.
Have each pupil begin by learning the
most mcnial labor, and by degrees
advancing until she is thoroughly
qualified in every department of the
scullery, chamber, laundry and kitchen.
Have her to do practical work, not
work in theory. Take in boardcrs,
charge good prices, give lirst-class
service, and as Colonel Sellers would
say, "thCre's millions in it," viii
any Of our readers take the hint: A
diploma from such an institution
would insure marriage, and what is
still better happiness in marriage.