The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-11-15
HOUSEKEEPING FOR GIRLS.
1t Should be Considered Part Of Thei
Education.
From The Ne.o York Star.


The writer of this article has diligently
inquired, but cannot hear of any school or
college wherein girls and young women are
taught housekeeping or household work of
any kind. Last year the public schools
Of this city introduced cooki Q, and
there are kitchen-garden schools maintained
by various charitable societies, where poor
children are taught how to make beds,
sweep rooms, dust and set the table for
meals. Cooking is part of holsekee ping,
OF course; but why is il that only the chill
dren or the poor are taught the other
thingsl A man cannot become the manager
of business house unless he has worked his
way up step by step, learning all the de-
tails of the business and how things should
be done, so that when he reaches the TOD
and is mana ger he knows how to give
orders, Should not this same system of
learning apply to girls who one day hope to
have homes of taeir own? How can a
woman expect to mana 20 her household
successfully unless she has some knowledge
Of the details of housekeeping, and SO is
competent to give orders.
Every one knows that servants are not
all they should be. It is extremely difficult
to obtain good ones even at high wages,
and then it is not always easy to retain
them. And every girl who marries cannot,
perhaps, afford to pay the wages demanded
by the most competent servants Pernaps
if girls had little more instruction in do
nestle arts their married lives would be a
little smoother, for it is an unde liable fact
that comfortable and wel-ordered home
prevents many a married man from run
ming after what he might be pleased TO call
compensations. A smoking lamp aad a
poor dinner have driven many man to the
drinking saloon, aud untldy, cherries
rooms drive many more TO their clubs, or
the society of other women than their
wives, who live in cosy and homelike apart
ments.
A knowledge of housekeeping and house
| W rk should not be despised by any woman.
| To be able to successfully manage an eStab-
| llshment, no matter how small requires in
| telligence, Knowledge, system and good
Judgment Without tn 9se qualities a woman
viii never be a successful houSekeeper
with them she will be Competent to u der.
take the management of a house large
enough to hold regiment. And whatever
her prospects in lie VIII ttever her expecta
lions, instruction in the art of housekeep-
& should be part of her education. Even
among the wealthiest classes servants mis-.
behave, aid the mistress of a Iuxu.
rlous home is often compelled tc
ms ruct an undei servant how to get I'D q
simple dinner, and perhaps to help in the
cooking of it herself. And there are cook:
cannot prepare simple dish. For insta &C.
a wealthy couple, living in a great deal OF
style, drank tea for breakfast because they
could not get cook who knew how &c
make coffee fit to drink, and they them.
selves did not know no to tell her it should
be made. And then there was bride who
asked her mother why she had never told
her that the ironing beard needed bed
clothes How much better To learn these
things before having house of ones own.
American girls have an idei, perhaps.
that homework of any kind is degrading,
and that housekeeping is drudgery. They
are neither; and women holding the most
exalted p )sitions on the earth do not fail to
to take some part in the management of
their homes. The Empress of Austria is an
excellent housekeeper. and pc rsonally inter
views the servants of her household on all
matters pertaining to the kite Zen, dining
| room and linen. she regulates the
expenses reads the reports of the cooks and
buffers, and orders changes in the
methods of preparing food The wives of
| the Presidents of the United States have
always taken part in the management of
tue white house, and there are many fash
ionable young married women in this city
woo consult their cooks and go to market
every morning. The Princess Powatowsky.
an American girl who was educated
abroad and lived in Paris, goes to an intel
lgence Office to engage her servants, which
proves that neither money nor titles exempt
married women from the performance of
what the majority of girls will call per-
haps, "horrid drudgery" In Germany al!
girls, rich or poor, lare thoroug lylnstructed
In everything appertaining TO housekeeping,
and III nearly every household the women,
old and young, share in the household
cares. But other branches of education
are not neglected, for a German girl has q
| TO- l,nl.v
American. She is generally able to con.
verse in one or two languages besides her
own, and music and the classics are familiar
to her.
In France, too, the girls are taught to
take an interest in the household, aad a
Frenchwoman reigns supreme il her own
home. At Foutainebleau is famous SC 1ool,
well known TO American mothers WHO have
had their daughters educated there. Be-
sides the ordinary studies that are taught t,
ali the young ladies, each pupil is required
to do her share OF the housekeeping. One