Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-10-09
HOUSEHOLD SCIENCE.
RELATION OF THE HIGHER EDUcA TON OF WOMEN TO THE HOME.

How the Subject of Cleanlincss In the Fora
 of Sanitation T. E,caIt With by the Worn
 an Who Has Studied Chemistry-Scirnt |.
 and Food.
 When it first dawnCd upon few pro gressive spirits that woman was worth educating, some enemy of the scheme hit upon a clever ruse for enlisting all man kind against il. He insinuated that il woman learned the sciences she might for get how to cook, and the masculine half of humanity. face to face with the horrors of a dinnerless existence, cried out with one voice that woman must remain as she y9.is
 It is unfortunate that in those darker ages. when this view prevailed, no one was found with the prophetic instinct to de clare that the whole hope of domestic sci ence lay in the possibility of training in telligcnt women to take hold of it in an in telligent way Had this been done, a com fort loving world, anxious to live more easily and farc mOTe luNuTiOusly, would have dOtted the land with cottages for women and have secured the success of the new institutions by compulsory at tendance law SO stringent that evasion of il would have been impossible It was left, however, for woman herself to demonstrate her willingness tO serve civilization on the same old lines she has been following for centuries, provided only that her work be placed on the level where il belongs and that she be permitted to do il under the same conditions that apply tn other tasks of equal importance.
 The rebellion of the modern woman against domestic duties k not a repudia- tion of the duties themselves, but a protest against the methods she i~ still expected To apply 10 them. Above all she objects to the illogical position of man. who lays great stress upon the necessity of a well or dered home, but who withholds from the brain and hand that governs it the honor due to skilled labor in whatever field. Is it any wonder that woman with high ideals of a useful life should prefer the study of medicine to the study of house wifery: In the former she spends three years in going over the condensed results of all human endeavur in her chosen speciality; in the other she painfully spends 2O years in formulating from her own experience the fundamental rules of n science which can hardly be said to be in its infancy, be cause it is yet unborn.
 There iS, however, an embryonic idea that such q science would be worth while and it is q remarkable fact that the people who are fostering this notion with the greatest enthusiasm are the college bred women of America. That the idea has al ready taken several practical and very Use ful forms is a sufficient guarantee of what it may accomplish in time.
 The two GrcIt and permanent necessities of the home are sanitary perfection and wholesome food. That these two simple requirements involve nearly all the natural sciences but astronomy k startling. but un- deuiable. To bt sure, generations of wum- cn have kept house nCccptably without any knowledge of the wonders of the laborl- lrrF l,.,y- .ff T Tr conscious "t bacteria and not vet awak cned to nervousness on the subject of sewer gas The task of keeping the race alive and well seems to grow mOrc and more cumplrX-hnprltssly so. in fact unle>s the. eudeavor is made on scientific principles
 Take first the subject of household saui- tation, All hOu>ckeepcrs worthy the name aspire to cleanliness without stopping to think that it i- of thrur ort>-tradiIioual aSthetic and Saaitar:. IL may b. re. marked in passing that the last of these three is the only enc that bears any inti- mate relation to E,dliuess. Traditional cleanliness wa~ the strong point uf the old fashioned model Eoll>ekcvpt,r- She dire, fttI her energies tu Ccl>clt~~ ~CrtJhhingS a.si sCuurinEs, but was the sworn enemy uf a.F and sunshine. She r,.juicy,l in ~uCu alt,,t.E nations aS feather bgd>, cotton ~tulIc7I GOV crlids, ailuVcr CarVviS aad similar n 7u.y> for ruIcrpri>iuG di>cl>. Gcr:..-. and ~I,. cared little about the l0-atiuu Of the we'll provided it w:S haLjv for Eyr l,e!~j>,,,aJ but mi>dircCtcd C!cansIu-; operations. -lz-- thctic cleaulIuc>S, as still practical in nine houses out of ten. is even more needless of the laws of health It was in deferuuce to its demands that plumbers invented wool caSed water pipes, and furniture dealers the folding bed and washing cabinet" ." All it demands k that whatever t flrcics Ill slightly shall be Cnveryd mp or put out uf the way.
 Now, sanitary clcanlnc~s-it might al most be called real cleanliness, in di~tinc- tion from these other Surt>-is a very dIf- fercnt matter. IL rr>J~ on the two great sciences of physiology and bacteriulu-y and it cannot be successfully secured with out at least n rudimuntary knowledge of the principles on which it is founded The old fashioned hOuSckevper hated dust I,.- cause it looked unJidy Snd provoked the adverse criticism of her sex; her grand daughter hates 1t because it eNCit,.~ pull monary diseases or k likely tO contain stray germs iuimiCal to health. The prslC- tiCal difference lies in Ihe fact that the scientific housewife will make war moi only against the du>t in sight but against the dust which she merely >ti>pectS of existing, She has seen through the microscope the secrets of air and water, and her standard for the purity of her huu>rhcld surround incs is raised by her knowledge of the il- visible dangers to health and comfort.
 In the preparation of food there k even more need for the order and cNactnt$s which scientific methods alone can secure The fuvorite dish of the best uf cuuk, varies widely in excellence, and undtrIune or overJlone food k SO common that unless the mischief is cNcrsSive hardly ever stop to complain of il. We have proved, says Mr.. Abel of the New England Kitchen, "that kitchen may approach a pharmacy in cNactur>>. And why should it not universally a> we'll ns in this single in stance?-Alice M. Whitlock in Kate Fields, Washington.