The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1895-10-24
TRAINING FOR WOMEN.
The Problem of Domestic Service-The Dig
nifty of Woman's Work.
re-. Vrooman in October Arena.l

]
making-schools. There are also great private
technical schools attached to different manu-
factories, as at Mulhausen, Lille, Sevres,
Tore del Greco, Venice, where all kinds of
womanly work are taught. Each district is
provided with the schools adapted to its
wants and the curricula of these schools are
determined by the requirements of the peo-
pie" (Sir Philip Magnus, Report to the
Royal Commission
Switzerland, probably, leads tie world in
the number and the excellence of her house
bold schools. The pupils in general come
from the farms and the mountains, so that
awkward and unsophisticated girls are initi-
ated into the graces of household ways; and
from another class, the daughters of rich
merchants and manufacturers who attend to
take course in Ideal housekeeping, in
order to be able to direct the mechanism of
their homes most easily and advantageousy.
/ believe Switzerland is the only country
where the industrial educator bears the mis-
tress quite as much in mind as the servant
A striking Characteristic of these schools is
that the ethics of work and of every detail of
work is studied as carefully as its performance.
Another Characteristic is the frequent appear
ance in the curricula of gardening-that old
fashioned, gentle occupation and accomplish
ment-so that the woman goes to the very
fundamentals of her mendge; and the effect
upon the character of this close association
with mother earth must be lovely one.
France with her thrift, her industry, her
patience is hardly second to Switzerland in
her earnest interest in this matter. The
municipality of Paris has a superb course in
domestic economy which begins with the
kindergarten and continues for II or ~ years;
and the same is true in many of the cities,
especially throughout the northern depart
ments. And in France, where the woman
| has always been her husbands business part
ner, and very often the more energetic and
| intelligent member of the firm the course in
domestic economy includes instruction i'll not
only the internal but the external affairs of
the house. Thus girl is taught rs much
bookkeeping as is necessary TO keep the house
| hold accounts accurately and neatly. She
understands taxes. She knows how to lease
ahouse and what are her legal responsibilities
as tenant She learns to estimate the cost
of every article to be used and how best 10
provide for given number at given price.
| She is taught 10 be prudent and economical
. rare American traits Tie saying goes
that French family could live and right
comfortably and daintily too, on what an
American family throws away. Great atten-
ton is given also to detail and thoroughncss.
| 1t is not merely question of washing and
starching linen, and passing it under the iron;
it is a question well of stains and their
proper treatment, of soaps and their merits.
IT is not merely question of the cost and the
| freshness of food, but of its nutritive quail
ties too. 1t is question of the sanitation of
a house as well as its tidiness The result Of
all this is that there is no finer housewife in
/ fba world fhar ba Erancl, l,oucayifc As
| French needlework and French dressmaking
every woman knows that the geographical
adjective is the only adjective necessary TO
express their superlatiye excellence.
In the United States about all that has
been done in this direction is of very recent
growth. There are some fine private enter
prises of which the wOman's department of
Armour Institute is the newest and complet-
est Wisconsin University is experimenting
with course under the direction of Mrs
Helen Campbell which is commanding gen
eral interest and which, if it proves sue
cess, as it undoubtedly will. and becomes a
regular part of the curriculum, will probably
be the most scientific and enlightened effort
of the kind in the country. Wellesley
once undertook something like this but it
was given up. One wonders why. Many
States and cities have given the system
practical consideration, with conspicuous sue
cess in Massachusetts, New York, New Jer-
sey, Philadelphia and Toledo. Various
churches Christian Associations and col
lege settlements have undertaken more OF
less thorough schools of domestic science.
The most important and general results have
been achieved in the negro schools and col
leges of the South. There is hardly one in
which domestic training is not a very notable
and hepe
reason why we are so far behind Europe in
this work is the almost total absence in our
country of converts, which foster and control
very many of these schools abroad. The
question Of funds is "A very serious one in
country whose newspapers decry :" fads in
the public schools, y and sometimes with
good reason. Most of our fourishiDg schools
have been supported partly or wholly by the
State or the municipality. The State of New
jersey, notably, duplicates any sum under
50, 600 per annum which may be given 10
found or maintain any manual training
school. In Massachusetts and elsewhere such
schools have been very largely dependent
upon individual munificence A few have
been endowed. Often il has been found that
a school pays Its own way; exhibitions are
held and goods produced by the pupils are
sold; these exhibitions are very profitable,
and the running expenses oil the school are
reduced by the fact that no servants need be
employed and fed. In some cases there Is a
fee for instruction.
There is no reason why Americans, with
their wealth and their enlightenment, should
not be as comfortable at home as the people of
other nations. There is no reason why we
should have our sewing done in French con-
vents, and import our cooks and parlor-maids.
There is no other country in the world where
all the housekeeping machinery is so COM
plete, and where everything is designed to
facilitate labor. 1t needs only the appliance
OF trained intelligence TO our machines to
make them produce the very best results.
country whose young men are becoming the
foremost engineers and artisans in the world
ought to give its girls q chance. What we
have already done in this line has been most
commendable, but sporadic. 1t is evident
that any real progress must be dependent
upon widespread interest and endeayor.
These would be insured by State interference
The advantages to the State of general
manual training system of women's education
would be iourfold: % Skilled workers would
he ,,rod uood who xyou1d FIJI tho ,,iaoaS .baf