Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-03-22
A HOUSEWIFERY SCHOOL
Vienna Has Solved the Question
of Training Girls.
A THREE MONTHS COURSE
Already $500 Young Women Have Been
Taught How to Work-A Practical Scheme
for Obtaining Good Servants.
Pail Mall Gazette.

Pail Mall Gazette.
There is in Vienna a restaurant to
which special interest is attached owing
to the somewhat peculiar lines on which
it is worked. So far as outward appear
ances go it does not differ much from
other institutions of it's kind, excepting
that the rooms in which it is held are
more tastefully furnished. The table
linen, too, is perhaps a touch winter and
the knives and glasses are more spark
ling. With regard to the food, there is
greater variety in the dishes than is
usually found in such places, and the
waiting is decidedly better The prices
charged are, considering the quality of
the provisions, extremely moderate; a
fairly good luncheon may be had for 25
cents, and very good one indeed for 80
cents. They who frequent the restaurant
are catered for with the utmost care,
and so far possible their individual
tastes are taken into consideration. The
place in fact, strikes visitors as being
in all respects well organized and skill
fully managed 1t would never occur to
anyone to suspect that the dainty little
dishes, which are so delicately seasoned
and neatly served, are the work of
novices. Yet such is the case, for the
very raiSon detre of the restaurant is to
provide the means wherewith to carry on
the housewifery school to which it is at
tached. And this it does by feeding it's
clients ON the cookery pupils chefs
d'oeuvre.
The housewfey school was started in
1883 At that time the inquities of SER
want maids was subject as fruitful of
discussion in Vienna as it is today in
London. Ladies were going about declar-
ing that their lives were a burden to
them, because those whom they employed
to serve them were not up to their work.
Cooks could not cook, at least so their
,tctr sof,1 ,afI L. l,aI
of cleaning, nor seamstresses Of sewing.
To put an end to this state of things, GER
tain ladies, with Madame Ottilie Bondy,
the well known writer, at their head,
banded themselves together. This is the
attitude they took up: Carpenterlng and
other crafts to which men turn their
hands are not one iCta harder # as hard
as cooking, sewing, washing and clean
ing; why, then should girls, from the
very day they leave school, be expected
10 do all these things just by the light of
their mother wit, seeing that boys are
made to give up years of their lives to
being regularly trained for what they
have to do? 1t was manifestly absurd
they maintained, to rail against maid
servants for being ignorant and stupid,
when never a chance was given them of
being anything else. The thing to be
done was to bring technical training
within their reach and this these ladies
resolved to do. Being, however, not only
benevolent, but practical, they first of all
considered ways and means, for technical
teaching costs money. 1t was then that
the ingenious idea occurred to one of them
of starring a restaurant, and thus not
only raising the necessary money, but at
the same time Securing a practical train
ing field for their proteges.
The housewfery school, although in
the same building as the restaurant, is
separated from it completely. Girls may,
if they like, live in the school entirely
during the time that they are being
trained; or, if they prefer it, they may go
every morning and leave in the evening.
In the former case the terms charged
are thirty forms a month"; in the latter,
twelve forms. A large percentage of
the pupils, however, are received free.
Although all who go are, in the first
place, trained in the elements of house
wifery, they each, as a rule, specialize
some one branch, and infinite trouble is
taken by the school directors in helping
the younger among the pupils to decide
what branch this shall be.
They start with the assumption that
every girl has talent for something, and
that 1t is their business to find out for
what-no easy matter sometimes one
of their pupils, for instance, was not
strong enough to be cook or a laun-
dress, was too short to have the care of
children or be a parlor maid; and when
she tried to sew dust all her fingers
seemed thumbs. How then was she to
ie put in the way of earning her own liV-
length discovered that there was one
thing she could do wel-dress hair; and
forthwith she was trained to be hair
groom-that is, a maid who on appointed
days visits ladies to cut, brush and dress
their hair Needless to say, a woman
who is an expert n her calling, even
though that calling bet only shoe black
ing, has, when she enters the labor mar
ket a great advantage over women who,
although they can do half dozen things
indifferently, have never been trained TO
do any one thing really well.
If girl decides that she would like to
be a cook, then during the whole time
she is at the school she deVotes the great
er part of her day to learning how to
cook and cooking under the direct super
vision of a highly trained professional
in the art. When she has made a GER
tain amount of progress she is allowed
TO help the head cook to manufacture
the various dishes required for the res
taurant. If, however, she prefers to be
n parlor maid. in addition to the ordinary
round of homework she is gradually
taught to polish the silver, arrange flow
ers set tables and how to wait. Here,
again, the restaurant comes in useful,
affording as it does an opportunity for
constant practice in waiting, well as
a. field for experiments in table decora-
tons etc. Then the more deft among
the pupils are set out In pretty uniform
to act as mattresses at houses in which
special entertainments are being given.
They are always accompanied by an ex-
perienced waitress, who is on the watch
TO give them hints as to how to do their
work properly. Some of the old pupils of
the school are now making quite a fair
income for themselves as occasional
mattresses. For waiting at an afternoon
tea they are paid 20 cents, at luncheon
or dinner 80 cents and at ball SO cents.
Seamstresses too, receive a very thor
ough training. They are taught plain
sewing, of course, but also work that is
at once more dainty and more lucrative,
such as lace mending. Then laundry